All Forum Posts by: Amy Little

@Mary C. Mathews one more thing.....curious why you’d send a repair person out to exercise the cooling warranty option after the service man for the freezer told you the leak wasn’t worth replacing? Are these 2 separate units - freezer and refrigerator?

I’d think if one guy said it’s cheaper to replace than repair, what’s the benefit of the second warranty guy coming out?

@Mary C. Mathews Review your lease very carefully. Most leases state that a landlord has to, in good faith, try to remedy the situation in a reasonable time. It sounds like that is what you were doing. If the tenant jumps the gun and buys their own refrigerator, well then, they are the proud owners of a new refrigerator that they can haul to the next place.

When my husband and I rented in CA, my husband bought a new toilet seat and tried to bill back the landlord. I had told my husband that he needed to get the OK from our landlord first before doing that. Guess what? Landlord didn’t reimburse us...which I knew was going to happen. We were the proud owners of a toilet seat!

Every state rental laws are slightly different. I don’t think you are required to reimburse any portion of the refrigerator. Also, the tenant isn’t required to leave that behind when they move out.

A very Jerry Springer incident. Would love some advice.

I had 2 roommates(boyfriend/girlfriend scenario) renting a unit from me. GF calls me to tell me that her BF was violent with her and she wants him gone. She also tells me he has punched 2 holes in the wall. BF, calls the next day to say he doesn't want to live there and is moving on. I tell him I know about the holes in the wall; he doesn't deny putting them there. 

Get a verbal estimate quote from a company to address the repairs and it's quite hefty (~$1200) because the holes are through wood paneling, not drywall. This means removal of old paneling, install new paneling, prime, & paint. I offer to apply his portion of the deposit to the repairs, but he also needs to give me additional money to cover the overages (the estimate was double the cost of his deposit) with the caveat that if it is less, I'll return the left over money and if it is more, I'll eat those costs. Side note- the security deposit was paid in full, to me, by the GF. I was willing to acknowledge his half of the security deposit, although my legal obligation for returning the deposit is to her.

He tells me he will make the repairs. The lease clearly states that he is not allowed to make repairs without my authorization and, of course, I don't authorize it. The, now, ex-GF calls to tell me that he showed up, repaired the holes and has been harassing her. She filed a civil complaint against him for harassment and shared the case number with me. To my knowledge, he doesn't know that this has been done.

Today, I go over to 'collect' the overage cost for repair. Since the ex-GF clued me, I know that not on his agenda. He shows me the repair work he has done which, of course, looks awful and he's not giving me any money. 

I provide an addendum to the lease for him to sign(including, ex-GF & myself) stating that he is not longer legally on the lease. I also note on the document, and make him sign, that he did unauthorized repairs. I didn't go the eviction route because there was no need. He had expressed he wanted to leave, moved all of his belonging out, plus she now has this civil case issued against him for harassment. 

My question in all of this is....how to get the cost covered for the repair work. We are going to have his 'repairs' corrected the right way. It is going to cost more that his half of the security deposit. Now that he is officially off the lease, how will small claims court react to suing for cost of repairs? (i.e., will they say take it out of the deposit OR will they look at this incident as wholly on its own)

@Sam Shueh Didn't know that was possible on Zillow. Curious - does Zillow take a cut of the sale or no?

My husband and I have a duplex that we have decided to sell. Ideally, we want to do an off-market transaction. We've acquired property via off-market, but never sold off-market. I've sent our offer package to real estate attorneys around town & spread word of mouth through friends. What are some other creative ways to get the word out?  

@Eric Maury - I had the same problem. When rent renewals came up, I simply add water as part of their rent. I went with the average and split it across both units. One is a 2/1 the other is a 3/2 so the 3/2 pays a little more. 

I looked into sub metering and it was going to be about 5K so the easiest was to just make the tenets pay.

I second @Caleb Heimsoth....terminate them and find someone else. I'd also recommend the book Landlording on Autopilot. This guy set up a great system that enabled him to landlord his own properties. if you are already sending over your contractors to do the work, running the PM side of things might not be so bad.

@Ryan Larson I haven't put my properties into an LLC yet, but am in the process. I'm no lawyer...but here is what my real estate attorney told me. Technically, banks do want you as an individual listed on the property. However, if you file to change your name into an LLC, a bank could call the note, but highly unlikely. Banks care more about getting paid on time versus crawling through every mortgage to see who has moved their loan into an LLC. Lots of people do it and she has never seen a loan called for full payment because of it.

She also mentioned the trend now is people are just getting huge $1M umbrella policies to protect themselves versus moving into an LLC. May be another angle you want to consider.

@Marion Lee Sounds to me like they are trying to sneak more dogs. As I'm sure you are aware, someone service dogs and emotional support dogs cannot be denied a rental. Plus, what they probably have is an emotional service animal (helps you mentally) vs a true service support animal (one that has been specifically trained, think seeing eye dog). You can ask for paperwork supporting their need. What they cannot do is have 2 additional dogs show up at some point in the future without properly filing notice to the landlord. It should be part of your rental policy (i.e., tenant must notify landlord of any emotional/support animal on property). 

Telling you and filing out the required paperwork are 2 different things. I actually had a tenant sneak a dog in to a property and then claimed it was an emotional support dog so he didn't have to pay anything additional in rent. He legally had to back pay the pet rental deposit & fees BECAUSE he did not fill out the paperwork prior to bringing the dog on site. Had he filled out the paperwork, he wouldn't have to pay a thing.

We found out the 'emotional support' dog was there when it attacked a neighbors dog and she told us. You should read this article: https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/SERVANIMALS_NTCFHEO2013-01.PDF 

@Jason Kinkle I would keep calling banks and credit unions to see if someone would take the portfolio loan. I know they can be done it is just finding the right lender. Make sure all of your supporting analysis on the cashflow of the properties is spelled out clearly for a lender. 

Another option would to take out a HELOC (or a couple) on your investment properties. PenFed is one of the few credit unions that will give you a HELOC on investment properties. You'll pay more in interest, but you'll have access to the capital you need.