All Forum Posts by: Terri Pour-Rastegar

That's what I was thinking too.

But even if I get a written notice, and ultimately her closing falls through, I can't imagine forcing her to move. She will not have been looking for alternative housing--she'll be focusing on closing on her new house.

I would feel awful forcing her to go through with her move-out.

I think I already know the answer to this, but I'd like to bounce it off the veteran landlords in the house . . . FYI, I'm in SC.

My long-term tenant verbally informed me about a week ago that she is buying a house, has an approved sales contract, and is working on nailing down a May 7 closing date. She intends to spend a week or 2 fixing up the new place and won't leave her current rental until about May 20.

I stuck a sign in the yard, and the phone started ringing off the hook as usual.

I now have in front of me 2 very good tenant prospects, yet I'm hesitant to enter into a rental agreement with them for fear that my current tenant's home-buying plans could fall through. There's no particular reason why I think things might not work out--it's just that we all know stuff happens and closings fall through for various reasons.

If I do a rental agreement with someone, say, for a June 1 move-in date, and my current tenant's plans fall through and she can't buy her new house, I'm in a pickle. And so is my new tenant. And my current tenant.

The way I see it, my options are as follows:

(1) Do a rental agreement with one of the new prospects, with an addendum that outlines this problem . . . but how to word it . . . ?

(2) Hold off on accepting applications (or even showing the house!) until things are more concrete with the current tenant's closing. But I hate to do this, because actually a closing could fall through the very day it is scheduled. On the other hand, if I wait until the closing, then I'll probably have a period of vacancy in my rental property, and I hate that. I always have a tenant lined up and waiting to move in the moment the other one has gone.

Advice?

I keep the security deposit if a tenant does not stay for the full term of the lease. I may make an exception if a tenant is extremely helpful in re-renting the property and leaves the property in exceptionally nice condition, etc.
I pulled this directly from the SC Landlord/Tenant Laws (http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/titl27.htm):
(18) “security deposit†means a monetary deposit from the tenant to the landlord which is held in trust by the landlord to secure the full and faithful performance of the terms and conditions of the lease agreement as provided in Section 27-40-410.
I interpret this to mean that, if a tenant fails to perform the lease (i.e., does not stay for the full term of the lease), I can keep the security deposit.
The reason I feel this is fair is because I now have to market this property for rent much sooner than I had expected. Otherwise, what is the point of a one-year lease? I sign a one-year lease with folks because I want them to make a commitment to stay at least that long so I don’t have to re-rent any time soon.
If I am wrong in thinking I can keep the deposit in such a case, I’d love to know about it.

When and if you can charge a late fee on rent is partly dictated by state laws, so please check out your state's laws.

I personally do not have a grace period. Rent is due on the 1st. Period. (If I'm dealing with government checks, I'll amend that person's lease to state that rent is due on the 3rd, or whatever--that's an easy problem to deal with). Whatever the due date is, that's that. If I don't get rent by 5pm on the day it's due, I call and email. I've only had to call a tenant once; usually, if a tenant has a tough month and they're not going to make it on the 1st, they call me, I have them give me a check anyway, dated for the 2nd or 3rd at the latest, and I go and cash it on the agreed date. This has happened only a couple of times for me.

I, too, collect rent electronically, which is absolutely wonderful!!!!!!! Tenants can block a draft if they need to, so they're not afraid to use the service. I have yet to have a tenant abuse this arrangement in the 5 years I've been using it.

I'm in SC, and like Lynn Z my lease contains the language:

THIS IS YOUR NOTICE: If you do not pay your rent within 5 days of the due date, Landlord may begin eviction proceedings. You will get no other notice as long as you live in this rental unit.

Lynn Z is right--in SC, if this language is in your lease/rental agreement, this constitutes your 5-day notice.

Originally posted by Just Don:

This is probably on north side of the house. I never had that prob but if I did I would try that mold preventer that Menard's sells for interior use. OR look in same place for a similar outdoor product.

Is this well shaded? Any possible way to increase sunlight by trimming trees,bushes etc?

It's on the NW side of the house, and it's actually the one side of the house that has no trees or bushes nearby. That area gets the most sun, really. I don't know. I think it's just old siding that's lost its top coat (if there is such a think), and now everything just clings to it. I was stabbing in the dark, hoping something like Rain-X or something might be a good option. I'll try some of these suggestions. Hey, at least it's cheaper to have it pressure-washed every year, rather than replace the siding, right? :D

My most difficult deal was probably also my easiest money (and the most I'll probably ever make on one deal). Although I think the excitement of it all took years off my life . . .

This all happened about 5 years ago . . . Please keep in mind that, at this time, our own house had cost us only about $175K, and the 3 rentals we'd bought by then had cost us only $55-75K to acquire. . . .

Found a luxury waterfront property in a gated community going up for foreclosure auction in my county. The guy had had it on the MLS for as much as about $1.2M, and he owed a little over $900K total, spread across 4 different notes. Primary mortgage (which was being foreclosed) was about $675, second was around $200K, and ten there were 2 smaller ones to family members--I forget the amounts.

I figured I don't have a prayer's chance, and I'd never dealt with numbers this large, but we decided to go for it. Couldn't get the owner to talk to me by phone or mail to talk about a short sale or to view the place before auction. So, to even attempt a drive-by on this place, I made an appointment for a realtor to show me another house in that neighborhood, then I conveniently 'got lost' on my way out and drove to this waterfront place. My jaw dropped when I saw how gorgeous it was, and what a great view it had! But someone was home, so I did a quit run--really did run--around the house to check it out as best I could. Looked good to me.

