Affluent but Frugal

Sunroom - my favorite part of the house If you have been reading real estate blogs or following real estate groups for the past few years everyone has been talking about short-term-rentals (AKA STRs, Airbnbs, vacation rentals) and saying it was THE way to make money in real estate. There are trends in everything and real estate is no exception. A few years ago it was flipping, and now it's short-term rentals. As a person who grew in the middle of the US and didn't see the ocean for the first time until I was 19, I really wanted a beach house. I love the beach. My dog loves the beach. My husband hated the beach, but he went with us anyway. It was my dream.  And we bought one in 2022.  Before we purchased, we looked at properties on several different beaches and I ran the numbers over and over again on individual properties to see what kind of profit/loss we could expect. I read everything I could in online groups about the unforeseen costs and pitfalls. I made budgets for furni...

One sad reality is that as women (and men too!) we have to think about our personal safety all the time. When you show a rental property, you're meeting people you don't know in a private home. Many people have favored open-house style showings in the past (I never really did) but with the COVID-19 pandemic those are more risky than meeting one on one with potential tenants. But we need to stay safe. Here are my tips for ensuring your personal safety while you build your empire. Pre-screen your tenants Even if you don't want to pre-screen your applicants, you need to collect some basic information on everyone who will be coming to view your property. At the very least, you need their name, phone number and email address. If they don't want to give you this, next! The buddy system It's unrealistic to bring another person every time you have a showing, I often show on my way home from work so arranging another person to come with me every time would be a PITA. However...

 It's been a stressful couple of weeks in the landlording game. We're doing a turn after our original tenants from our original rental property moved out and well, it needed some work. A water leak was discovered in the closet, there was damage to the flooring, it needed painted and lots of little things. And it's not over yet! Next, I will need to choose the new tenants. I had the property listed in early July, thinking I would show it while my tenants moved out and I had a bunch of inquiries in the couple of days it was listed. I ultimately decided not to show it until they moved because of COVID-19 and wow am I glad I made that decision because it needed a little TLC. Choosing the new tenants is the most important landlord decision you can make. The wrong choice can lead to months of stress and turmoil. A good choice leads to a smooth year (or years!) of on-time payments and a few maintenance requests. The funny thing about showing someone a house is they will tell you a...

 Nothing makes me want to hire a property manager like showing a house for rent. Then I think how much a property manager costs and decide I can handle a little hassle once in a while :) For me the absolute worst part of showings is people who just don't show up. I think back to my renter days and I don't think I ever no-showed to an appointment to see a rental. Ok, ok, maybe one time in college when I was looking at places and my mom insisted the neighborhood was too sketchy. Even then, I think we called the guy and to let him know. But the fact is, most people don't have the courtesy to cancel, they just don't show up. Rude! So how can we reduce the annoyance of no-shows? Here my top tips. 1) Schedule appointments 15 minutes apart, as many in a row as possible It might seem a little skimpy but 15 minutes is more than enough to look at a unit, even my 3 bedroom house people are only there about 15 minutes and if you have a no-show in the middle, it's not r...