All Forum Posts by: Amber Spence

And she does have a police report for the breakin. She just didn't report it until days after the fact. She has emails to the management company stating the door still wasn't locking properly and the 'breakin' occurred before it was fixed. She is screaming extreme emotional distress for her and her children. Again, it was someone she knew and I'm afraid it would come down to a he said/she said in court.

I should also mention, I'm not afraid to face her in court, I would welcome it. We are just scared of court in general and having to pay her attorney fees, discovery and everything else. She's been such a bully we don't want to let her just walk away.

Wow! You guys, thank you so much for all your input, we appreciate it more than you know! Just a few points to clarify... *We aren't in contact with the tenant, just the though the PM *We agree PM dropped the ball on more than one occasion, unfortunately we found out late after the fact. *The roommates were family members (not two friends) *The quotes for damages/repairs came to around 2k per quotes our PM got from vendors. It was mostly painting, wood filming, cleaning and disposing of items left behind. Since tenant didn't provide adequate move out notice (asked for a 60 day extension and 14 days before end of original lease said oh never mind, pm didn't get extension signed so we had to incur a large vacancy cost with only two weeks to advertise-we know they are terrible and there contract releases them if responsibility). So, my husband did the repairs himself and the PM advised it would be fine to charge the tenant the quotes form the vendors. We hired an attorney to look everything over (as the tenant was threatening before she moved out and we wanted to make sure we were being fair and reasonable) Our attorney advised to avoid court and give it back, he said it doesn't state in the lease we can charge for time to repair and a judge might not see his time as the same as an actual vendor. He advised if the judge awards her even $1 we are on the hook for ALL her fees! That scared us and we gave back everything except the grass charge which is firm in the lease. **shes not necessarily wanting to sue over the grass charge but she's using that as leverage to not sign a release so she can sue, us, PM, and our homeowner insurance for liable for the breakin that occurred (which I explained above is incredibly fishy!) Its an really crazy situation and we specifically hired professionals to avoid the situation we are in now unfortunately we are the ones paying the cost. Again, thank you all for your advice and opinions, it's really helped us feel more confident about her threats.

Thank you all for the quick response, we really appreciate it! She's not wanting to sue over the small part of the deposit we are keeping. She's using that as leverage to not sign the release as she's wanting to additionally sue for the 'break in' that occurred. She feels there is several thousand to be made there. (She's claiming extreme emotional distress etc). I agree she's bluffing but our PM has stated she is unlike anyone they've ever come across and the don't feel confident she is bluffing.

Hey everyone, My husband and I had the tenant from hell in our single family home. We also hired a management company to manage the property. (Our first time as landlords, we outsourced to make sure we did everything right and was protected). Back in the spring we found out through our neighbors that tenants room mate was planning to move out 4-5 months early and tenant was worried she wouldn't be able to keep paying rent. A few weeks later tenant also advised management company that a sliding door locked itself while she was outside. management company sent out a company to fix. Repairman rebuilt the tracks. Tenant stated it wasn't locking properly after that. Repairman came back out and stated the whole frame needed replaced but no one would come out and do it. The management company was in the process of getting quotes (update the same door is still on and works and locks just fine!). The house also has a working alarm system. My husband and I payed the bill for the track rebuilt but were never notified of the additional complaints (until 2 weeks ago) So when the tenant was away someone broke into the house and stole two lap tops and a xbox. She didn't file a claim or a police report until weeks later, she didn't even notice. We never received a claim of door or window damages-none occurred. She later told our lawn guy the person that broke in was her ex workout partner. (The house is in an incredibly safe neighborhood as well). We all suspect it was staged so she could break the lease when her roommate moved out. Flash forward to the end of her lease, she started threatening law suites before she moved out that if her deposit was not returned in full she would be suing for any and everything. She did about 2k in damages to the house (chipped door frames, ink on walls, scraped up stair cases, etc). She also had a trampoline that killed a large patch of grass. We hired an attorney that advised giving back everything that could be a gray area so we agreed to give back everything minus the cost of resodding the area under the trampoline that is clearly stated in the lease. We also ask she sign a release that if we give her back her (undeserved) full deposit minus the small grass charge there will be no future law suites and everything could to put to rest. She agreed to these terms then the next day stated no deal she wants it ALL back as well or she is filing a law suit against the management company, us and our homeowners insurance for liable (nothing to do with her deposit). She's refused to take responsibility on ANYTHING. My husband and I and the management company are all beside ourself and our management company who has a portfolio of 400+ properties stated they have never dealt with anyone like this in all their experience. We do NOT want to give her back anymore because of how awful she is being and how much of the damages she caused we already absorbed. We also don't want to spend 10-20k in court fees over a cost to resodd a small area. but we don't want to let her get away with bullying/threatening everyone (which is exactly what she's been doing). It's clear she is desperate and after a money grab. Has anyone ever been through anything similar or have any advice? Thank you!!

Hello, We have a rental home (was our personal home) and hired a management company to professionally manage. Per our lease agreement our tenants were to provide a 60 day notice and our management company sold us on the fact they advertise a property for 60 days in advance as well. So aug 1 st our tenants gave notice to vacate on sept 30 in accordance to our agreement. Then mid aug we get a notice from our management company that the tenants would like to extend their lease 60 days until nov 30th. We agreed pending a walk through (that's wasn't completed until one week later). So toward the end of August we agreed to extend 60 days and our management company advised they would take care of it and send of an addendum. Flash forward another 2-3 weeks to September 16th we get notice from the management company the extension was never signed and tenants will be vacating at original notice date of 9/30. As you can understand my husband and I were left in shock as we thought this was handled and only leaving us 14 days to advertise/re-rent the property instead of our advised 60 days. The management company scrambled to advertise the property again and posted ads before our review (so we never got to increase rent) I should also mention our house rented in 3 days the first time around, it's a nice house in a nice area and fabulous school zone. Fast forward, we have planned on the standard vacancy cost but because of the failure to advertise we won't have tenants moving in until 11/20 giving us a 6 week vacancy or 3k! We feel the management company should split the vacancy cost (or some sort of retritubition)with us since it was their mistake but they do not feel they've done anything wrong and they said 'we can't force someone to sign an agreement' but from our point of view we feel 2 weeks of no signature is cause for concern or at least to communicate with us. Has anyone ever experienced this or have any thought and feedback that can help us? Thank you! Amber

Hi @Jon Huber,

We would love to come for the meet up. We are looking to network, learn more about this market from the insiders and make some new connections and friends. Good coffee is a plus too. :-) 

Please let us know the details.

Thanks for the invite and insight. 

Amber

Hi everyone, 

I have an off topic question I'm looking for feedback on. My husband and I recently moved from the Orlando area (we are renting out our house there) to the Jupiter area (Palm beach county). We are still learning the market here but it seems a little crazy to me. Prices seem to be climbing very quickly (12%+  in the last 4-6 months). We are looking to buy a home here but not sure if we should wait a little while and see if a dip happens or jump now before they climb even higher. I've spokes to a few realtors and they say the climb is here to stay as they have a lot of cash buyers (in the 4-600k range) and also wages have stabilized and demand is high. 

I'm just looking for feedback on investors familiar with the area, what are your thoughts and predictions for this year? 

Thank you!

Amber