Tenant Screening: Avoiding Discrimination Lawsuits Last week I discussed the importance of screening tenants. I noted that tenant screening was perhaps the key to being a successful landlord. This week I want to follow up on that article by discussing methods to screen your prospective tenants to avoid a discrimination lawsuit.What is discrimination? A quick Google search defines discrimination as “Recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.” It … [Read more...]
Are You a ‘Slumlord’?
October 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Are You a ‘Slumlord’? Last week on the BiggerPockets.com blog I discussed a property I was trying to decide whether to pursue or not. The property was located in a lower-income “rough” area of my town and needed significant cosmetic fixes (and perhaps more than just cosmetic.) I’ll tell you later what I did this week with the property, but first I want to explore the issue a little further.This post became exceptionally popular and at the time of this writing has over 90 comments as … [Read more...]
What Liability Do You Assume When You Allow Pets In Your Rental Property?
October 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What Liability Do You Assume When You Allow Pets In Your Rental Property? There has been so much discussion on BiggerPockets about whether or not you should allow pets in your rental property. This is also a topic that comes up frequently at our REIA group.Some folks feel very strongly (like I once did) that they always end up damaging the property, so they just don’t allow them. Other landlords welcome pets and feel they get better tenants. What I found in my business, was that if the … [Read more...]
3 Key Tips For Screening Tenants
September 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
3 Key Tips For Screening Tenants Everyone has their own method and criteria for screening tenants. Many folks use a formula that is a percentage of gross income to determine if they make enough money to qualify for the property. There will also be other factors such as length of employment and previous landlord recommendations. But the sad fact is that after all that due diligence, you may very well still end up with a tenant that doesn’t pay the rent and doesn’t take care of your … [Read more...]
Six Reasons Why Real Estate Trumps Investing in Stocks and Mutual Funds
September 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Six Reasons Why Real Estate Trumps Investing in Stocks and Mutual Funds I experienced a drug induced hallucination when I was 10. Laughing gas from my dentist caused me to visualize colorful puzzle pieces crawling all over the ceiling of the exam room. Hopefully, you have never endured this “wacky awake dreamlike state” but take my word for it, you feel out of control.To this day, I still feel a lack of control when I’m in the dental chair. Someone else is put in charge of my mouth and … [Read more...]
The Hardest Part of Buy-and-Hold Real Estate Investing: Delayed Gratification
August 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Hardest Part of Buy-and-Hold Real Estate Investing: Delayed Gratification Let me start this post by saying I love “buy-and-hold” real estate investing. I just wish it was easier.Flipping real estate or wholesaling deals is appealing, as cash is quick and you know in a short time frame if you have made a good deal. Unfortunately, buy-and-hold real estate can take a long time to generate a meaningful amount of cash flow.This leads me to today’s topic, as I want to highlight what I … [Read more...]
12 Tips for Being a Good Landlord and Having Happy Tenants
August 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
12 Tips for Being a Good Landlord and Having Happy Tenants Every landlord would like to lower the turnover in their properties. It’s costly to attract and retain good tenants, not to mention the costs you incur when they move out and you have to turn a vacant rental. It just makes good business sense to strive to have happy, long term tenants in your properties. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have good systems in place and treat this like a business. Here are some … [Read more...]
The Disadvantages of Section 8 Rentals
August 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Disadvantages of Section 8 Rentals It felt like I was walking into a cave. A dark, messy, smelly cave. I looked around at the walls of my Section 8 rental and saw black, only black. The tenants had decided to add some “color” to the décor. But seriously, who paints walls black? And poop? Who leaves dog poop all over the floor? And trash? How can a family of four leave two, not one, but two dumpsters worth of trash? I started calculating the cost of priming and repainting, carpet … [Read more...]
Investment Property Management: What Metrics To Track And Why?
August 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Investment Property Management: What Metrics To Track And Why? Whether you manage your own investment portfolio, or hire a property management company to manage your investments, there are key metrics to track and measure if you want to truly find success. Any two real estate investors will define success differently, especially when it comes to property management. If you follow on-line forums dedicated to real estate, you will notice heated arguments on the merits of using property … [Read more...]
