Cheers! It’s time to celebrate! We just received some INCREDIBLE news this week. And not just one, but two major stories, coming out of two news organizations. The first story was in Bloomberg, and the title screamed “American Dream Slipping as Homeownership at 18-Year Low” I won’t bore you with a lot of the meaningless blah blah blah that bogged down most the piece, but I will tell you that the icing on the cake…
Category: Real Estate
Victims? Hardly. Because Tenant Screening is CRITICAL!
So help me understand how this happens. You have a house. You want to buy a bigger one. You do. But then you can’t sell your first house. So you decide to rent out your first house. Lots of people are doing it. So far, so good, right? And actually it is. Right up to the point where you decide NOT to do a proper background check on the tenant prospects.
Are You Rejecting Tenants? Then STOP!
This is a post I received from MrLandlord.com on tenant screening. This is the best idea I have heard yet on how to handle the potentially touchy subject of tenant prospect rejections. If you’re not already on his mailing list you can do so by going to his site here: http://www.mrlandlord.com/7/index.html DO NOT REJECT ANYONE! The same successful landlord who last week encouraged us to AVOID THE DRAMA, also recently revealed his method for how…
Choose Wisely! Because Location Matters.
I wrapped up the sale of one of my apartment buildings a couple of weeks ago. Part of that process involved meeting with one of the city building inspectors, as I was in the middle of my second bi-annual rental property inspection per their ordinance when we closed. The process went smoothly, and I was (again) pleasantly surprised by how down to earth and practical the building department was to deal with over the term…
Pay MORE. Buy BETTER. Buy FEWER.
I just got into it AGAIN on my facebook page with someone else pitching cheap-ass properties in bad areas with Section 8 tenants as the Holy Grail for buy and hold investors. He came on my page with an unsolicited pitch for his properties, and then really got his panties in a bunch when I pressed him on his ROI “projections”. It’s an epidemic I think. More than just the flavor of the month this…
Beware Of – The BOYFRIEND Disorder!
Since I’ve been renting houses now for several years I’ve seen this a bunch of times. I call it – “The Boyfriend Disorder”. When I first experienced it I shook my head and wondered what was happening. Now I can see it coming a mile away. I wish though that I could see it coming before I drive all the way over to show a house! What is “The Boyfriend Disorder”? It’s when a single…