" As ALWAYS, I am not a lawyer and I in NO WAY offering legal advice. This is just my PERSONAL thoughts as an experienced aka jaded landlord" As we discussed in 3 ways to Renew Your Lease, there are three ways to renew your lease. Personally, I use a one-page renewal letter 80% of the time. So far I have not used automatic renewals at all in my leases (my markets don't support them) and I only do full lease renewals when something huge has … [Read more...]
The Complete Guide to Installing and Managing Tenants
As an empire-building landlord, installing and managing tenant has led to many ulcer-inducing moments, especially when we were first starting out. I began The Reluctant Landlord to share my experiences and help others learn from them. Before we get started I wanted to share my favorite resources. Background and Credit Check I previously used Buildium and than I switch to Cozy as it saved me over $500 a year and is absolutely free for … [Read more...]
Are You Worried About the Rental Competition?
As a landlord of a growing empire of 7 & counting rental houses, no matter the amount of times you have placed a house or the amount in your emergency fund, having a house come up is for rent is stressful. Even a professional like myself still stresses about their ad. I don't know about you, but having to cover that extra $1,400–$1,900 mortgage payment is not how I wish to spend my funds. Traveling to Bahrain, Fiji, or even going … [Read more...]
How to Find Quality Tenants
As a self-managing, empire building landlord, tenants are the most important part of my business. I have learned over the years tenants can either make or break your success. No vacancy with the tenants paying their rent on time means we have enough money to cover our mortgage, expenses, and even provide extra money to pay me a "salary" (check out out our Bare it All October Income Report to see our actual numbers). If our tenants had not … [Read more...]
A Beginners’ Guide to Postlets.com: Part 1
Authors Note: I put together this resource hoping it would help after seeing many questions on Postlets.com. I am not affiliated with the company nor is this legal advice. All information within this post is my own based on my personal experiences and what I have seen over the years belonging to various forums. As always, my goal is for you to have the most successful landlording experience as possible. One of my absolutely favorite places to … [Read more...]
9 Commonly Asked Questions Regarding the 2016 BAH Rates
Today, as with every mid-December, the 2016 BAH rates were released. If you have not checked your rates for next year you can find the calculator here. For some this is great news, but for others it may not be so great news. It all depends on if your rates have increased or decreased. Today, as I was noticing tons of comments and questions about the 2016 BAH rates, I realized there were a lot of common misconceptions and questions. Over the … [Read more...]
Multiplex Versus Single Family Homes
The question comes up often. Which is better -- to buy a single family home or a multiplex? Unfortunately, the answer is not that easy. As always when investing in real estate it is a very personal question that depends on YOUR personal dreams, goals, resources .... As an empire builder, my next foray into real estate investment will be a multiplex. My dream at our next duty station is to live in one unit and rent the other units out. As the … [Read more...]
4 Ways To Live Mortgage or Rent Free
My husband and I got married young, at 22 and 23, when my husband was a young ensign in the Navy. I was newly graduated from college. He was stationed in Texas. I struggled finding employment, so I went back to grad school. After we used the rest of the funds from our undergraduate degrees, it was important to pay cash for my master's degree. We were already on a tight budget, so I had to find creative ways to reduce our costs. We did the … [Read more...]
7 Reasons Not to Pay Cash For a House
I am $1.1 million in debt by choice. If I reach my goal of owning nine houses by my 28th birthday (1/1/2016), I will be $1.6 million dollars in debt. I am a real estate empire builder whose goal is early retirement by living off the cash flow of our houses. To do so means building my empire large enough that it produces the cash flow needed. Unfortunately, I am young and cash poor, so buying the houses mortgage-free is impossible at the … [Read more...]
16 Common Mistakes Found in Rental Ad Listings
You have decided to rent your house. You have decided on a price to list your house. The decision has been made regarding what extras you will offer (washer and dryer, landscaping, etc). You are ready to list your home and have decided which of the 18 different places you will list the house. The next step is to create a great rental ad. If you are anything like me the first time I listed my house, you are stuck. You don't know how to put … [Read more...]