Rental Property Owners

[Rick]

Do you require a formal application from prospective tenants? Do you do a background Check? What website do you use? I am just getting into this and am wondering about what others do and reputable sites. Any info is appreciated!!!

[Dandy123]

I don't but you should. I live in a small town so i usually know the people or someone that knows them that move in

[tradslam]

Use property management! I would never get in this game with having to actually work! Everything I own is taken care of by PMC, I’ll gladly pay 10% to not deal with anything.

[Txtourist]

We use a service called Tenant check, we have a matrix that looks at credit, income, criminal, etc. When we became more professional, the rental business became much easier. The game changers for us were implementing a process of charging the application fee, doing the background checks, and lastly, only allowing direct debit rent payments. No more money orders, counting cash, checks in the mail, soggy envelopes in my door, or non payments. If you don’t/can’t handle big kid life and have a checking account and a computer, we are not renting to you. I think the payment processor is called Vanco services. If you only have one or two properties, you may have to team up with another landlord, as a lot of companies are going to a minimum number of properties/transactions.

[Rick]

Use property management! I would never get in this game with having to actually work! Everything I own is taken care of by PMC, I’ll gladly pay 10% to not deal with anything.

i'm retired and have plenty of time to deal w it....I am about to go serve my first eviction notice

[1riot1ranger]

i'm retired and have plenty of time to deal w it....I am about to go serve my first eviction notice

I have a good realtor that knows our requirements. They do the marketing and screening but I make the decision. I also do all the property management. Realtor takes first month rent for commission but well worth it to me. One requirement in the lease is that all rent has to be deposited (electronically or at the bank) to an account that I designate. Open an account for deposits only and transfer all but a minimum balance to an operating account as soon as the deposit clears.

[1riot1ranger]

We use a service called Tenant check, we have a matrix that looks at credit, income, criminal, etc. When we became more professional, the rental business became much easier. The game changers for us were implementing a process of charging the application fee, doing the background checks, and lastly, only allowing direct debit rent payments. No more money orders, counting cash, checks in the mail, soggy envelopes in my door, or non payments. If you don’t/can’t handle big kid life and have a checking account and a computer, we are not renting to you.

^^^ This! If you can't handle a checking account and a computer it's an automatic eliminator.

[Rush2Judge]

I have a good realtor that knows our requirements. They do the marketing and screening but I make the decision. I also do all the property management. Realtor takes first month rent for commission but well worth it to me. One requirement in the lease is that all rent has to be deposited (electronically or at the bank) to an account that I designate. Open an account for deposits only and transfer all but a minimum balance to an operating account as soon as the deposit clears.

This is how we (my wife) does it for her mother's two properties. Family friend is the realtor and finds the people and runs the credit report. In addition, w have another family friend that does how remodeling. She keeps him on a commission (approx 5%) to field any and all calls and what repairs he can't handle, he has contacts that can. Sounds like you handle the phone calls and repairs. That was the part I hated when we had a property. I barely have time to deal with my own problems yet alone someone else's.

[rferg84]

Do you require a formal application from prospective tenants? Do you do a background Check? What website do you use? I am just getting into this and am wondering about what others do and reputable sites. Any info is appreciated!!!

When we were smaller we used a standard application from the Texas Realtors Association and www.mysmartmove.com for background.

Now that we have 28 properties, we use Buildium to manage it all.

https://fmrepartnersllc.managebuilding.com/Resident/public/home

You can see what the application is like on here. You can list available properties. Tenants can make requests through here from maintenance and pay their rent.

[rferg84]

I will say we've only ever had one eviction and it was a guy that lived in an apartment when we bought it.

I set clear expectations and want people to be straight up with me. I'd rather them work with me than hunker down and dig their claws in.

Also running credit and background weeds alot of problems out.

Not saying you won't have any but it helps.

[BertramBass]

I use a generic application from Office Depot. My Realtor does a credit check. I check the local court databases for lawsuits/evictions and talk to past landlords. I was surprised to see how many people do not put down the correct number for the current landlord. LOL Talk to a CPA about depreciation on the rental and improvements. Talk to your insurance agent to make sure you buy adequate insurance for a rental. Charge a nonrefundable deposit for pets after screening the pet. If you do not use a property management company, look into Texas landlord, tenant, and rental laws. Start a LLC to hold the property and to protect yourself. It is very easy and can be done online...

[tradslam]

i'm retired and have plenty of time to deal w it....i am about to go serve my first eviction notice

👍

[rferg84]

I use a generic application from Office Depot. My Realtor does a credit check. I check the local court databases for lawsuits/evictions and talk to past landlords. I was surprised to see how many people do not put down the correct number for the current landlord. LOL Talk to a CPA about depreciation on the rental and improvements. Talk to your insurance agent to make sure you buy adequate insurance for a rental. Charge a nonrefundable deposit for pets after screening the pet. If you do not use a property management company, look into Texas landlord, tenant, and rental laws. Start a LLC to hold the property and to protect yourself. It is very easy and can be done online...

All solid advice!

Wife and I are both insurance agents, my business partner is a CPA, and his mom is our realtor lol. Probably why our business has grown and thrived the last 7 years.

Yep. Check the laws. Smoke detectors and locks are really important. They can also come into play when liability is concerned.

We deed all of our houses in a single member LLC that is owned by our main LLC in which the four of us (my wife, CPA and his wife) are the managing members. Should insulate liability for us in the even of a suit on one property. May be overkill but worth doing IMO.

[Buff]

Use property management! I would never get in this game with having to actually work! Everything I own is taken care of by PMC, I’ll gladly pay 10% to not deal with anything.

X2
I don't even know who lives in any of mine

[Rick]

thanks to all for the info