All Forum Posts by: Bryan F.

Quote from @Michele G.:

4 tenants (students) were supposed to pay security deposit today for April 1 move in. I have not signed lease yet as I want all signatures, co-signers and security deposit in place. 

They just let me know they can pay half on April 1 and the other half next week after they move in. 

What would you do in this situation and what would you tell the prospective tenants? 
 
thank you 

We don’t even stop marketing until we have leases signed and all deposits, fees and prepaid rents paid. First come first come, first serve. You shouldn’t even entertain giving keys before all money is paid. Set the expectations from the beginning on how they need behave, or expect nothing but problems once they take possession.

Fees are income deposits are not. I’d check your lease language to make sure you are clearly stating this as a pet fee and not a deposit if you are not returning the funds at the end of the lease. Deposits have the expectation of the money being returned if parameters are met, and you could well get challenged on this by a tenant if your lease is phrasing it as a deposit as opposed to a fee. 

Quote from @James Wise:

For those unaware, I do Property Management in Ohio. The majority of our clients are out of state investors. Usually from places like California.

For the last decade+, every single year, without fail, we get 1 or 2 rookie investors that turn down a unit turnover bid of like $5,000 because they want to do it themselves for like $3,000.

Thing is, they have to take time off of their job and fly in to Ohio from California to do the repairs which are always done incorrectly, and it always takes them 3x longer than us. When you add up the lost wages, travel, lodging, lost rent and the cost to pay us to fix what they did incorrectly, they turn their $3,000 job into a $20,000 job.

Literally every year for the last decade I've seen at least 1-2 guys do this. And we just watch them and laugh and laugh and laugh. 

This is hilarious. Spend the money on flight and hotel when you acquire the property to thoroughly inspect the property and put together a detailed improvement plan. If you want to save 2k, get bids to do the work over time as cash comes in and before things become a major issue. You should be traveling cross country for opportunities to make 100k, not save 1k. If you need to do the work to make the numbers work, you bought wrong.

As others mentioned, don’t replace something that isn’t warn out. If the carpet is new (and you can prove it) and they trash it in 2 years of renting, charge them for the damage on move out. Tenants will always find a way to destroy your flooring no matter what you put down. Cross the replacement bridge and who pays for it when it’s required, not before.

Quote from @Alexander Rodriguez:

Quote from @Bryan F.:

Is this the type of tenant you’d expect in the area your property is located? If no, give them notice, recoup what you can from their deposit, fix the unit, and start fresh with a new tenant. If it this is a fairly typical tenant for the area, maybe switch to weekly or bi-weekly payments on a new MTM lease and charge a pet fee.

Frankly, this is my first property and I only get new tenants for one of the units. They are wonderful, always pay before the due date and keep the house very clean. But I don’t know if I will have the same luck if I evict them. I think I have a good chance at getting at least better tenants than they are. How much notice would you say is reasonable, considering they are kind people (despite being dirty and missing payment dates) and will have a hard time finding a place to bring their large dog.

I'd given them written notice based on the rules for your area to get the process started (whether that's 30 days or some other number), and then tell them you'd be willing to work with them on the official move out date (within reason) if they need a bit more time to find a place so long as they are current on rent.

You’re paying for this. Welcome to landlording. It won’t be your last clean out if you are successful enough to do this for a while. Find a small local shop (i.e. not roto-rooter) that does main line cleanings on the cheap for the next go round. Get a laminated instructions sheet with images that says what you can and can’t flush and tape it to the inside door of the bathroom vanity and include another copy in their move-in welcome packet.

Is this the type of tenant you’d expect in the area your property is located? If no, give them notice, recoup what you can from their deposit, fix the unit, and start fresh with a new tenant. If it this is a fairly typical tenant for the area, maybe switch to weekly or bi-weekly payments on a new MTM lease and charge a pet fee.

Doesn’t help now, but most utility providers will have a landlord account option that you can set up for your property. Instead of disconnecting the service when the tenant moves out and stops service, it transfers the utilities back to you without service interruption. I’d recommend setting this up now regardless if your next PM has managing utilities as part of their contract or not.

You’ve done your part. Peek winter rates on an all electric 1,100sq/ft unit in the Midwest probably isn’t going to get much cheaper. You can remind them that they are also not paying the $50/month connection charge for gas for the 6 months of spring and summer they aren’t using their heat by having a fully electric unit.

Why not try to raise the existing tenants closer to market rent first and defer the costs of renovating for another year or more if they agree?