All Forum Posts by: Amber Matas

@David K. great point! We inspect the house about twice a year and they have kept it pristine. I’d probably just repaint if they left and we could advertise and have it rented extremely fast in this particular neighborhood. All good points!

thanks for all the input. This particular home rents for $2700 a month. The $75 is after we have put money away for repairs, paid taxes, etc. As I stated but probably not very clearly, this wasn’t an investment property to begin with. The homes we purchased and own as investment properties we have a very different outlook on. We raise the rent yearly. 

This particular house was our primary residence and we rented it out inItially because we didn’t know if the relo was long term or not. So we weren’t super concerned other than covering the expenses and having good folks who took care of it in case we moved back in a year or two. 

Now  that we know we are settled in our new area, we are looking at it as it’s now an investment property since  we aren’t moving back into it. It just seemed like a big jump for one year to bump it that much. That’s why I thought bringing up to market over two years or so would be easier. If they moved out of course I would list at market. 

I’m not offended at being called a “hobby” landlord, but I am not sure why that was really mentioned. I am not some big time investor. I own three other properties and I run those as a business that all cash flow more than $500 a month and as I acquire more I will run those as a business as well. This isn’t my full time job. We all start some where. 😊

I appreciate all the input and I’m thinking  that the tiered option of one or two years at different rates might be a good way to go. 

Thanks all!

I think back then the fee was $9.00 for the tenants to send via money gram. They never had an issue. It was for a short period of time though, about six months, so that may have been why. The rent on that house was $1900/month and full disclosure it was about 10 years ago. Most of my tenants now deposit into my Wells Fargo accounts, either in person with check/money order or with Zelle and two happen to have accounts at the same credit union as me so they transfer over to accounts I have set up for propetries. 

Hi there! I use smartmove by trans union to check background and credit. You can set the criteria to be more or less stringent (I make mine more stringent). Some of the things I ask for include copies of DL, pay stubs, past rental references, proof of renters insurance, and copies of vaccination/rabies certificates for dogs (after I’ve met their pets). I have a minimum credit score of 650 and make sure that the income is 3x the rent. I also use EZlandlord for my forms. I’m sure that others have different criteria they work with or other suggestions but this is what works for me. I have really good, long term tenants in my properties. But this was all learned the hard way about 15 years ago when we bought our first property. 😊Goodluck!

I second MoneyGram. I’ve also had tenants deposit directly into a local bank. The bank receipt from the teller/atm then is their proof of deposit (it doesn’t give any info other than it was deposited) and my online record is a second paper trail.

Hey there! Looking for some thoughts on raising the rent. Here is my particular scenario: We have a property in Orange County, Ca. It’s in an extremely desirable, historic area, in an A+ school district. Homes rent in a few days at most in this neighborhood. The house is a 3 br/1 ba Craftsman, with a pool, pool house, and outdoor bath for the pool. The family that rents has been there two years and pays on time, takes excellent care of the house, and are all around good people. They have said they will stay as long as we let them. Right now, the rent covers all the expenses, maintenance, etc, plus we have a nominal cash flow of $75. Two years ago, the rent was just right for the market, but it was on the high end for the tenants. It was our primary residence and we moved due to job relo so we were more concerned about maintaining a place to live in OC if the move didn’t work. We don’t want to sell, and all the other properties we own are longer term, buy and hold situations. Now the home is under market, by $350 at least. I would never raise it that much unless it went vacant, but we were considering nominally raising the rent this third year, maybe $25 or $50. I know the tenants love the house and they want to stay long term (their last rental they were in for 7 years) but I also don’t want to lose great tenants over a few bucks. Thoughts? How do you determine raising the rent?

This is what I love about BP! Thanks for all the great tips everyone!  Everything has been thoroughly documented and their work was done by a licensed electrician, they took responsibility and we discussed how improvements should be made moving forward. I'm hoping this was just a case of a young lady who isn't familiar with clear and accurate conversation and that we are the road to a happy landlord/tenant relationship. 

@Greg H.- love it!  Just had both electricians take a look. There is a three way switch that should be a four way in garage and a little issue outside that we are attending to out of an abundance of caution. Total to fix $300.  Will take care of it. I did ask them point blank if they wanted to stay in the home and they look genuinely surprised, saying they loved the house, and they were sorry to cause issues. I told them legitimate repairs are never an issue and safety a priority but  that clear communication is key and if there are ever any issues in future please be specific so I can address them appropriately. To their credit, a I noticed a few improvements had made on their dime (new exterior lights were installed and  motion sensored). Dad wasn't at the property, but his facilities director was and we chatted a bit. Hopefully this all resolves itself as they settle in. Thanks for all the feedback.

Thanks everyone!  I currently have the NOLO book for Texas cracked open with a cup of coffee. :) I asked the tenants for specific concerns and have two licensed electricians on their way now where I will meet with each one individually to assess. Then we can talk to the tenants about what the "issues" may be. As an aside, I did have an electrician go through the home when we bought to assess any safety issues- we identified about $1000 worth of repairs we promptly took care of.  No other concerns were noted.

And Daddy owns a GC firm...

We will see what the electricians say and then we can assess. I appreciate the support.

Hi there- I am a newer landlord, several years under my belt, a few properties but all in California. We recently moved to Texas and bought our first investment property.

Let me start by saying I have very high and consistent screenings- all my tenants in our other homes are model (learned the hard way several years ago when we dabbled before the crash). We applied the same methods in Texas and a group of qualified, professional ladies moved in the home on a 12 month lease March 1. They had visited the property several times before signing the lease with their agent, I walked it with them both before and after signing and they turned in their move in checklist within 24 hours.

One week into living there, I have received an email from one of the tenants saying her father (copied on the email) has visited and decided there are major electrical issues with home. I have spent $50,0000 upgrading the home to current, high level finishes, addressed any noted safety concerns by my licensed electrician,  and they signed for home accepting as is.

The email was aggressive in nature with no real actionable items or specific concerns other than "GRAVE DANGER".  I've called two separate electricians out to review today, I feel they may positioning to try to get out of lease (or at least one of them is- the other two weren't copied). Her dad jumped in to the correspondence so I immediately stopped the thread, started a new one with all three tenants and outlined the steps I was taking to inspect the concern. Dad isn't on lease- I am not going to support that behavior where a grown woman has her daddy involved.

I plan on having a direct conversation with the three tenants on the lease to openly and responsibly address concerns.

Here are my questions:

In reviewing the deposit check, I noticed that her dad IS a joint on the checking account. He is not on the lease. Did cashing a check from him as a co-owner on a checking account mean I accepted him as a tenant? Pet deposit and rent came directly as an ACH transfer from another one of the  tenant's accounts directly.

Who decides "GRAVE DANGER?" I mean really- if I have to electricians out and they say it's not an issue, I have to go with the professional opinion. If the house is older but the systems are in good working order, am I required to upgrade to latest electrical code that changed this last November? I would think that's more of a convenience.

Last- do I really want them here?! I'm am reviewing my options. I hope that this settles down, and they can comfortably enjoy living in the home, but if it escalates, do I hold them to the whole year or offer them to buy out?  I don't want headaches for the entire year, dealing with someone's dad, but seriously, shouldn't they learn accountability? (Just wish I wasn't the one teaching the lesson!)

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks