All Forum Posts by: Brendon Woirhaye

As a California landlord, we are trying to figure out how to respond to this.  We routinely collect 1.25x the rent as our standard deposit, and will increase the deposit if a prospective tenant has risk factors in their past (credit scores which falls into a zone between fully qualified and unqualified), if their income is close to the limit, if they have only lived with relatives previously).

California and local jurisdictions have made landlording more risky, as it is not a simple matter to get a nonpaying or troublesome tenant out.  Gone are the days when a landlord could handle an eviction themselves.

I am thinking that we will need to revise our policies to have a higher credit limit, longer and deeper prior landlord references, and require higher income and longer income history. 

This law will make it even more difficult for marginal tenants or first time tenants to find housing.

Previously, California landlords could collect a security deposit of up to 2x the rent for an unfinished apartment or 3x for a furnished unit.  Under the new law, they will be restricted to collecting no more than 1x the rent.  

Security deposits may be used for:

* Unpaid rent owned by the tenant (does not include late fees)

* Damage to the premises, exclusive of ordinary wear and tear, caused by the tenant / guest / licensee of the tenant

* Cleaning to return the unit to the same level of cleanliness the tenant had when they moved in

* To remedy future defaults by the tenant in any obligation under the rental agreement to restore, replace, or return personal property or appurtenances, exclusive of ordinary wear and tear, if the security deposit is authorized to be applied thereto by the rental agreement.

There is an exception if the landlord is a natural person or LLC where all members are natural persons and no more than two rental properties are owned with no more than four units total, then they will be allowed to charge up to two months' rent, unless the tenant is a service member.

AB12 goes into effect on July 1, 2024, and does not apply retroactively.

Full details of the law are available at 

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.x...

Sorry to see him go, I've enjoyed a lot of his podcasts and writing over the years.  Good for him to live life on his own terms.

I am also a Whittier resident and built our rental business here.  Keeping your expenses well under your income is key to building your savings, and those savings give you the ability to invest.  Keep your standard of living inflation in check, learn about personal finance and real estate, build your reserves, and make connections with some people who can help you learn and maybe collaborate on deals with.

Welcome, Robert!  I am also a Whittier resident.

Must be an incompetent renovator.

"An Opportunity Zone is an economically-distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment. Localities qualify as Opportunity Zones if they have been nominated for that designation by the state and that nomination has been certified by the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service."

Per the IRS.  See more at https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/opportunity-zones-frequently-asked-questions

I do not know the Omaha market, but you can evaluate your RoE (return on equity) for your two properties vs. what you would get on a new purchase.  Assuming you are just shifting the equity from these properties to a new one, and not adding additional cash, you'd want the RoE on the new property to be higher than the existing ones - especially if your equity goes down (when you pay for the costs to sell the old properties).

I use Cozy for rent collection for about a dozen tenants.  Some of my tenants pay partial (eg: roommates where each pays about half of the rent), but Cozy doesn't refuse it if it is not the full amount.

There is a delay for a few days before Cozy sends it on to your bank.  I assume that the float is where they make their money for the otherwise free service (there is a premium version which deposits more quickly).

Service Animals are defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and as Lynnette E says, are only dogs and miniature horses (although some provisions only apply to dogs after 2011).  You cannot require documentation from them, but you can ask two and only two questions about them:

1 Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?

2 What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

You cannot ask about the disability.  You cannot ask for documentation about its training, or ask for it to demonstrate its training.  You cannot charge "pet rent" or an increased deposit.  You cannot exclude a particular animal because you think they may present a danger to others based on your experience (ie: you know that pitbulls can be aggressive), but you CAN deny a particular animal if they act aggressively or present a threat.  You CAN require that the resident provide documentation about local registration, licensing, and vaccination requirements.

If we receive a query from a tenant, our default response is "We comply with all state and federal laws pertaining to service animals".  We have experienced applicants who ask about pets and then the pet turns into a "emotional support animal".