All Forum Posts by: Anne W.

@Danny Polanski  when you buy a fridge off FB, do you hire movers? What would you consider an acceptable deal given there's no warranty? 

@Danny Polanski  Yes, I thought they were taking care of the house, that's why I put up with all the repair requests until now. His latest email with 5 items, however, doesn't give me good vibe. He said the deck has rotten pieces "throughout the deck". My understanding is that only major replacement satisfies his safety concern. The word "safety" is red flag to me with his small kids. I couldn't help thinking what he is up to. As to the fridge, it's old but we've never had problem with it. Nevertheless, I was going to buy a used fridge just to silence him. 

They don't intended to be long-term tenants, and they are a huge PIA in terms of scheduling repair. They don't let us access the house if they are not there. One time, my husband and washer delivery was 5 min early for the appointment, he said we "broke into the house while his wife is with a client".  

Honestly, he leaves no rock unturned living in the house, fully utilize every inch of it. This constant repair eats up all the cash flow. I think our tenant would make all home inspectors feel incompetent. I am not sure if they didn't break anything. That exterior spigot, we don't even know it existed. He started using it, but didn't proper winterize, the leaking is because the water left in the pipe, froze and burst the pipe behind the siding. 

@David P. my tenants installed security cameras, too. inside, outside, garage...I used to think they are just who they are, but this latest email exchange really agitated me. I want them out, but I want vet my decision here since everyone is more experienced. 

When I was out of country, I received two emails from the tenant, one is 4500-word repair request, one is 5000-word to passive-aggressively clarify since he probably sensed my frustration. Excuse me, but no one has time for his need to be heard or his feelings other than his poor mother or wife. I addressed each of his requests and offered solution. If I were the tenant, I would either stay quiet or wrote back saying "thank you and let's regroup after you come back from your trip". 

Also, why things worked fine and just start breaking once they move in? I've never had problem with fridge, tub piping, garage door (forgot to mention this repair), did-not-know-it-exist exterior spigot. I am not making cash flow on this property with this kind of repairs. 

@Theresa Harris  thank you for the suggestion of happy clause. Do you have a formal language that I can borrow? 

@David P.   The tenants were never late on rent. To be fair, they are clean, polite and easy to talk to in person. I agree some of the repair requests are easy fix, but I am annoyed by the frequency and excessively long emails. It's like he would go around picking on things every month before paying rent. He insists on being at home when there's a repair. The constant difficulty to access the house really strike my nerve. He even asked us to send handyman on weekends because they "would always be home on weekends". The latest email on the deck and fridge is the last straw. Here's what he wrote:

"3. As mentioned previously, the back deck has severe rot throughout which has impacted the paint adhesion, in addition to the water-absorbent filler applied to areas of rot prior to the last painting. I noticed the other day a baluster/wooden-spindle that has no wood left on the inside for any support screws to hold on to. I haven't looked far beyond this to see if there are others at this stage of degradation. With two and six year old children in the home, I am concerned about unsecured posts and railing components on the deck. Additionally, the rot is beginning to reveal and push up some screw heads on the deck floor. I will go around and see if any of these can be driven back in to avoid someone catching/cutting their feet, though given the wood condition, there may not be much for the screws to attach to, and it would only be a temporary fix.
4. I have mentioned multiple times in the past the refridgerator's intermittent cooling and thawing behaviour. I first let you know about this in early December; then on Christmas it froze solid what we were planning to make for our holiday dinner. In January, it stopped cooling everything altogether and I had to throw out and restock everything in the fridge at a cost of ~$550. I also mentioned this again in March when inquiring about the intermittent ice machine behavior which I had let you know about in December as well. Beginning last week, some items in the fridge were partially frozen, and sometime between yesterday and this morning, things must have frozen again and thawed as there were pools of water and ice in the fridge. Strangely enough, the ice machine which your husband observed as broken and couldn't fix in March of this year, decided to start making ice again two weeks ago (though we no longer use the ice or water functions as they have either not been working, or have not been flushed from the water impacted by the Marshall Fire). Per our conversation when you were last at the house looking at the fridge, all of the door seals appear to work properly and there is no obstructed air circulation or items pushed against the walls or rear which would isolate freezing (each time freezing and thawing has occurred, it does so throughout the fridge, not just in one area). I unfortunately had to leave early this morning for work meetings and did not have time to go through the fridge entirely to see what is salvageable, and what has to be replaced. If you would like, I can search for possible remedies or components that can be replaced within the fridge (circuit board, thermostat, etc), though the unit is 17 years old and I'm not sure what parts may still be available."

@JD Martin  I know I shouldn't let tenants buy appliance. but I was overseas and his email wording was serious. I am not entirely sure of his intention. I don't know if he is documenting landlord actions for some reason. 

Hello all, I am looking for your input on managing this tenant. He is very high maintenance and I am at my limit. I am not perfect, so maybe it's me... Regardless, please feel free to share your constructive feedback. I always find great advice on this forum. 

Background

I rented out our previous home of 10+ years. House was built in early 90's. Highly desirable neighborhood. Newer roof, new windows, HW flood throughout the house, new master bath. Rent is 3K, but is average for that area. 2-yr lease and we are halfway. Tenants are husband+wife+6 & 2 yso. Husband owns a small business, has a rental in another city, 800+ credit score. Wife just started working. 

I mainly deal with the husband and I've found it get increasingly difficult to manage tenants. I would say that they are my stresser these days. I am quite surprised by the maintenance needs. Here's the laundry list of repair items in the past 12 months.

