All Forum Posts by: Bill Ward

Long story shorter: A few weeks ago I had the siding replaced on 2 sides of my rental house. The tenant knew I was going to have work done at some point but I didn't have a date until the contractor called back with an opening. On a Monday he advised they could start on Wednesday. The tenant was very angry saying she works from home and this was too much of a disturbance and she didn't have enough notice. Long back and forths with me and the contractor, I tried to get the dates postponed but he couldn't make it work. He spoke to her directly and most of the time the workers had quiet time during the hours of 10am-3pm so she could do her online meetings. She repeatedly yelled and complained to me and the workers about the noise.  The job took about a week instead of the 3-4 original days due to her interrupting them, yelling at workers to the point they left early twice, and some unsuspected wood damage they found. She also said she had to go to an after hours counseling session due to the stress it was causing her. 

She was demanding some compensation, implying a large amount of money (think thousands) for the online work that was interrupted, but did not give a specific compensation. As a gesture of good will, I returned her deposit in full (shes moving out next month) without the final inspection. That way she can use it for her move. (I'm having interior work done after she moves anyway so the $1300 security deposit is fairly insignificant to me).

Now she's complaining that that money I returned is just gaslighting her because she would have gotten it back anyways...sent in a long ranting message with profanity. She has also said she will come back and tell my next tenants about how she was treated because her feelings weren't considered at all during the exterior work.

 Am I wrong for not wanting to give her any more compensation and think shes being unreasonable?

Cash flowing is after all of your expenses, and saving enough for vacancy and capex expenses. My property is $966 for PITI and 1350 for rent. It about breaks even.

I've been managing my one rental for 4 years. 95% of the time there is no issues. I'm having work done on the exterior of the property, and my tenant who has been great at paying on time, is being a nightmare. Yelling at me and the crew working, demanding compensation, etc. Threatening to come back and tell my next tenants how bad it has been and posting negative reviews on the contractor's site. I will be using a PM starting in March when the current tenant moves out, and rent will be raised (if I don't sell). The increase in rent will offset the PM cost hopefully. I met with 2 after getting referrals on Facebook. I met with them and went over their costs (basically the same). I picked one over the other based on our meeting and personality. I'm not an expert on all property management laws which is why it's more of a headache for me. It's worth the peace of mind to hire a PM and not have to have direct contact with a tenant anymore. 

The short answer is no. 

I rented my SFH with almost the same numbers of PITI and rent, started in 2018. Rent was 1200, rent has been 1350 for the last 6 months. Tenants about to move out and new rent after updates will be 1500-1700. The house has been "cash flowing" through regular expenses that come up maybe $200 a month on average. This does not include vacancy and capex. Basically the house has been breaking even, and will be in the red with one major expense. Just for numbers help for you.

Open to suggestions. I only have one rental property. My current situation:

Became accidental landlord in 2018. I no longer want to be a landlord so my options are to sell or get a PM.
Just spent $15k getting exterior of the house updated which wiped out most of my cash reserves. Tenant is moving out next month.
I'm expecting the interior to need an additional $10k to be updated and ready to go. ($6k ish will be replacing all the carpeted flooring with LVP, $4k for misc. and turnover)

Current Mortgage: $70k left, 10yrs left on 15 yr mortgage @ 3%. PITI just went up to $970. $500 goes to principal each month, which was my driver the past 2 years as it's getting paid down.

Current rent $1350. Estimated $1500-1700 after turnover per the PM I spoke to.

Estimated sale price $190k after updates (no current plans for leftover money if I sell).

The house doesn't really cash flow, basically breaks even. Purchased for $120k in 2010. I figure I'll have $50k+ left if I sell, after all associated fees and taxes. Part of me wants to let the PM take over knowing it will be paid off in 10yrs. I can't ever decide what to do with it. My W2 job is about $60k per year.  I don't have a desire or passion enough for real estate to do the work involved in getting a team together or purchasing an OOS rental with the leftover money. A cash out refinance to buy a second property won't help this one cash flow at all with given rates.

Any strong incentive to lean to selling vs re-renting with a PM?

Thanks
Bill

If you're options are preventative replacing now or replacing next year and incurring unknown other damages due to it failing, then definitely get it done before it breaks. If you think its going to last several more years then consider postponing.

$400 over PITI is not $400 cash flow

@Scott Mac Thanks, this is entirely outside work. Not replacing windows just wrapping the exteriors with the new siding. No workers should need to be inside. One tenant does work from home and does meetings on her computer. 

The posts I've seen about getting a hotel seem to be when there is a water or power issue. I'm having work done on the exterior in a few weeks- replacing siding, work on the front porch stoop, wrapping windows etc. Probably going to be a week of work but it's all exterior. What should I do for the tenants' inconvenience- which would mostly be noise and workers in the yard I suppose?

Ideally I'd wait until it was vacant but contractors here are so backed up it needs to get booked 2-3 months in advance.

Thanks,
Bill