This is all good information on reading these posts! Eventually, I think I want to get some rental houses and all questions I have had

AggieGunslinger said:

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No chance in hell I would ever rent to those folks.

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Nope, we didn't. Too much risk.

We've had several people come by to look at the property and sent a few applications out. However, no one has returned the application. I follow-up after a few days, but figure if they haven't responded after a day or two that they're probably no longer interested. Oh well.

We're going to push hard this weekend to get a tenant, even though it's Memorial Day weekend. Should we expect some activity, or do people spend the weekend at the lake and BBQing? LOL.

Sitting empty a few months is better than a terrible tenant.

Looks like we're close to a lease agreement with a GREAT tenant!

Question: The TAR lease agreement I found online is old (2005 I think) and restricted for use by TAR members. Does anyone have a custom lease, perhaps that you use, that you could email me (username @ yahoo)? Just a blank template or draft would be very helpful! TIA!

Sent

AggieGunslinger said:

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Sitting empty a few months is better than a terrible tenant.

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No doubt

Well, technically my wife is the Landlord. Legally, she owns the house and is the sole mortgagee. I get to play property manager!

Lease starts tomorrow! Met the guy on Sunday morning, received application Sunday evening, contacted previous Landlord Tuesday morning, received security deposit Tuesday evening, signed lease on Wednesday! Four day turn!

26.2 - Email received, thank you!

Bump!

Just listed a condo in south Austin on Zillow and already drumming up interest. Plan is to use the Zillow rental interface to handle the credit and background checks. Looks like credit score of 620 is the lowest threshold folks want to deal with. In regards to the actual lease agreement, I see folks were pulling from online templates. Any advice there?
Oh, and Zillow also does online rent collection with no cost if using ACH, with option for cc at a fee. Anyone used this yet?

- When do you list your property as available for rent? My recommendation is 60 days in advance, however in Bryan/College Station i try and get leases to begin in July-Aug time frame and start pre-leasing as early as January. In the Austin MSA one month out is fine as demand is thru the roof. s

- What is your general position on pets, both cats and dogs? What pet deposit do you require? Do you keep 100% of the deposit generally? What breeds/sizes do you specifically exclude? As for pets, I think I saw a survey where 70% of renters have pets. So if you disallow pets you might be cutting your available market by 70%. Try and bullet proof your property as much as possible. Eliminate carpet when able. I replace pet deposit from my vocabulary and substitute non-refundable pet fee. A lot if not most apartments are starting to charge monthly pet rent as well. Be advised that if you have a small yard (duplex) one outdoor dog can turn your backyard into a dirt yard. Take a picture of the yard with grass so that you feel comfortable charging for sod when they move out.



- Regarding leases, do you provide your own or use a boiler-plate lease? The San Antonio property is likely to be rented directly through us rather than through a property management company. I use a non-proprietary lease. If you use the Texas Apartment Association Lease you must be a member or your lease could be invalid.

- Do you use a realtor to identify/locate tenants? We have a 4/3/2 in Houston that we are interested in renting beginning in May or June. We have worked with a realtor in buying a new property for us to live in, and she also handles rentals. What is the general fee? The house is on a busy street and a sign in the yard (as noted as a successful method to identify tenants) will be seen by hundreds of cars per day. The fee is negotiable but typically equal to 1 month's rent. My recommendation is to put a sign out front and post it on Zillow. Be advised that Zillow starting next month will be charging for more than one ad place in service with them. Look for local Facebook pages to post as well.

- What level of deposit do you require? 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 1900 sq feet single family house. $1400 rent. One month's rent.
Question you didn't ask:
- How should I screen applicants? Get potential tenants to give you as much information as possible from their current/previous landlords, and have tenants pay for credit/criminal/background checks using:

Good reply to the original post, Scrap. Curious if anyone has experience using the Zillow Rental interface and any feedback. I've already seen a few bugs in the listing portion. Also wondering if I should expect a buggy credit/background application report and rent collection.