1) fridge doesn't make ice consistently: we repaired twice. I also offered to buy silicone ice trays

2) sprinklers don't water the lawn evenly causing certain area saturate with water: repaired

3) basement shower head occasionally dripping water: repaired 

4) master bedroom ceiling light/fan turned on by itself at nights: repaired

5) gas fireplace flame is smaller than optimal: ignored

6) water accumulating on window wood sills: turns out they set humidifier at 60% indoor causing condensation

7) Kids bathroom toilet water tank - slow water intake: repaired

8) unused rifle bullet found on the sidewalk - tenant was very agitated: I went to the sheriff's office and was told it's hunting season and someone probably dropped it. 

9) Washer making loud metal banging noise. - Manufacturer attempted to repair three times and eventually I managed to get a new washer under the warranty, but the delivery was such a headache because tenant refused to let us in if they were not home. He even accused my husband "broke into the house with the delivery team when his wife is with her client". 

10) master bathroom tub faucet pipe leaking causing water stain on the family room ceiling: repaired. We used maybe 10 times during our 12 years living there. They use every day, so the copper pipe eroded. We took down tiles to access the plumbing, so there's tile, drywall repair, paint, etc. 

11) fridge sometimes froze his food, sometimes is not cold enough - I checked it and told him "it's uncommon that the fridge is both hot and cold. Please make sure the door is sealed shut". It's a 17 years old fridge, but we've never had any problem with it and we cooked daily living in that house. 

12) The main valve for the sprinkler system (outside) leaked water - repaired

13) a sprinkler head broken shooting water to the sidewalk - repaired

14) Backyard wooden deck has two quarter-size paint chips which exposed wood filler underneath - ignored. 

The tenant's always emailed the maintenance request, polite and LONG emails. They are monthly and the most recent one is bi-weekly.  As I was thinking the repair needs would ease off while entering the 2nd year of the lease, I was quite stressed when I received another LONG email when I was out of country. In this email, there are five items. 

1) Outside spigot is leaking water inside the house - we have never used that spigot. 

2) a dead small aspen in the front yard

3) clogged gutter

4) Deck has rotted posts and floor boards - "unsafe for his children"..."hurt their bare feet"..."try to screw would be temporary fix" - the wood deck was repaired and painted one year ago. 

5) Fridge spoiled his food - tenants said he told us "multiple times" the fridge is bad news and it costed "$550 damage" to his food over the holidays because they were "frozen" in the refrigerator section and spoiled as they adjusted temp higher. 

I immediately told tenants that they can go buy an used fridge and  I will reimburse them when I am back to the States. I told them I will inspect the deck and address other items when I am back. In the meantime, no one should walk on the deck barefoot or ride on railings like it's a toy. TBH, I was quite annoyed by the frequency of his long emails and told him please send future maintenance needs to a designated email and a business phone number. Instead of stopping there and then, the tenant wrote another LONG essay fully aware that I was out of country and couldn't do much. They didn't buy the fridge, said the deck repair is not urgent and inquired if I feel them as "challenging tenants".  I didn't read this essay until my flight back, but I couldn't get rid of the annoyance and it did negatively impacted my vacation. 

I don't have a great first impression for this tenant. He chased after us for a 2-year lease. We marketed the property as "no pet, only W/D hook up". Somehow, I allowed their future cat and bought new W/D for them when we signed the lease (I thought it's a goodwill effort, but I now know those are mistakes). Three weeks after signing the lease he told me he wanted to buy a house. I know he has been looking aggressively in our area since moving in. While I think he should be honest upfront and maybe rent from a rental community (there's a nice one 5 min away and belong to the same elementary school), what's done is done. About a month ago, he started pushing me to share our plan after the 2-yr lease ends (which is one year from now). He said it would help decide "how aggressively he should be looking".  

Overall I am pretty fed up by this tenant, but I don't want to make an emotion decision. Maybe I just don't know how to manage him. How would you handle this situation?

@Dan H. thank you for the feedback. You are absolutely right, I did spend lots of hours to research and manage contractors on top of a full-time job. It's stressful. I still have a couple of exterior projects for the summer. Luckily, I have paychecks to pay for repairs. 

I did learn a lot, such as electrical grounding is enforced in the 60's and absolutely don't touch houses with aluminum wiring,which I don't have. 

As to finding houses below retail, it's extremely difficult in my targeted areas. We lost 1000+ SFH due to natural disasters...

Update: the property is already rented out at $2700/month. It's gone in 2 days, tenants have 750+ credit score, works for Google. 

I disagree with the opinion of investing in infrastructure does not add value. For old house, the listing would say "updated electrical, new sewer line, new window, new furnace", etc, and buyers know the value of that. Reddit has many discussion threads about it and those young kids are hyper aware of flipper houses that ignore the basic maintenance items. 

Update: I had a good communication with tenants. I was in the house and everything looks fine and they seem taking care of the house. The husband has exposure to many physical security issues and lived in big cities with bad rep, he is very protective of his family and a little territorial tbh. He does have credit score of 800+ and even garage is super neat. He is always easier to talk to in person than over the text and email. 

@Foti Karastamatis  thank you Foti! The electrician said there's no need to rewire. When the furnace was installed in 2007, there was an electrical permit and at least part of the electrical was updated. However, we are getting a new 225-amp electrical panel. I also checked with the insurance, they saw the permit history and it's all good.