A Must Use Form for Every Landlord: Release to the Rights of Possession
August 6, 2012 By 1 Comment
A Must Use Form for Every Landlord: Release to the Rights of Possession The “Release to the Rights of Possession” form is one of the most important forms that a landlord can use. It is a must use for every landlord. It helps protect you from future claims from former tenants. Let me explain.When you sign a lease with a tenant, you legally give them what is termed “possession” of that rental unit. The tenant then occupies and possesses the rental unit for the term of the … [Read more...]
Investors: Be Careful of Misplaced Motivation!
July 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Investors: Be Careful of Misplaced Motivation!I’m sure many of you have heard the cliche’ saying, practice makes perfect.It’s a great saying, but sorry to say, is 100% wrong. I don’t remember where or how long ago, but I remember someone telling me that which caused the “huh?!?!” type expression on my face.This person then said, perfect practice makes perfect.After soaking it in, things finally clicked, “Ahhhhhh! That makes sense.” What benefit is the practice if you aren’t … [Read more...]
Dealing With Tenant Drama: Are You Ready?
July 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Dealing With Tenant Drama: Are You Ready?Tenants are the reason we survive as landlords. By paying their rent, tenants put gas in our cars, food on the table and hopefully a little money in the bank. Tenants, however, are human, and being human means they bring drama. Are you ready for it?Sometimes the drama is petty.“My roommate and I don’t like each other anymore, she needs to leave.”Sometimes it is more serious.“I lost my job.”You as the landlord need to be ready to deal with … [Read more...]
How I Accidentally Bought Two of Kurt Cobain’s Former Homes and Why That’s Not Even The Best Part.
July 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How I Accidentally Bought Two of Kurt Cobain’s Former Homes and Why That’s Not Even The Best PartKurt Cobain is a big deal.If you are unfamiliar with the name “Kurt Cobain,” perhaps you are much more familiar with the band “Nirvana.”Still no?“Smells Like Teen Spirit?”“Come As You Are?”If you are still lost, just trust me when I say that Kurt Cobain was, and is, a big deal.As the front man of the 90′s grunge band “Nirvana,” Cobain led the group to over 75 million album … [Read more...]
Real Estate in Japan – “The Tenant is King”
July 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Real Estate in Japan – “The Tenant is King”We’ve covered the basics – Japan’s got beautiful cash-flow, zilch to negative capital gain (may change, may not), and the icing on the cake – the best and safest business and residential environment one could possibly hope for as a foreign investor or business person.So, the question begs to be asked –why isn’t everybody and their dog shopping there???Well, the big boys, (GS, DBG, Fortress, TPG, etc) already are, as mentioned. As for … [Read more...]
Commonly Overlooked Lease Issues: Third Party Rights
June 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Commonly Overlooked Lease Issues: Third Party RightsThis series is devoted to highlighting those often neglected lease provisions and prevailing on our landlord readers to give them a second look when crafting their contracts. Last month, we looked at the benefits of affirmatively addressing the, dare I say, not uncommon occurrence of a landlord default on their lease obligations and potential tenant remedies in such circumstances. Today we look at third party rights.Third Party Rights: The … [Read more...]
The Preventative Maintenance Plan Needed For Your Rentals
June 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Preventative Maintenance Plan Needed For Your RentalsI think we may have a problem, There seems to be a patch of mushrooms growing in one of your units.”When my property manager first called me with this information, I actually thought the service request was a joke. That was until I saw this photo! The first question I asked myself was, why hadn’t I heard about this sooner? According to the tenant, this mushroom appeared within a few hours, which is impossible. I immediate sent my … [Read more...]
Four Landlording Mistakes You Should Avoid…
May 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Four Landlording Mistakes You Should Avoid…They say the definition of insanity is doing the same function repeatedly hoping for different results. If this is the case, you can call almost every landlord insane!As a landlord, I too tend to commit the same mistakes over and over, despite fully knowing the error I am making. I compiled this list as a lesson to myself, and if it can help others along the way avoid these – then my mistakes have not been in vain! Without further ado:Five … [Read more...]
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Buy and Hold Real Estate And Long Term Success
Buy and Hold Real Estate And Long Term SuccessBuyers market? Sellers market? When I started 10+ years ago it was a buyers market in my chosen area, and over the first 3 years of my investing career, the market changed in a big way. We went from buying solid deals to watching everything in the market become overpriced for our chosen model. Let me paint you a picture. We had 8-10 little houses at the time and it was clear that we either needed to stop buying or we had to change our model in a … [Read more...]