All Forum Posts by: Waleep Alvi

If you are looking to obtain residential financing for this home you will need to buy it in your personal name.

Traditional residential financing the property needs to be in your personal name.

Banks will not do a residential mortgage for a 1-4 unit property

I would learn about local laws and what are legal and illegal questions to ask and figure out what your criteria are for showing to anyone.

Regardless of what the ads we write say with regards to income or credit scores, they don't get read by potential tenants. I would suggest you either prescreen people a bit over the phone before scheduling a showing time (asking questions about pets, income, and credit score eliminates 75% of the callers right there) and then confirming with them an hour or so before the showing (tell people if you can't reach them to confirm an hour before the showing time, the showing is cancelled), or, just publish a rental open house times like 7-9pm Wednesday night and 11-1pm Saturdays.

This is common practice when a nonprofit or business (and I assume a government agency) pays for a tenant's rent (all or a portion), or any other service. Businesses/corporations/nonprofits are required to collect W9 forms on vendors, service providers, etc. These forms are then used to issue a 1099-Misc in January which you will need on your taxes.

You may be able to engage directly with the entity that is collecting the information, your tenant can likely connect you with the right person (or their contact) at the organization. In my experience, individuals who do not have EINs are more skeptical of sending a W9 (rightfully so) as it contains their social security number.

I really feel it's market dependent. However, that being said, I know when I was a renter I didn't even look at units without a washer and dryer. They add more value than just the financial benefit of the extra $25-$30/month.

@Mikel Kaubfa I also use Craigslist. Though I rarely look at credit. I use a state database to pull up court and criminal records. No to anyone who has been evicted. No to all felons. No to any misdemeanor involving dishonesty, e.g. theft, bad checks, etc. A misdemeanor for a bar fight or a DUI is not the end of the world. But don't rent to anyone who has been caught stealing or doing something dishonest.

1.) Do they answer the phones when you call? How do they sound when they answer. Happy or annoyed? Business is gained or list within the first couple exchanges on the telephone. It's important that your PM isn't turning off potential clients by being rude, or ignoring calls completely.

2.) Are they able to answer your basic questions? More sophisticated questions? If not, do they act willing to find out the answers for you? Will they actually call you back with the answer when requested?

3.) How many doors do they manage? How many clients? Are they willing to give you their e-mails/phone numbers so that you can speak with them? A bad PM wouldn't be confident in having their clients speak privately with you about their performance. This can give you a lot of information.

This is just a start of a long list of things you'll want to ask/think about. A bad PM can be devastating to your business. Choose slowly and carefully.

Good luck!

@Mikel Kaubfa Well you can look at Facebook as an option. When people respond to a FB posting, I can look at their profile and pretty much know exactly what kind of person I'm dealing with. I can respond accordingly.

If I raise the rent $50-100 and the tenant decides to pass, then I have at least one month empty while I turnover and find a new tenant. That'll be at least a year before I'm back in the black on that decision. If you have many units than this would be acceptable, but as a single unit owner, continued occupancy > rent raise.

@Lauren Ruppert yes, you must honor the existing lease. If they are on month to month you often can have the owner give them notice once you clear inspection.

Typically the seller will provide a check for deposits plus interest and prorated rent collected at closing (separate from title company funds).

Your other options are to wait until the lease expires and non-renew (section 8 has some additional requirements) offer to pay the tenant to leave before the lease expires, if they are non-paying or violating the lease eviction may be the option of last resort.

@Nam Trang Are you allowed to ask if they expect a transfer during your lease term as part of the application process, before it ever gets to the lease stage?