All Forum Posts by: Walt Dockery

Deliberately pricing below market makes no sense, esp where rent as a % of home value (per your first post) is already low.  P&I alone on a $700k house is close to $2900, people should be lining up to rent it at that price.  If house is clean and well maintained you’ll still have plenty of interest at market rent, you can still ask for first/last and deposit etc. 

Notice how virtually everyone in the thread has said 2yr lease has more cons than pros. 

$3500 over 10 mos is not peanuts and if you know these people take care of the place the cleaning/turnover costs should be minimal. 

Consider this - given you have a “bidding war” and the interest you have had in the unit, it’s reasonable to say that you have underpriced it.  Signing a 2yr lease is effectively locking in below market rates for 2 years. I would take the $2900/mo known quantity and plan to relist it at ~$2900/mo next summer, pending how the market is looking then of course.  If you’ve never had a problem filling it I don’t see why you are stressed about it, I actually sorta enjoy the marketing process. 

Because things happen in 2 years and people are not always entirely truthful, for example people do sometimes sell houses for reasons other than to lock in a gain ;). 

Or, because it’s your standard operating procedure w/ no exceptions, take your pick.  

FWIW if they are motivated enough to offer to pay up for the 10 month lease they’re not gonna sweat a $40 background check. 

Do whatever you want, if it were me I’d require a credit and background check. 

Simply saying you have selected another applicant and the property is no longer available is almost always the easiest reason IMO. 

i would go with former tenant, however I would still have them do a credit/background check (at their expense using something like SmartMove). 

The known quantity is always a plus (if previous experience with them was good).  I’d also plan to show before they move out to minimize vacancy. 

You should pay for the first service tech. 

Re the second service tech, it’s strange that the tenant called their own tech however it sounds to me like this is the more accurate diagnosis and if it was still hot I don’t really blame the tenant for calling his own. 

As a LL I think it’s important to have a Rolodex of GOOD service providers that can be trusted to avoid this happening. Had your first tech been able to correctly diagnose the problem the second call could have been avoided. 

yes you should file a police report. No, a police report does not take “hours and hours” to file. I’d also talk to my independent insurance agent about whether to file a claim, a call that would take maybe 5 minutes. 

If you steal from me, I will be following up. Internet dick measuring re the “value of my time” would not factor into this one iota. 

I collect first months rent, last months rent, and security deposit as move in costs.  I already have their last months rent.  I view collecting that up front as just as important as the security deposit, maybe even more so.  

The operative question is, if you didn’t already own it would you buy it as a rental for ~$525k with the expectation of renting for ~$2500 less hoa of $114?  I don’t know your area, but I imagine something like another duplex would provide a better return.

Don’t fall into the trap of considering the ‘cost’ to be what you paid as opposed to the mkt value you could sell it for. IMO there’s generally a price point above which rentals don’t make a lot of sense, and IMO in most areas $525k is above that point. 

As already pointed out you are not “declining” their application, you have decided to accept a different application. The only “reason” that matters is the unit is no longer available.