All Forum Posts by: Adam Christopher Zaleski

@Danielle Dunn I have lived in Pueblo West since November 2019. I don't think anything has changed regarding the rules of STR. They don't have a team of people that scrub the internet trying to discourage it. However, it's technically still not permitted. I was communicating with someone in 2023 that called Pueblo County to try to get some specific answers regarding STR. They didn't get any useful information.

Pueblo is currently recreational river area near City Park. It's pretty amazing. It's supposed to be done later this year. It's going to be a great summer attraction. 

https://www.kktv.com/2024/07/16/river-surfing-coming-pueblo/

The old Victorian homes near downtown Pueblo and the Aberdeen neighborhood are super charming. When I first moved to the area I fantasized about fixing one up for a primary residence. However, after learning about the education in District 60, we decided against it and bought in Pueblo West. I am not an expert on downtown Pueblo. However, I would say that the downtown and Riverwalk area gets a little bit nicer each year. Have you been to Fuel and Iron Food Hall? The culinary faculty from Pueblo CC created it after they closed the culinary program at the college. Over the past 5 years, I haven't seen any progress on District 60 schools getting any better. I also haven't really seen any progress on reducing crime and or homelessness in the city of Pueblo. Those would be my concerns.  

Here is one more prediction for Pueblo West. At some point a big developer is going to build a brand new "Restaurant Row" in Pueblo West. When that happens that is going to be the signal that appreciation is going to outpace wages. 

I have lived in Pueblo West for the past 5 years. The crime is much lower in Pueblo West and we do not have a homeless problem. We don't have panhandlers in Pueblo West asking for money in grocery store parking lots like the city of Pueblo. If you are looking at crime data for the entire city of Pueblo, it's not going to be representative of Pueblo West. 

District 70 schools in Pueblo West are way better than District 60 in Pueblo. I'm not throwing shade. I don't think anyone that lives in Pueblo County would dispute those claims. My son's elementary school (K-5) won an award for being in the top 7 schools in the state for biggest increase in standardized test scores from fall 2022 to spring 2023. This was for all K-12 schools in the state, including charter schools.  

I bought my house in Pueblo West in November 2019 for 280K. It's now worth about 385K and I didn't do any work or improvements. That's 38% appreciation in 4.3 years. If I had at least a 10 year timeline, I would personally bet on more appreciation for Pueblo West than Colorado Springs. However, Colorado Springs is so large it probably depends on the neighborhood. 

I have rentals in Fort Collins, Fort Myers, FL and Koloa, HI. I am somewhat familiar with living in vacation areas in which housing prices are disconnected with local wages. I personally believe that Pueblo West has long-term potential of housing prices to outpace local wages. I play golf with people at Desert Hawk in Pueblo West that are snowbirds and own multiple homes. The reservoir is a big draw for wealthy families that enjoy boating. Have you seen the new parking lot for boats at the Mariana on the north end? They tripled the size of the original lot. 

Pueblo West has a high quality of life that is difficult to duplicate in other areas. It's still a deal right now, but I don't see that lasting forever. I predict that over the next 10 years Pueblo West will close the gap on pricing to Fort Collins by 50%. In 20 years Pueblo West might match Fort Collins on housing price. You heard it here first! 

Indy Property #1 doubling in appreciation in 10 years is really good. However, I don't understand how the cash flow can only be $66/month, after doubling in value. The rent should have gone up by at least 50% if the appreciation doubled. 

I bought a SFH college rental in Fort Collins in 2007. By 2017, the appreciation doubled (182K to 365k) and the rent doubled ($1250 to $2500). With 20% down, and a mortgage rate of 6%, the original PITI was $1040. I then refinanced in 2009 to 4.75% and my PITI went down to $950. I think it's worth about 510K today and current rents are lagging at $2600/month. I provided a $150/month discount for good renters to renew this past year. Current mortgage rate is at 3.5%, so I'm not selling even though rents are currently lagging. I'm playing the long game. Rents should rebound in the near future.

It looks like small claims is now 100% on-line. This is not just for filing, it's for the whole process. They use a software program called, "Turbo Court". Has anyone used this software or have any advice? 

I gave them until January 6, 2023 to pay, which they are not going to do. I will be filing a small claims case January 7-10. 

The wealthy co-signer is doubling down on his threats, in an email, which I will be including in the judgment against him and his son. They have no merit, but he has the resources to bully someone with false claims. I'm guessing his assets are at a minimum of 20 million. After I file in small claims, I am expecting a threatening letter from a lawyer representing him with more false claims. 

