All Forum Posts by: Bob H.

The agent probably just made up that claim. If there were a problem with taking a picture of a house from a public street and posting it on the Internet, then Google Street View would be in a lot of trouble.

I'm guessing that the agent doesn't want to be bothered showing the house but put the sign there to appear to be making an effort. Assuming that the house has a lock box, the listing agent is relying on other agents to show the house to their clients. Then the listing agent doesn't have to do any work until someone applies to rent the house.

It might be interesting to look up the owner in the tax records and tell the owner what the agent said.

Splitting up the utilities certainly is far preferable. Making the tenants split the cost seems to be a second-best option, much better than paying the utilities yourself.

I don't know if the self-policing @Adrian Smude suggested occurs in most situations, but you have a chance. Otherwise there's almost an incentive to waste energy and water.

When I was in college, my roommate and I rented the top floor of a two-story house. Three or four girls rented the first floor, and a couple of guys had the basement. We had to split the utilities 35%, 35% and 30%, with the basement getting that small break. The downstairs apartment had the thermostat for the whole place, but the girls kept leaving the windows open while the heat was on. My roommate and I conspired with the engineering students in the basement, who had the furnace. We installed another thermostat upstairs and ran a wire down a vent so the engineering guys could hook up our thermostat and disconnect the official one. The landlord eventually found out and probably wasn't happy, but we saved some money on the gas bill.

Don't think of it as just "emergency" repairs. Every property needs periodic painting, landscaping and other improvements.

You should insist on that list. I bet that the PM didn't even do a walk-through inspection with the tenants.

I once had a lazy property manager who simply gave the tenants a checklist and asked them to mail it to him. He later claimed that he had (I'm sure casually) walked around the first floor of the two-story house with the new tenants when they moved in.

I wouldn't want to hurt my chances of renting out a house to people who like to drive by before inquiring, just to help people who are gullible and ignore the warnings on craigslist.

I think one small sign by the front door might be helpful.

When I was preparing to rent out my house in California and still lived there, several people came by and inquired about a deal on craigslist that seemed too good to be true. I called the number in the ad and chatted up the scammer, unsuccessfully trying to get information that the police could use. The most interesting part of the conversation was when I asked him his name: "Robert Hucker," he said. What a coincidence! :)

Maybe you could sue the other property owner for creating a nuisance.

Tell them they can smoke outside only. I doubt that they'll comply, but they shouldn't be surprised that you want to protect your investment.

@Dana R., you're asking why landlords don't have other people rekey locks. My question, taking it a step further, is why landlords don't personally rekey their own locks. I think I know the answer, as I'll explain.

I think Lowe's will rekey a lock only when you buy it there. Typically, you are asking the Lowe's employee to make your new lock or locks work with the key of another lock in your house. Home Depot might have the same policy, but I don't know.

I personally rekey my locks with rekeying kits from Change-a-Lock or Prime-Line, which are available online and at some Home Depot locations. They are much less expensive than having a locksmith rekey multiple locks when you get a new tenant. I can rekey up to six locks, and usually get one extra key made, for about $15.

I think many people have not heard of the security problems with the Kwikset user-rekeyable locks. I also see posts from people who buy new locks to avoid locksmith charges.

I think few landlords rekey locks themselves, even though it's cheaper and -- at least for me -- faster, because they are not mechanically inclined, don't want to learn and think their time is better spent on other things. And, of course, many landlords don't manage the properties themselves.

You should charge higher rent if additional adults move into the property. There's always more wear and tear with more people, in addition to parking problems, homeowners association violations, etc.

Check on possible local restrictions, such as the "U plus 2" policy in Fort Collins, CO:

http://www.fcgov.com/neighborhoodservices/occupanc...

One thing about deposits: Of course you keep a deposit to guard against the tenant leaving the place dirty or damaged. You collect more than usual for pets, including a large dog. But you never can collect enough of a deposit to compensate for really bad tenants. The market doesn't allow it, and some areas laws don't allow it.

One area in which bad tenants will cost you is that the property can be a mess near the end of their tenancy, when you would like to show it to prospects to minimize vacancy. If it's bad enough to turn off prospects, you have to wait until it's vacant to show it, and then you lose a lot because of extra vacancy.