All Forum Posts by: Brian Detlefsen

A few months ago, I had a vacancy and posted the apartment on Zillow. Many people applied, and I offered it to a woman that just met the minimum requirements. A week before move in, she texted me saying that she changed her mind and would not be taking the apartment. So, I offered it to the next person in line. After the 2nd person accepted, she called me back and changed her mind again and would like to take the apartment. I told her it is too late, someone else took it. Good luck in your search.

Now, I have another apartment that is vacant and posted it on Zillow. This same woman has been emailing, calling, and texting me every day, asking about the apartment. I am hesitant to rent to her as she seems very wishy washy and a high maintenance type of person. How do I handle this situation?

I have also been converted from Cozy.co to Apartments.com and was not really happy with the service or website of Apartments.com. The rent collection system on Apartments.com works well, but that's about it. As of November 2022, Apartments.com is charging $200 to post an ad for an apartment (on buildings 5+ units). 

I was also converted from Cozy.co to Apartments.com and was not really happy with the service from Apartments.com. The rent payments system works well and I am satisfied with that. But that's about it. As of November 2022, Apartments.com is now charging $200 to post an ad for apartments with 5+ units. It is no longer free to list an apartment for rent. 

I was migrated from Cozy.co to Apartments.com also. I'm not thrilled with it either, nothing but problems and the tenants don't like it either. I've had tenants charged twice for rent, putting them in the red in their bank account. It was very difficult to get it corrected and an answer from Apartments.com, but they admitted that it was their fault after a software upgrade. 

I've asked Apartments.com about certain features, like having the apartment numbers actually listed in numerical order instead of randomly and being able to email/text tenants thru Apartments.com. They say they are working on this, but it has been several months with no action. Actually, I haven't noticed any new features in the last year. 

Creating a listing is cumbersome and uses photos from the listed apartment and mixes them in with your general photos. I don't think this is a good practice either as I want to be as specific to the listed apartment as possible and they are automatically modifying the listing. 

I've gotten background, criminal and collections reports without having to accept anyone. It will say "No record was found... etc" if there isn't anything on record.

Thanks for the feedback. I think my best option is to not renew their M/M lease and ideally I should have them out by March 31st which is more than the 30 day minimum notice. I'm hoping that they won't trash the place before they leave.

Today, I got a call from one of my tenants saying that he smells smoke in his apartment and he called the fire department. When I got there, the fire department located and extinguished the fire. It was at the base of the building, where the foundation and rim joist meet. They extinguished the fire and said that it was caused by a cigarette butt. There were 100’s of cigarette butts laying directly around the area.

There is a young couple with a toddler in the 2nd floor studio apartment directly above. I get noise complaints about them on a regular basis. They refuse to control their toddler and have told me this to my face. They are heavy smokers and they go out onto the 2nd floor deck and throw the butts on their wood deck and on the cement patio below. I am 99.9% sure that this was caused by one of their cigarette butts.

I have asked them on several occasions, face to face not in writing, to not throw their cigarette butts on the ground. They say that they won’t anymore, but they continue to throw them everywhere.

Additional info: They are on a month-to-month lease and are always 3-4 days late with the rent. I have everyone else set up on electronic rent pay thru Cozy, but they refuse because they don’t have a checking/savings account. They pay rent with a certified check. The young couple and their toddler live in a studio apartment. I inherited these tenants with the apartment.

I’m trying to figure out what my options are given that it is the middle of winter and the COVID-19 is still going on. Any suggestions?

@Lee Stephens Congrats on the deal, looks like a great opportunity. I have been bouncing around a little bit when it comes to boiler guys in the Elgin area. So many of them don't even return a phone call and the ones that do charge ridiculous amounts. If you find one that you're happy with let me know.

Lee,

I agree with what Manuel mentioned above. In addition, it looks like you have a drain in the floor of the basement. I doubt that you have a sump pump. If you do, then there were probably big water issues in the past and that was the solution at the time. It looks like all of your downspouts from your gutters drain right next to your foundation. Try to direct the water as far away from the building as possible. 

The building is an old building (96 years), it appears that none of the windows will be a standard size. I wouldn't replace unless you have to. If this is in a historical district in Elgin, you will have a bigger problem replacing windows. In Elgin, I have seen people replace the windows with shorter windows and block out the gap with plywood. Not very good looking, but functional I guess.

You also don't have coin-op laundry. I'm sure the tenants have their friends over to do their laundry for free (at your expense). Plus, you can charge extra for garage space, weather it is to your tenant or not.

Lastly, you don't mention it in your post, but check the breaker box. If it has Federal Pacific Stab-Lok breakers, your insurance company will require that you replace everything ($$$). They are a fire hazard (don't ask me how I know this). There are/were a lot of these breakers in Elgin.

As a side note, I had similar problems of people dumping mattresses and furniture in my parking lot. I installed cameras and it never happened again. So, the cameras are a big deterrent and if someone does make a mess, you know who is responsible. Also, I have a small paragraph in my lease restricting littering and staging garbage or items outside.