I'm planning on continuing with small claims because I have a 99% chance of winning. I served him a 10-day eviction notice on November 25th for non-payment of rent. His last day was supposed to be December 5th. He stayed another 13 days past his eviction notice and continued to not pay rent. In my opinion, there is no way I can lose in small claims. However, I was just wondering if I am missing something relevant to my claim or unrelated to my claim.  

You are correct. This was a mistake of screening on my part. I found the problem with my screening process and it has been corrected. I've been a landlord for 16 years and I have 3 properties (4 doors). This is my first bad tenant. I'm usually really good at tenant screening and why I don't use a PM. 

The kid tenant moved out on December 18th. I sent a demand letter to the kid tenant and co-signer parent for $1522 on December 22nd, to be paid by January 6th. If he doesn't pay by January 6th, I will be filing a claim in small claims court. The claim is for 18 days of rent, cleaning fee, lawn maintenance fee, late fees and 13 days of vacancy. 

If they don't pay $1522 by January 6th, the price goes up to $2800 + court fees because as a landlord, I might be entitled to 30 days of vacancy, even if no vacancy actually occurs. I first ask for 13 days of vacancy because that is what actually happened. However, if I go to court, I'm going to try to get as much as I am legally entitled, which could be up to $2800 + court fees in small claims court. The rental is in Hawaii on the island of Kauai. Hawaii is a landlord friendly state. I have followed all the rules and regulations. 

For context, my rental is a basement 1-bedroom "long-term" rental that is furnished at $2200/month. Market rent is $2500/month, but the tenants gets a discount for mowing the lawn, which they didn't do. I paid the neighbor kid $60/mow, which takes him 1.5 hours per mow. Professional mowers would be double. 

The kid tenant rented my long-term rental for 2-months and then bailed. Furnished short-term rentals cost 3-4 times as much. Yes, you read that correctly. Similar units that are zoned for short-term rentals (less than 6 months) cost 3-4 times as much. No, I did not make a mistake. For Kauai County, anything less than a 6 month lease is considered a short-term rental.   

As a result, the kid tenant got a huge discounted vacation by renting a long-term rental and then breaking the lease. This is a culturally sensitive topic for Kauai because he is using a long-term rental as a vacation rental. This behavior takes housing supply away from the long term rental pool. In my opinion, a judge would not react kindly to this type of behavior. I am actually hoping that I go to small claims court. 

I agree with others that it is small stakes and I'm going to proceed as stated above. I was just curious if anyone else ever experienced a bully. He is trying to intimidate me with the false claims of a gas leak, which didn't work. I am pretty much done communicating with him.  

I'm thinking it's going to take another 2-3 months to resolve. I will provide updates.Thanks for the feedback.  

I had a tenant for two months. They got evicted for not paying rent and eventually left, but on their own terms. It's a 20-year old rich kid that has zero accountability. His dad is very wealthy and is a bully

His son left owing 18 days of rent, cleaning fee, late fees and some lawn maintenance fees because he didn't mow the lawn for 30 days and mowing the lawn was part of the lease. 

The dad wants a full deposit return minus the cleaning fee, which is not even connected to reality. He also mentioned that he thinks there is a gas leak in the rental unit and his son had to go to the doctor twice to get treated for head aches. This is a totally made up story. It never happened. I interpret this as a threat and intimidation. I have all the documentation needed to show that he gets zero deposit back and still owes an extra $1500. 

All deposit disputes are handled in small claims court in my state, no exceptions. If we go to small claims court, I win. He doesn't have a chance. As a result, I think he is going to try alternative methods. I am expecting a threatening letter from a lawyer in 1-2 weeks. Any ideas or suggestions on how to handle bullies? 

I have an unlicensed handyman that did a 27K basement remodel. He is a great finished carpenter and can do minor plumbing and electrical. If the plumbing or electrical gets too complicated, he subs it out. When he subs stuff out, it will take at least one week for those guys to show up because they are coming to my house on their "day off" 

He buys everything at Home Depot and then when he checks out they call me to put it on my credit card. If he doesn't use any material, I return it and it goes back on my card. I pay him an hourly rate. On weekends, I served as his assistant to save money. It was a great partnership. 

Since the basement remodel we did two additional projects in the 5K range each. 

I moved to Pueblo West in August 2019. When I first got here, I thought buying one of the nicer duplexes would be a nice long term play. It might not cash flow a ton, I think you could get good tenants in that area and it should be relatively simple, as far as rentals go. I kept busy with my current rentals and never pulled the trigger. 

Pueblo West has higher rents than Pueblo because the prices are higher in Pueblo West and Pueblo West has better schools. For the rental analysis, it looks like they pulled the taxes from 2018. On a 420K duplex, the annual taxes are going to be $3600/year, not $1700/year. The property taxes on my house were $1200/year in 2018. The property taxes are $2950/year for 2024.