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em Up Rent em Out

Fix em Up Rent em Out

Fixer upper & rental houses weblog
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Make Sure You Have a Good Lease for Protection Against Bad Tenants

December 20th, 2011

There are two common types of leases: 1. year-to-year lease and, 2.
month-to-month lease. You may think that you are locking in a tenant
for a year, in a year to year lease, but you are also locking yourself
in, and it is much harder to remove a tenant with a year to year lease.

The Value of a Month to Month Lease

My policy is to use a month-to-month lease whenever possible. This way,
if you have a tenant that you want to get rid of, it's easier to do.
These are tenants who are disturbing the neighbors, they don't take
care of the place, or they consistently pay late. Just cancel the
contract and the bad tenants must be out in 30 days. No court fights,
no mess.

Modify Your Lease

Feel free to modify a lease contract to make the tenants behave the way
that you want them to. Nothing is set in stone. It's your contract.
Mold it into something that works.

For example, I found my tenants making oil changes and auto repairs in
the driveway of one of my properties. I didn't want to encourage that
type of activity, so before the next tenants move in, I just added a
sentence to the lease contract saying that those things are not
permitted.

Some of the key components of my lease include:

o tenants are responsible for paying utilities (electricity, gas and
water). If the landlord pays any utilities you are encouraging the
tenants to be wasteful;
o tenants cannot paint or make any significant changes to the
landscaping without permission;
o no smoking is allowed inside the house;
o and, tenants must maintain outdoor plants.

How to Be a Guest on Radio Shows
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Tags: lease contract, managing tenants, modify contract, month to month
lease
Posted in lease clauses, month to month lease, quirky tenants, tenants
| No Comments ť

How Take Care of Tenants for the Holidays

December 15th, 2011

How should your treat tenants? Treat tenants the way that you would
like to be treated.

Think about it, at some point we have probably all been tenants. When I
was a tenant, I wanted the landlord to respond to my problems around
the house, I didn't want rate increases, and I wanted to feel that the
place that I was renting was my home.

Most tenants are just like you and I, and they deserve our utmost
respect, especially over the holidays.

Here are my 4 key tips on how to keep good tenants

1. Practice good communication

The desires of most tenants are fairly common, and easy to identify.
Good tenants don't like noisy neighbors, appliances or other items in
their rental property that don't work, and frequent rent increases.
Fortunately, good communication can take care of most of these
problems.

One great pet peeve of tenants is when they have landlords who are as
slow as snails to respond to their needs. Does it take you 2 hours to
watch the television show "60 Minutes"? Then maybe you're too slow.

If you are slow to respond to your tenant requests for help, you will
be perceived as uncaring. The reason for this perception is because you
don't have good communications with your tenants.

Any time a tenant calls me, I will almost immediately return their
call. Even though I work a regular 8:00 to 5:00 job, I can still manage
my rental house business by having my cell phone with me everywhere I
go. This way, I can deal quickly with tenant issues that may become
exponentially worse (like a broken water pipe), if I waited to deal
with it until I got home from work.

A phone call is good when you need to quickly get in contact with your
tenant, but if it's not an urgent matter, my preferred means of
communication with tenants is by sending them memos by regular mail.

For example, if the tenant is not keeping up the yard work around their
rental property, I will write them a note in a calm and respectful
manner identifying the problem. I make a reference to the section of
the contract that requires them to keep up the yard, and asking them to
take care of it. A phone call could easily turn into a heated
conversation, but with a memo, the tone stays calm and the point gets
made. And, I have a written record of what I have told them that I keep
in the tenants file folder.

I keep our tenants informed about activities that I have planned for
their property. I will send a memo out and let them know well ahead of
time if I plan to do some preventative maintenance, on the roof, for
example. If a plumber cancels an appointment, I'll call them so they
are not waiting around all afternoon for no reason. It's really just
practicing common courtesy.

