All Forum Posts by: Richard F.

Aloha,

You first need to determine your local LL/Tenant laws to know how much notice to give, and how you can "serve" that notice (mail, hand delivery, posting, or ?). Some locales you can simply draft a business letter stating "Non-Renewal Notice" as the subject, then reference the Title, date, and parties on the original Rental Agreement, and specify the date they must vacate by, based on local law. Depending on how it is to be delivered, provide extra days to allow for that. Then spell out the moveout process...inspection, turnover of keys, removal of their personal property, cleaning, etc. 

Aloha,

Is this a single family home, or duplex/multi-family? If this is SFH, they should have been discovered and treated during your turnover. If one or more attached units, you need to treat multiple units.

Refund their full funds.

Aloha,

You are not only running negative with option A, but you are also losing an additional $300 - $600 per month if your figures are accurate. You also actually increase the actual value of the property with proper reno.

Get a solid plan together, using a GC to evaluate needed scope of work and provide actual cost estimates, then strategize based on optimal market timing for the finished reno availability.

Partial renos or cutting corners on quality of finish and materials will cost you on the back end. Do it right, do it once, get top dollar and attract the top 10% of the Tenant pool for your price range.

Aloha,

This will give you a little more insight into credit scores:

Aloha,

Sometime between 8:10 AM and 9:20 AM HST today the subject lines for followed topics changed to only show "Topic Alert", without the actual topic following... this forces us to click into the message itself to see the topic, vs. seeing the full topic in notifications and the subject line of the emails.

Aloha,

You need to be clear on local law, but you stated "commercial" rents. Commercial contracts are NOT "residential" agreements, and do not fall under residential LL/Tenant laws. Your commercial contract should be very clear on the terms regarding late payment and/or breach of contract terms, and you should simply follow them. 

Aloha,

Instead of "offering" a term with increase, you should just send a notice STATING X is the new rent amount, effective on a specified date, in accordance with local law timing requirements. That way, the increase goes into effect automatically. If they fail to PAY the increase, the now owe RENT, which you can then charge your late fee on, and/or initiate the eviction process.

I always provide options with the renewals- "Tenant agrees to new Terms"; "Tenant will vacate within (number of days per local law)"; or "Tenant proposes modification to terms, subject to review and approval by PM". A deadline is specified for the return of the notice with their choice indicated and signature.

Always require an increase of SD to match new rent rate.

Aloha,

I am surprised only one poster touched on this subject, but it is of utmost importance: WHO is the Agent actually representing? You need to understand the law of "Agency" for your state, and be clear about who the Agent's fiduciary duty is owed, and what exactly that means. You likely have the option of signing a Buyer's Exclusive Agency Agreement with an Agent of your choice, indicating that Agent IS working for you. A listing Agent showing you their Client's property, however, is working for the Seller. Depending on local law and the office policy of that Agent, they may be able to act in the capacity of a Dual Agent; or allow you to be "unrepresented"; or treat you as a "customer", which usually means they will help you "fill in the blanks" on a purchase offer for their Client's property, but they cannot advise you what to fill most of those blanks with.

In theory, all Agents must be fair and honest in their dealings with Buyers AND Sellers, BUT, they are limited by law in what they can reveal about their actual Client to other parties involved.

Another point I would like to make is regarding comments about Agents not understanding the numbers. While certainly true, I can tell you from my experience, a very large percentage of so-called investor Owners are just as clueless. Sure, the Big Guys have it down to a science, but the average Mom & Pop, and most small time RESIDENTIAL investors only look at two things...how much do they REALLY need to spend today? And the monthly NET they receive. On the other hand, the Commercial guys, they typically have a very sharp pencil.

Aloha,

Why would you need to be there to let in contractors? If a Tenant requests a repair, we provide the Tenant contact info to the Vendor, who then coordinates direct with Tenant. The Vendor, depending on the task, is required to call me from site and/or send pics from site to discuss and authorize their proposed repair.

Be very careful you do not end up with either squatters or a stripped out unit.

Does local law require you to "post a notice"? If not, simply mail, Certified, Return Receipt Requested. Save any returned, unopened items as well as the signature card when you get it back. Some Tenants will never "accept" Certified mail, so you also send by Regular Mail if local law considers that "proper notice".

As long as you know what you are looking at, you absolutely should get "eyes on" when "Rent Ready", and annually. Prevention of problems is far less costly than remediation. Providing neighboring Owners (make sure they are not someone else's Tenants!) your contact info and introducing yourself can go a long way toward preserving your property.

If you are not very familiar with local LL/Tenant laws, including SD limits and handling, State and Federal Fair Housing Laws, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Service Members Civil Relief Act, HUD and EPA regulations, local contractor licensing requirements, and the States definition of "Real Estate Activities"; OR, if you are generally unfamiliar with residential construction and inexperienced at leak detection, and household systems troubleshooting, you should probably hire a qualified PM.

Aloha,

What does the Rental Agreement state regarding visitors or unauthorized occupants? You need to follow through with the terms of that Agreement. If they have overstayed the visitor period, or disallowed, send a notice to cure per local law.

That is a lot of extra wear and tear on your unit, as well as any utilities you are responsible for. If you do nothing, why would they follow other terms of your Agreement in the future?