At Home In The Woods

[TaterinTexas]

While we were living in Charlotte in 2005, we bought 61 rural acres on the Cumberland Plateau located 1 1/2 hour west of Knoxville, TN. The property is very scenic with a mature forest, bluffs, waterfall, creek, and river. When I was hired in 2006 in Knoxville for a permanent position (not contract), I was able to work out a deal with my employer to work 2 days a week from home. With this schedule, we intended to build on our rural property, and I would commute to Knoxville 3 days a week. However, having family in Knoxville, my wife really wanted to live closer to Knoxville. Thus, we now have 61 acres for sale. Unfortunately, the real estate market is not real strong right now. Some pictures of the property are shown below.

Wow..that's some beautiful land

 

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Wow..that's some beautiful land

Tater, we did love that property. However, I'm happy we were able to sell it. Living here in East Tennessee, we can visit sites like that easily whenever we wish. I don't have to own it.
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Do yourself a favor. Run their credit and criminal histories. Save yourself lots of headaches. Another problem, if they use federal aid to pay the rent, usually they won't put their "man" on the lease, but he for sure will stay there. You can usually weed these out with the credit and criminal background checks.

Kyle,
I'll run a credit a criminal history on all adults who occupy the property. There's an online service I plan to use to do so.
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I had 3 appointments to show the rental house tonight. Two off them cancelled this afternoon. One had found a place to rent. The other one said "something came up." At least they called and didn't just no-show. I met the other couple at the house. She said the master BR was too small for her furniture so they won't be renting.

Basically tonight felt like a wasted evening. Because of the cancellations, I was not able to make good use of my time this evening.

 

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Groundhog???
I just saw this animal in our front yard. I'm guessing it is a groundhog.

Waste no time in getting out the 22 rifle and eliminating this pest. It will find your wife's garden and never leave. Most likely starting a family to enjoy the fruits of her labor. :thumbsdown:

It didn't occur to me that a groundhog would eat the garden. Bummer.
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[Bill 55]

There won't be anything in the garden he won't like. Heck he might even dig a new hole in the yard to be closer to the groceries. Around my place they are treated with extreme malice and dealt with guickly and harshly.

 

[Coyote machine]

I had 3 appointments to show the rental house tonight. Two off them cancelled this afternoon. One had found a place to rent. The other one said "something came up." At least they called and didn't just no-show. I met the other couple at the house. She said the master BR was too small for her furniture so they won't be renting.

Basically tonight felt like a wasted evening. Because of the cancellations, I was not able to make good use of my time this evening.

Welcome to owning rental property.:confused3: Huge amounts of wasted time you will spend. I have my tenants provide me with a copy of their own separate renter's insurance policy; I require it, in addition to first and last and first month's rent, at beginning of rental time. You may want to limit the number of people occupying the house too, in writing. I didn't and 2 went to 3 then 4 with baby. More strain on septic system!:thumbdown:
My insurance on the rental is slightly higher than if it's not rented due to greater risk with tenants. You need to be careful as to what you do regarding background checks/criminal checks re violating people's rights to privacy. It may vary by state laws. Do your due diligence.

 

[Scooter78]

Also put in your lease and follow through with quarterly property checks. I had a guy not tell me the master shower floor had cracked and was leaking water. It was not till after he moved out that I discovered the damage. That was all my fault for not following through with inspections. A good friend of mine that has several rental house sprays for bugs once a quarter. He said this lets him check things out with out the home owner feeling invaded. He sprays and looks around and if he sees something tells them he noticed this while spraying and he will have somebody come by and fix it. Needless to say had I been doing something like that I would not be out $5,000 in shower and wood floor damage. Live and learn.

Scooter

 

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You need to be careful as to what you do regarding background checks/criminal checks re violating people's rights to privacy.

Good point. The credit and background check service I plan to use limits some of the information I am able to receive for these reasons.
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Also put in your lease and follow through with quarterly property checks. I had a guy not tell me the master shower floor had cracked and was leaking water. It was not till after he moved out that I discovered the damage. That was all my fault for not following through with inspections. A good friend of mine that has several rental house sprays for bugs once a quarter. He said this lets him check things out with out the home owner feeling invaded. He sprays and looks around and if he sees something tells them he noticed this while spraying and he will have somebody come by and fix it. Needless to say had I been doing something like that I would not be out $5,000 in shower and wood floor damage. Live and learn.

Scooter

Scooter,
The lease does allow for inspections. A friend of mine sprays his rentals for insects every month just so he can inspect the property. I plan to do the same.
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