All Forum Posts by: Bob Woelfel

Haha @Account Closed.  I'm not laughing at anything you said, just thinking back to all the times I tried to communicate with her.  Have you ever tried to communicate with an irrational person?  Last time I was there a few days ago she was crying hysterically in front of myself and my two electricians who were upgrading her electrical panel.  When I tried to "set her straight" by explaining that my interactions with her are more than all of my other tenants combined, she proceeded to change the subject and blame me for something else.  She later texted me and said I owed her "like 10 apologies".   My wife doesn't want me to go to her unit alone anymore for fear of what she might say or do.  

Really appreciate all the support, ideas and information.  Very helpful and I'm thankful for it.  As many of you pointed out, I need to change some of our processes with regards to communication and requests.  I'm not a softie as we stick to our lease, charge late fees and try to do things by the book.  With that said I do try to be attentive to tenants needs and probably haven't made the complete switch to running it like a business just yet.  It has worked well enough before with all of my normal tenants, but as we continue to grow in units I must grow as well.  I've started to realize slowly since she moved in that I was going to need to do something, but now is clearly the time.  We've done a decent job screening, but she's help point out some blind spots in our business.  Thankfully, she is the exception and not the rule in our current tenant base.  We will grow and be better because of her and I've already started to enjoy the process of removing myself from the situation.  I don't think she is "burn down the building" crazy, but I might be getting a lot of "my heat isn't working properly" requests whether they are valid or not.  I have a feeling she's going to enjoy trying to keep me engaged.  Could get more interesting before it gets better.  Thanks everyone!

Thanks @Account Closed...thanks for the ideas Shawn.  It is a multi-unit building.  She has made complaints about other tenants and even escalated a situation with a non authorized tenant who was living in the the unit next to hers and we didn't know about it.  We got that person out and I was happy to do it, but have since realized that she was probably the one causing most of the issues.  We screened her two months ago before she moved in and the only record she has is a DUI.  

I appreciate all the help.

Thanks in advance for any advice.  There isn't enough room to go through all of the issues here, but I'm looking for advice on how to get rid of a tenant who has not violated her lease.  She has lived in one of our units for only a month and a half.  During that time I estimate that I've received in excess of 300 text messages from her and calls multiple times a day (and yes I realize that some of these are management issues that I've allowed by not having other systems in place).  I've gotten texts as late as 11 pm and as early as 5 am.  When we fix any maintenance/tenant issues she has the conversation changes to other issues she has and how she and I communicate.  She has been very difficult to work with and I feel like I'm talking to a different person depending on the day.  Multiple times I've mentioned to her if she is not happy with us that we would be happy to let her out of her lease.  This includes the first day she moved in when she blew up on me.  She then claims that she doesn't want to leave, but two minutes later is bringing up "issues" again like she won't look under the kitchen sink because it's "scary".  It's drama all the time with her and nothing is easy.  When I try to keep it professional and just about the issues she is having, I'm accused of not being sensitive to her tenant needs or understanding.  I feel like I'm either talking to a crazy ex girlfriend or my 8 & 9 year old daughters in the middle of a meltdown.  A few key points.

-  As mentioned, we have offered to let her out multiple times

-  I'd like to send her a formal letter offering again to let her out if she is unhappy.  I'm documenting as much as I can.

 - I am changing the ways I will let my tenants communicate with me so hopefully that helps things in the future.

I don't know what my options are, but I have no desire to keep working with her.  Thanks for reading.

I'm looking for advice on how to structure a flip deal. I just met with a guy who owns a house with his dad. His dad is sick and the son is planning for what to do with the house when his dad eventually passes. There is no mortgage on the house. The property has a great layout, curb appeal and the bones are in great shape. Would make a great flip. I"m an agent and an investor so we talked through some numbers and a bunch of different scenarios. He asked if I'd be interested in partnering on the deal. The son is a roofing contractor and this house needs a new roof and decking. I'm trying to figure out how I could structure a deal where we both win because I'm not sure me buying it outright from him and flipping it is going to work from a numbers perspective. How could I structure this where we fix it, I list it and also get a % of the profit at the end? He comes away with more money then he would probably get and I win as well. Initially I was thinking that I would provide the rehab funds and manage the rehab like I normally would, which would put me in 1st lien position. This would also allow us to not have the property change ownership and we would be able to sell right away to an FHA buyer while avoiding the anti-flipping rule. Thoughts?? What am I not thinking about? Thanks.

Thanks @Ashish Acharya.

Thanks @Chris Clark.

What I thought, but needed some additional clarification.  Appreciate it.

Accounting question....would a new appliance for one of my rentals be considered a maintenance expense or cap ex for accounting purposes?

Would that change if it were a flip project?  Thanks.

Hey @Josh Thompson.  Congrats to you on taking the next step.  I'd be happy to chat, learn more about what you'd like to do and see how I can help.  Let me know if you'd like to get together.  

For those of you doing door hangers, how are you tracking your person or team so you know they are actually doing their job?  Are you compensating hourly or doing it per door hanger placed?  I already have the door hangers and I have people ready to go, just looking for some perspective from others on how to best do this without having to babysit these folks.  Thanks all.

I would agree 100% with @Trista Fenner on this.  Independence is probably the most "hit or miss" area on the Missouri side of the KC market.  You could love the house and even love the street, but you may not like what you see on the drive there.  Lots of different styles and types of houses with differing price points throughout.  You could have a nice brick ranch built in the 70's next to a 2 bed bungalow built in the 20's that looks like it's going to fall over.  Only one of our rental houses is in Independence, but it's in this zip code and probably about a mile from where you are looking.  We just rented it and the potential tenants that came through were not as good on paper as what we were used to, but feel confident that we have a good tenant signed after a lot of digging.  I would buy more in certain parts of Independence, but I really think you have to know what you are buying in that area.  How are you managing the properties that you own?