Lined up pre-approval with my favorite lender and headed to the auction, prepared to bid as much as the first mortgage, which usually does the trick if you don't have competition. I prayed for zero competition.

Unfortunately, a realtor was there bidding on the place, and she got the house. She said she was going to re-sell it for market price. sigh.

Well, 3 months later the house showed up on the foreclosure list again. Why? Owner had filed for bankruptcy the very morning of the sale, so the sale was nullified. Yippee! Of course, the guy got kicked out of bankruptcy, and the house went back on the block.

Back to the auction, ready to bid, once again. This time, the room was silent besides me and the bank's lawyer, at first anyway. Then some schmuck bids $1K over me. Long and the short is that I got it for $505K--much much much less than the principal balance on the primary mortgage.

Of course, the worrier in me now worries why the bank let it go so cheap and why I was the only bidder. I just wanted to leave and go get my deposit money. But some guy starts asking me a million question, all of which tells me he has no idea how these auctions go. Turns out, he is best friends with the owner, and he was also the one guy bidding against me. He had no clue what he was doing. Then he asks if I wasn't concerned about the big crack in the foundation. Gulp. Didn't see the crack. "I'm not worried about the crack, thank you," I reply, bluffing.

I call my lender with the good news. Good, she says--send me the contract. Contract? What contract? There's no contract--just a little receipt (like you can buy at Staples) that shows my name, the date, the property, the deposit and balance due. That's it. I thought she was going to faint. My underwriters are going to kill me, she says. Well, long and short is we worked it out through phone calls with the court, although the judge wasn't happy.

Meantime, the owner's friend calls me to talk move-out terms and such. Terms? Here's my terms: move out. Right? No, I remained calm and talked with the owner. He was just testing me, but he was looking for a place to go and would be out in time. He calls me again later and says, "hey, we were moving the appliances out and then thought maybe you might want them."

Wait right here. Stop. Please note that these appliances consist of one big side-by-side, built-in SubZero fridge with matching panels; 3 (count them--3) built-in SubZero bar fridges, also with matching panels; 1 Dacor drop-in gas cooktop; a dishwasher; built-in double ovens; built-in microwave. You're removing the very expensive appliances? Please say no.

Good old-fashioned extortion. He was $15K for the appliances. I agree to $6K while my husband is waiving his hands in freak-out mode. He'll get his $6K after he's moved out without damaging or removing anything, I get all keys and remotes (garage, sound system, automated blinds, etc.). OK. Hubby didn't realize how expensive these appliances were.

Thankfully, we closed without a hitch. The owner even moved out a week before closing, and we had easy, advance access.

The easy part of this is . . . the crack in the foundation, although major, would have cost only $25K to repair. On a house like this, it's certainly worth it. We only had to put about $5K into it for some fresh paint here and there and a little repair to the dock and some yard maintenance stuff.

The VERY easy part of this is that--before I could even make the repair to the foundation--I sold the house myself (no realtor) in just 3 months.

I thought the stress and worry over such a very big money deal would kill me, so in that regard it was very hard. Especially, considering that this was the first home I'd purchased at a foreclosure auction. Very dangerous if I make a mistake.

But it was the easiest money I've ever made in my life, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Frank, if I could find a guy like that, I'd be in heaven! Once, I thought I'd found someone like that. Turned out he was a heavy drinker and became unreliable after the first month. I'll keep looking though.

You're right. The experience we gained on our first rehabs has proved invaluable, even beyond our rentals. We've fully renovated our own house too.

It has helped me to sniff out a crazy quote. I remember the first time we got quotes to re-plumb a rental property. 3 different licensed plumbers wanted to charge us $800 per fixture. Yes, it included the fixture and all other materials and labor. But good lord! My husband took one look at those quotes and said he was going to quit his job and get his plumber's license! ;)

The only problem is that, when you do it yourself, it's really really cheap. Then you get a quote for about 30% more than what it would cost you to do it yourself, and you re-think hiring out the work.

Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of doing much work myself. Still recovering from rotator cuff surgery, and my husband has a real job that needs his focus. So I've gotta make this work.

I'm grateful for the good advice, guys. Thanks!

Originally posted by P NW:

Zinc on the roof.

You can buy Moss B Gone and sprinkle on the roof. You can buy special zinc strips to put on the roof, or you can place galvenized chicken wire along the ridgeline.

Put this stuff on the roof to stop the mildew/algae that forms on my siding? huh?

Originally posted by Marc Freislinger:

Don't forget that the EPA charges a $30,000 fine to anyone that intentionally releases Freon into the atmosphere. Whoever turns such a person in is eligible for up to $10,000 in reward.

Neighbors might be a little more interested in watching your place if they can get ten grand out of it. There was a maintenance tech at an apartment community up here who got $30,000 from the government because he called them about a pickup carrying stolen A/Cs.

I will DEFINITELY do that! I didn't know they could get a reward. I'll bet most folks don't know about it either. Thanks!!!

A tenant called me last night stating that she's been finding little piles of fiberglass insulation here and there the past week or so. She was beginning to fear she has a mouse problem. Then she said she saw quite a number of ants in the middle of her kitchen the other day, each one carrying a tuft of insulation in its mouth.

This is weird, and certainly a first for me. I want to take care of this right away, of course. Anybody else see this kind of situation? How did you handle it?

I don't want to assume she has only an ant problem. I don't know what ants would want with her insulation. I can understand mice using it for bedding or something. So I don't want to rule out either problem.