All Forum Posts by: Karen Johnson

Richard Arden - Zillow is accurate if you are tying to find out what a property actually SOLD for. If you are looking at the property value based on the Zestimate then caveat emptor. As suggested - Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, County Websites and good old google searches can be used to get the data. Also, if you have a realtor, they can pull recent sales data in your area of interest.

Great post, Hector R. Thanks for the tips! I've been trying to figure out an inexpensive but effective way to make my rental business more "professional". Already using google voice. I'll have to look into G Suite.

Thanks John Anderson !

Hi Amy Kendall . I like the e-sign particularly for the reasons you listed - being able to sign and send them a copy without having to print of 80+ pages (my lease and all addendums comes to just over 40 pages) and then deliver or mail them a copy. I signed all my real estate purchase paperwork electronically via docusign except for closing docs so it seems like it should be OK to do. I was leaning towards NOT doing it because I was worried about overlooking something. This tenant already demonstrates a preference for doing things electronically (all funds paid online and rent will be paid in the same fashion). It would be easier for me, and likely work for the tenant as well. I think the tenant could just as easily claim not to have signed something if they do it in front of me, so I'm not sure it's enough of a deterrent for me personally. I might give it a shot.

Hi @Account Closed. Thank you for your feedback. I am leaning in this direction. Can you expand on the reason this is best, please (for me and other newer investors who may read this post)?

Hello everyone,

Quick question. Does anyone here have tenants e-sign their leases? I am using an online service that allows for this. I still have to meet the tenant, give keys, go over basic rules and regulations and terms of the lease. Does it make sense to send it, have them read and e-sign and then go over details when we meet? Or should I just do the whole thing in person? Any gotchas or things to be wary of using e-signing? If it matters, all deposits and first month's rent have already been electronically.

Thanks in advance!

@Jordann B. - thank you so much for the information! That's very good to know!

Thanks, @Kim Meredith Hampton! Great suggestion!

@Account Closed, thank you so much for your feedback! Very helpful!

Hello,

I've been screening tenants and have decided on who to accept for my rental. I realize, I don't have a plan for a couple of things though:

1 - Acceptance Letter. I have written it an think I'm just gonig to send it via e-mail. Does that seem reasonable? Prospective tenants are in state, but not exactly local. I guess I'm trying to be considerate in not making them drive over for something I can reasonably email, or make them wait for the letter in the mail to find out if accepted. Is email acceptable or should I be doing something else? Also, if I email it, should I include handwritten signature? Is that necessary?

2 - Deposit to hold. Again, tenants are not local. I'm thinking about requesting an electronic payment, but not sure how best to do this. My acceptance letter gives 24 hours to make the deposit, which wouldn't work for something like cozy.co which will take 2-3 days to complete the setup for the tenants. It's what I'm ultimately planning to use to collect rent, though. Should I extend timeline for deposit and use cozy to collect, so the tenants get familiar with it now? Or should I use something like paypal or popmoney (or something else)? It would be nice if they could just send me an ETF payment, but I know not all banks make this easy to do online.

PS - I know I should probably have figured this out before now. My previous tenant was local and handed me deposit to hold when filling out the application, so I've didn't have to think about it the last time. I'll be better prepared next time.

Thanks in advance!