Other Recent Articles
How to manage prospective tenants efficiently, effectively and without killing them
One of the many things that amazed me about the management side of real estate investing was the "No Show." The No Show is the prospective tenant who calls to say they drove by the house, love it, and would like to sign a lease right away. You make arrangements to show them the house, [...]
6Mar2008 | Rob | 10 comments | Continued
How to Completely Remodel a Kitchen for Under $4,000 (Part 2)
In the previous article in this series, I looked at factors to consider when deciding whether and to what extent a real estate investor should remodel a kitchen. With our property, No Basement, Mike and I decided to completely renovate the kitchen using a budget of just $4,000. In this article, I’ll be [...]
22Feb2008 | Rob | 8 comments | Continued
When Tenants Don’t Pay (Part 2—The Reality, The Reason, and the Response)
Tenants pay their rent late for only two reasons. The first, and I would suggest the primary, reason is this: because landlords have invited them to do so.
Go ahead and take a minute to think about this. Rob, you can take two. Right now, I suspect that everyone is trying to recall [...]
How to Completely Remodel a Kitchen for Under $4,000 (Part 1)
When Mike and I first began investing in real estate, the thought of undertaking a major rehab was overwhelming to me. We had spent a weekend looking at potential investments, many of which needed substantial repairs. In fact, one of the properties reminded me of the basement in Silence of the Lambs. [...]
14Feb2008 | Rob | 10 comments | Continued
When Tenants Pay Late (Part 1 – The Initial Discussion)
With rental properties, tenant screening is a must. But even with screening, if you own rental properties, you’ll eventually get this tenant call:
“Mr. Landlord. I was calling to let you know that I’m going to be late on my rent this month. What happened was [insert personal financial calamity here].”
Over the years, [...]
Three Carnivals; No Waiting
This week, PaidTwice hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance and challenged her arch-nemesis and this week’s host of the Festival of Frugality, Being Frugal, to a face-off of Super Bowl proportions. We chose to cast our lot with PaidTwice, with our article, Homeowners–Avoid Foreclosure By Thinking Like Investors, and regardless of the outcome, we [...]
9Feb2008 | Mike | 2 comments | Continued
Piggyback Credit Histories to Increase Your Credit Score
A good credit score can save a real estate investor thousands of dollars in interest payments over the course of a mortgage loan. And a poor credit score can block financing at the outset. So how does one with a low credit score get it up, so to speak. Well, there are [...]
5Feb2008 | Rob | 16 comments | Continued
Highlighting a Couple of Real Estate Cohorts and TWA Commenters
It’s been on my to-do list for awhile now. So I wanted to take a moment to recognize a couple of fellow real estate investors/TWA commenters who also share information from their own investment experiences to the interweb viewing public.
Terry @ Fixer Uppers and Rental Houses is an individual real estate investor that takes [...]
Homeowners—Avoid Foreclosure by Thinking Like Investors
Foreclosure news has become an all too common headline. This week’s news cycle about foreclosure activity increasing 75% in 2007 was just the latest in a continuous stream of bad news for some homeowners. While we write principally for the real estate investor here on TWA, we are joining a group of our personal [...]
1Feb2008 | Mike and Rob | 15 comments | Continued
Haven’t Filed 1099-Misc Forms Yet? Here’s a Solution
Earlier this week, Rob wrote an article about 1099-Misc filing requirements for real estate investors. After the bellyaching about my lack of timeliness, he noted that an electronic filing option is available but wrote that we use the paper filing method. There’s a reason.
Unlike most tax forms, which can be obtained in fillable [...]
Jason, I can tell you how we would handle this. We would start eviction proceedings immediately. If you ...
I have a tenant who always pays late and pays the usually sends late fees. They have been good ...
The way I understand it, the federal government will be repaid on the zero-interest, nonrecourse loans. Loans for homeownership properties ...
As a landlord, how can I report my tenant's EXCELLENT payment history? They've been great tenants & never missed ...
Is it true that 80% don't pay off their interest-free financing on time? Personally, I've never had problems getting rebates, ...
On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, ...
It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.ThomasJeffersonThomas Jefferson 
the peak will come end of 2008. sorry guys, the worst is not over... 
Wow.. this article really cooled me down! and what an apt title..
With two no-shows on two consecutive days, i was ...