2. Timely responses to repair requests

I'll admit that when I first became a landlord in 2002, this was a low
priority on my list. I used to cringe when I'd answer the phone and a
tenant would be on the line with a repair request. I knew I was going
to have to spend some of my valuable time and hard-earned money to deal
with a maintenance request. I would sometimes let the repair linger
instead of jumping right on it.

Now, I look at it as an opportunity to show the tenants that I take
their problems seriously, and I respond to their concerns immediately.
I have a busy schedule, but my tenants have busy schedules too.

Keeping my good tenants happy is my highest priority because it
directly affects my profits. The less turnover I have in my properties
the more money I make.

What has helped me to respond quickly is that I have accumulated a list
of good repair professionals over time. I have plumbers, an air
conditioner company, handymen, and other professionals that I trust, on
the speed dial of my cell phone, so that I can get them working on a
repair without delay.

3. Rental fee Increases

I know that many landlords feel the need to regularly raise tenant
rental fees. For obvious reasons, this can stir up the resentment of
tenants and may cause them to think about looking for a new property.

I don't have this problem because the only time I raise rents are when
one tenant moves out and another one moves in. My philosophy is, why
give the tenants any reason to look for another place to live?

In the case of rent increases for extremely long-term tenants, I think
that tenants don't mind paying a fair and competitive price, as long as
it doesn't seem like an exorbitant increase to them.

4. Warm Their Holiday with a Gift (card)

I may have said this before, but it bears repeating, remember your
tenants during the holiday. The holidays are a great time to build the
relationship that you have with your tenants. I have established a
holiday tradition of buying my tenants a gift card from Target.

Don't be a Grinch, at the very least, send a nice card.

For more information on giving gift cart for tenants see:A Holiday Tip
for Keeping Good Tenants

Are You Big Enough to Pay it Forward?
Share-

Tags: Fix em Up Rent em Out, gift cards for tenants, rental houses,
taking care of good tenants
Posted in rental houses, rental management, rental properties, rental
property, rentals, renting, tenants | No Comments ť

"Carve Out Your Niche" Wins USA Book Award

November 11th, 2011

My new book "Carve Out Your Niche" was an award winning finalist in the
2011 National Best Books Awards.

For all the details, check out my carveoutyourniche blog artcle
"Carve Out Your Niche" Wins 2011 National Best Books Finalist Award.

You can also download a chapter from "Carve Out Your Niche" at my
carveoutyourniche blog!
Share-

Tags: best book awards, carve out your niche, Terry Sprouse
Posted in book award, book publishing, book writing | No Comments ť

Why You Should Not Pay Down Your Mortgage

November 11th, 2011

Tired of making those monthly housing payments?

Are you tempted to pay a little extra on your mortgage to speed up the
pay off time and own the property free and clear.

Then, think twice, because that may not be the best idea.

Check out my guest post, "Why You Should Not Pay Down Your Mortgage"
over at Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog
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Tags: pay down mortgage
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments ť

What to do if your tenant wants a pet?

October 2nd, 2011

Cujo-

"In my day, we didn't have dogs or cats. All I had was Silver Beauty,
my beloved paper clip."

- Jennifer Hart

I received a call last week from a fellow investor/friend. She had a
tenant living in a house and the tenant said he would like his
girlfriend and her dog to move in with him.

My friend knew that her tenant was on the verge of having some trouble
making the monthly payments and it seemed like a good idea financially
to have the girlfriend there too, two incomes being better than one. Of
course, the girlfriend would sign the rental contract too, in case one
of them moves out.

What stuck in the craw of my friend is that she recently put new carpet
in the house, and did not want pets in there who might destroy the
carpet. Her question to me was, should she allow the dog?

My answer was, let the dog stay too, but charge a fee of $20 per pet
per month, and here's why:

1. Not all rental properties allow pets, so the more accomodating you
are in the area of pets, the more tenants that you can attact. And,
many people experience a more rewarding life when they have a pet. So,
the happier the tenant, the longer he stays.

