Which Comes First: The Real Estate Deal or the Buyer’s List? This question is kind of like another question where people can’t seem to agree on the answer; “Which came first; the chicken or the egg”? Real estate investors all have a different opinion when they are asked whether you should find a deal first or start a buyer’s list and then find a deal. For me, the answer has always been “the deal.” If you have a great deal, you can always find a buyer for it.I had someone email … [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...]
Effectively Communicating With Your Tenants
August 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Effectively Communicating With Your Tenants I have to say that I am amazed at how quickly real estate investors, especially landlords, have adopted electronic media as a primary means of communicating with tenants. Heck… I got caught up in a text exchange just today with one of my tenants.Lets face it, technology, emails, texting and voice messages have made it extremely easy to communicate with our tenants and deal with routine issues quickly and effortlessly. And, while that is … [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...]
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...]
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...]
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...]
Reduce Your Mobile Home Vacancy Rate
April 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Reduce Your Mobile Home Vacancy RateHaving a vacancy in your investment mobile home is an inevitable part of the mobile home investing business if you will be renting or selling (via payments) a mobile home inside a park or attached to private land. Although this vacancy process can be thought of as an unpleasant experience, with just a few attitude and business adjustments you can continue business as usual the next time you have a mobile home vacancy.In the start of my career I experienced an … [Read more...]
Getting Rid of Problem Tenants with Cash for Keys
February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Getting Rid of Problem Tenants with Cash for KeysBuilding a profitable buy and hold rental property business can be tough. A lot of folks fail to treat this as a business and end up getting into trouble. Having systems and following those systems is so important if you are to be successful and keep your sanity.It’s pretty easy fly by the seat of your pants when you only have a few properties. Later on when you have added more rentals, it gets much harder.In the beginning when I bought my first … [Read more...]
How The Economy Is Effecting Landlords & Wholesalers In 2012
February 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How The Economy Is Effecting Landlords & Wholesalers In 2012It’s easy to understand that unemployed people aren’t buying houses, thus depriving demand within the real estate market. However, the entire cycle is far more pervasive, and merits a closer look and how it effects your real estate business.These unemployed people often stop paying their mortgage, their rent, their auto loans, their [...]Read the full post here... … [Read more...]
Eviction Tips For New Landlords
December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Eviction Tips For New Landlors.Don’t wait too long to evict a tenant. Protect your Real Estate Investment. Remember, non-payment of rent is not a personal attack on you and you need to stay professional as a property manager. Having an attorney right from the start will enable you feel empowered knowing you have everything you [...]Eviction Tips For New Landlords is a post from: Real Estate Investing Blog For Real Estate Investors.Read the full post here... … [Read more...]
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