All Forum Posts by: Arif K.

I had my first experience with a property management company managing my SFR. One of the things I hated was that apart from the 10% commission, all repairs initiated by the tenants were automatically deducted from the rental income before I received a monthly owner draw. Ordinarily, I would be fine with this but I started noticing the repairs exceeded 20% of my rental income on average. When I dived a little deeper, I saw that every call made by the tenant resulted in a service tech visit and per-visit fees were deducted. On top of that, I saw three separate visits to repair closets in three separate rooms. When one closet has a problem, why not repair all three on the first visit? This is just one example.

To the property managers, do you offer the option to invoice every month instead of deducting it from the rental income directly? I would rather see my full rental income, minus commission, deposited each month and receive an invoice for work performed so I may review it. Also, do you seek permissions for each repair or only above a certain amount? Do you also send a service tech with each call or work with the tenants and consolidate visits for multiple issues?

Thanks @Jonathan Klemm.

Its a SFR in Chicago Heights.

Thank you all. I was waiting for everything to get resolved before posting an update. So I did offer this tenant a full refund of their security deposit and ability to break the lease. They figured out that this would be their best option and they took it. They were trying to threaten me with a lawsuit over mold injuries while at the same time driving away my mold inspector from the property. Wanted me to pay for all their supposed expenses by reducing the rent. Fortunately, I keep copious notes and have addressed every maintenance request in an expedited manner.

I have a tenant who has caused issues for me from the day she moved in. She has now sent me a letter threatening me with a lawsuit or I accept her "reasonable" offer of a 30% reduction in rent. I know this is bogus and I have sufficient documentation to prove so I am not extremely worried about that. The question I have is, am I in any way obligated to respond to this email she sent? In the past she has threatened me that her lawyer would call me the following week and I called her bluff. Can I simply ignore it or should I respond back in a terse manner and offer her again what I previously did, the ability to break out of her lease without any penalties.

I have a rental property in the chicagoland area and looking to acquire more. Looking for real estate attorney recommendations for long term retention. Dealing with any tenant related issues that might arise.

Thanks @Ed, @Jamie Hora. That makes sense to me. I did get an estimate for $12K as well. Which is closer to what I was expecting.

One more question. Is this something I should get done separately or is this something that is handled by the construction crew as part of land prep? 

Thanks @JD Martin, @Bill B., @Chris Seveney for your responses. I am looking into partial lot removal quotes and also if the timber can be sold to recoup some of the costs. I am going to see if the seller can pick up some of the costs as well.

Yes, it would include removal of trees, grinding every stump and haul away everything. Thanks.

I am looking to purchase a .5 acres plot for new construction of a single family home. It is densely packed with trees an I got an estimate of $30K from one contractor. It seems excessive to me. Google's AI tells me:

"For heavily forested land, the cost is between $3,000 and $5,600 per acre"

Does anyone have any experience with clearing land for construction?