2. The tenant is receiving a benefit from having their pet with them,
and as mentioned, not all rentals allow pets. So, from that
perspective, the tenant has not reason to be upset with a small monthly
fee for the pet.

3. If the pet does a number 1 or number 2 on the carpet, the landlord
still has the security deposit of one month's rent, to repair the
carpet. When the tenants move out the landlord is still covered.

Under my scenario, the tenants receive the benefit of the girlfriend
moving in and the psychological benefit of having a pet. The landlord
receives a slight benefit of a small additional amount coming in.
Everyone is happy.

The only other consideration is to make sure the dog is not Cujo. I
would't allow a dog breed that is known to be aggressive. Otherwise the
landlord is setting herself up to be bit with liability issues, if the
dog gets out of the yard.

For another excellent article about pets, check out the article
Allowing Pets in Your Rental Property by Sharon Vornholtt at
LouisvilleGalsRealEstateBlog

Read the new review of "Carve Out Your Niche" by Sharon Vornholt at
Louville Gals Real Estate Blog
Share-

Tags: carve out your niche, Cujo, managning tenants, pets
Posted in Uncategorized, managing tenants, tenants, tenents | No
Comments ť

New Book - Carve Out Your Niche - Coming Soon

August 12th, 2011

What happens after you have been successfully operating your
fixer-upper house business for several years, and you have become a
master of your own minor universe?

At that point, it's time to move on to the next phase of your career.
You need to write a book about your experiences and share your
hard-earned wisdom with others.

Following closely on the heels of writing your book, you will need to
find ways to reach the people that will benefit from your book, and you
must (gasp! choke!) promote your book.

This is where my new book, Carve Out Your Niche: How to Live Your
Passion, Write Your Book, & Help Others to Change Their World, comes to
your rescue.

I have already blazed a path for you to follow. Just follow the steps
laid out in my book and you too will be able to:

1. Find your niche, or mission in life, if you haven't already;

2. Lean to write and self-publish your book;

3. Promote your message through an assortment of proven techniques,
including videos, radio interviews, and that ravenous monster called
"the internet."

Carve Out Your Niche will soon be available at Amazon and other
internet book stores.

However, if you can't wait and would like a preview of my book, you can
fill in the form on my Carve Out Your Niche website and receive a free
download of the Introductory Chapter.

Joe Sabah, author of How to Get on Radio Talk Shows all Across America,
has reviewed my book and commented,

"Carve Out Your Niche is a true pleasure to read. Follow Sprouse's
steps and you will succeed!"
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Tags: carve out your niche, Joe Sabah, Terry Sprouse
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments ť

Increase profits by improving your rental property

July 9th, 2011

I'd like to share with you an email that received from an insightful
real estate investor who, I think, uses a great way to increase his
rental profits.

Hi Terry;

I have been the landlord of a triplex for just over 5 years. For most
of that time, I simply maintained the property that I owned after
making a couple of bigger renovations (windows and insulation). The
biggest challenge I had was that my existing tenants paid way below
market rent and rent control would not allow me to increase rents
beyond 0.7%-2.2% each year. I felt stuck.

Recently, one of those tenants moved out. I managed to gut and redo the
one bedroom unit and once it was finished I rented it out for almost
double what I was getting before! This took the pressure off quite a
bit but I realized I had to get my other "long term" renter out of her
apartment. I ended up paying her to leave (2 months free rent) but it
looks like it paid off. Her rent for a 2 bedroom was $474.77, but I
have a lease now on the apartment for $799 a month. Surprisingly, I got
this tenant because they saw pictures of the first unit I did and knew
that I was finishing the second unit the same way. When they did the
walk through the place was gutted and I didn't even have the walls
framed in yet!

I have looked at some other systems out there, but it seems to me that
the only one that really works is finding a run down property with
below market rents in a good area, fixing it up, and rerenting to
higher classed tenants. If I knew a few years back what I know now, I
would get the old tenants out ASAP even if I need to use my "cash for
keys" program.

