All Forum Posts by: Andrea Townsley

I also want to point out that newer agents still have to work under a broker who should be providing training and advice to help them help you. It’s not like it’s the blind leading the blind. Brokers in my state have to have two years of experience plus more state-mandated education in order to “upgrade” to a broker’s license.

Some agents like working with investors and understand the work involved. Some do not and they’re not the right fit for you.

I think the non-investor-friendly agents don't understand that many deals are off market anyway so it's not like they are constantly scouring the MLS. Plus with automated listings being sent out, there is virtually no work until the investor brings a property they are interested in and wants comps for ARV, or when they are ready to make an offer, or they want you to list their flip!

So...his loss. Keep looking.

I just want to point out that laws on this vary by state and some of the comments made that generalize to all situations are not really valid in all states. For example, Georgia is not tenant friendly and the LL does not have to mitigate damages if a tenant leaves early. Ethics should say that it’s good policy to do it anyway, but most don’t care (at least the big rental companies I dealt with in the Atlanta suburbs a few years ago).

@Thomas Lee Nuckles

I’d run far away from that PM due to her attitude alone. Do you need a PM, though, or are you just looking to get opinions on pricing?

I agree with you that you could likely get more for yours, probably into that range you’re considering. I know nothing of the area, I’m just going off your comments here. If the numbers work in the $800-900 range, anything else is just gravy. But I agree with the others that you can always reduce the rate if nobody bites, and FOR SURE good photos will go a long way.

I think this is going to be location dependent. If is not common to see them in this area, especially in older homes with small kitchens, skip it (personally I prefer more cabinets and hand wash everything, even with my large family). I have not used a dishwasher in years bc they never clean the dishes well and sometimes they leak when the seal goes bad (easy fix but if it goes unnoticed, this could be a big issue).

BUT if you’re in an area where it’s pretty typical to see them, even in smaller/older homes that have been rehabbed, I would put it in. It’s a small cost overall. I wouldn’t expect them to maintain it like clearing the food trap or checking the integrity of the seal so perhaps make that part of your routine maintenance to extend the useful life of it.

When we lived in Milwaukee, this was pretty typical of bungalow style homes that were older. A lot of them were converted into upper/lower duplexes and most didn’t have central air, just window units. A lot of times it’s just a single controller for the radiator on the wall and you’re lucky to have a window unit. We usually used ours for like two months of the year.

Here in Florida, the second floor is ALWAYS hotter, it’s just a matter of how hot it gets. South and west facing windows can increase temps by a good 10° no matter what floor. It’s just a fact of life since heat rises and the afternoon sun is stronger.

For you, get the window unit and call it a day. It stays with the house, make that clear. There likely aren’t even ducts up there for the central unit.

Your HVAC guy could have handled it better both with the tenants and in his explanation to you. I’d find a new one.

@Wesam S.

I am not saying you are the slumlord, I was responding to the other poster I quoted.

It sounds like they are being difficult, but it’s hard when you rent a place and a bunch of stuff goes wrong. We all let our tempers flare at times when we get frustrated and it could just be that they are frustrated with all of it.

They may not have the means to up and move but I would offer to let them out if they are unhappy. They might decline and say they prefer to stay. You do have the option to not renew the lease, which sounds like it will be coming up soon. It’s your call.

Whaaaaat? 

“The water heater might go out, I know a window is broken, there are tree roots destroying the plumbing and you may not be able to flush a toilet soon, and I know some of the electrical is fussy...but I have no plans to make any of it right. You can take it or leave it.”

That is the definition of a slumlord.

So I’ve dealt with many crappy landlords over my years of being a tenant. I am NOT saying you are a crappy landlord at all, I don’t know you so hear me out.

I have moved into three different places (all sight unseen, which is my fault but cross country relocations are hard all around) that needed lots of work done as soon as we moved in. Sometimes they have taken care of things properly and promptly, and other times they thought I was nuts. I have always listed these things on my move in inspection sheet, btw. One example: I have young children and moving into a place that has things like the gas furnace (upstairs in the closet between the bedrooms) not working properly and the HVAC tech telling me it was installed wrong are not things that would warrant me being seen as a complainer. In your situation, electrical problems across the house - it’s completely understandable that they would complain as it’s not just an inconvenience but a safety issue, like mine was with the gas furnace.

Work that was done and not finished or where the contractor left a mess for the tenant to clean is something I would complain about. It’s not my fault the work needs done, and it’s not my fault they didn’t try to clean up (this has also happened to me in the house I’m currently in - guy got caulk all over the bathroom after reseating a wobbly toilet, and I didn’t notice till it was hardened).

I wouldn’t complain every day but if I felt I was being ignored, and it was a habitual issue, I might get increasingly more upset with you.

If to them it seems like “it’s always something,” they might be happy to leave. One landlord let me out of the lease after I complained that the heat wasn’t working (this house had so many problems including him promising us a kitchen remodel when we moved in and then he got mad when I told him the contractor left the cabinets outside overnight - with dogs in the adjoining unit who liked to pee on everything, anyway this was winter in Wisconsin and he flat out ignored me for several days when I told him the heat wasn’t working). If you think it’s annoying to you, they are the ones living it and it’s worse for them. And if they feel you don’t care about the problems YOUR place has, and they have to contact you constantly to get a response, it’s not a good fit and you should offer to let them go with no penalty. I would make sure their complaints are checked over throughly while turning the unit. They’re probably not just liars and are as tired of you as you are of them.

With our own tenants, we ALWAYS address repair requests or urgent issues like a frozen air conditioner immediately. It’s our house and if it gets messed up due to our own negligence, we are not only screwing our paying tenants but our own selves.

Where is the subject property?

Here in FL, we have a lot of homes with foundation problems due to karst topography/sinkholes but also bc underneath the sandy top layer, there is clay, which expands and contracts with how much rain we get.

If you’re seriously interested, I would write an offer and get an engineering report during your inspection period. They can tell you what damage has been done and what will need to be done to remedy it. This is not the same as a GC coming in to tell you an estimate for obvious damage. Not sure which one gave you the $18k figure so I wanted to touch on that.

Usually after a home has had foundation repairs, the issues do not come up again. And it’s always possible the house will shift back to where it was (this happened with my parents’ house that was affected by the clay issues I mentioned - they never had to repair anything and I do not believe they had drywall cracks or floor damage).

I think it’s worth exploring.