Right now I work full time so I rely on a dependable contractor that I
feel I can trust. I hope to start renovating my own houses down the
road, but I think I might need to get rid of my job to free up the
time. Currently, I just do a walk through each day to see what work has
been done and simply manage the renovation. Once the triplex is
completely turned around next month I figure I will start looking for
another project; I just need to convince my wife who still has fresh
memories of my less stellar tenants.

Anyway, wishing you all the best!

Jim Thrower
Share-

Tags: increase profits or rental properties, maximizing profits with
rentals
Posted in Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer uppers, for rent, rental, rental
house improvements, rental houses, rental properties, rental property,
rentals, renting, repair, repairing properties, repairing rental
houses, repairs, safe ways to invest in real estate, small investor,
start small | 1 Comment ť

Avoid Perfectionism with Fixer Upper Houses

July 6th, 2011

Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.
-Lao Tzu

A key to fixing up a house is to know when to stop fixing up. You want
the house to look good, yet you know that people are not going to care
for your house the same way that you would. For rental properties, I
don't purchase the most costly, or even new, materials. I do a lot of
my shopping at stores that recycle construction materials, like Habitat
for Humanity's Re-stores. You can get bargain basement prices on things
like doors, kitchen cabinets, hinges, toilets, paint.

Need I say more? It's a fixer-upper person's paradise.

If I know that I am going to sell the house I may install higher grade
of materials, especially where it really counts, like the kitchens and
bathrooms. As Lawrence Dworin says in Profits in Buying & Renovating
Homes:

"It's easy to get carried away on renovation projects - wasting time
and money on repairs that buyers won't pay extra for. I assume you like
to do good work. We all do. And we'd like every finished project to be
a showplace. But you can't make money that way. Your buyers have a
limit on what they're willing to pay. That's why you've got to limit
repair costs. In this business, you concentrate on fixing code
violations and creating a clean, safe, livable house."
Share-

Tags: Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses, Habitat for Humanity,
Lao Tzu, Lawrence Dworin, Profits in Buying & Renovating Homes,
Re-store, rental houses, Terrry Sprouse
Posted in fix up houses, fixer upper houses, fixer-upper business, for
rent, house repair, house repairs, how to make money renting housing,
rental house improvements, rental properties, repair, repairing
properties, repairing rental houses, repairs | No Comments ť

Avoiding Pitfalls When Buying Fixer-Upper Houses

May 25th, 2011

Pitfalls to buying fixer-upper houses, such as broken plumbing systems,
worn out electrical wiring, and cracked foundations can be avoided with
the help of a professional inspector prior to purchasing a house. Once
identified, these conditions can be laid before the seller, who must
either fix the problems to the satisfaction of the buyer, or the buyer
can pull out of the deal.

Of course, it takes hard work to find a house, make all of the repairs,
and learn how to deal with tenants. If it were easy, everyone would be
doing it. You'll learn not to take life, or tenant problems, too
seriously. Shakespeare said, "A light heart lives long."

The good news is that you learn valuable technical and people
management skills that are useful in many other aspects of your life.
You are also rewarded with a feeling of satisfaction in your
accomplishments, a stronger sense of financial security, and the peace
of mind that accompanies it.
Share-

Tags: Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses, inspectors
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments ť

Critical Tax & Investment Tips for Real Estate Investors

March 19th, 2011

My interview with the inimitable Tax Accountant Sean McCoy. Sean has 31
years experience doing taxes and shares his wisdom with us in this
video. He is also a Business Appraiser and a Licensed Fiduciary.

Sean responds to the following questions. Some of his responses may
surprise you.

1. What are some common mistakes that real estate investors make on
their tax returns?

2. How will real estate investors be affected by new tax laws?

3. What types of investments do you see as the wisest to make right
now?

4. What other tips or suggestions might you have for real estate
investors?

Share-

Tags: Investment tips, real estate investing, Sean McCoy, Tax Tips,
Terry Sprouse
Posted in real estate investing, tax, taxes | 2 Comments ť
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