All Forum Posts by: Deanna O.

Suggestions; 

First thing, read the "Tenant's rights" section at CA.cov. It covers Landlord's rights as well. Even if you end up using a lawyer you should at least know the process. I think the City of San Diego also has a section on Tenant's rights (which is also Landlord's rights).

Second; get the NOLO books - they have some specifically for CA avail online AND printed. Bonus? They are tax-deductible. Think of them as the Textbooks for Rental Management School.

Third; Get a paper calendar. Start writing everything on it - -the date, time person who delivered the 3 day notice (attach copy of notice), mark down all the rest of the deadlines. These may be ACTUAL days/business days, etc Mark down the first date you can file with the courts, etc. Read the rules carefully -- some days don't count (weekends, holidays), some months have 31 days, etc. Again, even if you use a lawyer, know the process & what to expect.

Fourth; Look up her name in the Court records of wherever she may have resided to see if she's been evicted before. SmartMove & other screening services do this for you, but that's for your NEXT tenant. If she has multiple evictions, proceed directly tenant removal services (based on conversations with other SD landlords) and hunker down for the long haul. I think the service my friend used was called "Get'em out" or something similar. 

Allen-- similar problem. I just started giving a ridiculously high "asking" price (about 3x high FMV), a bit of song and dance about how much I love the properties and my tenants (true, BTW), and they quit calling - worked like a charm.

Wowza. OK. Sooooo not professional; BP is a professional RE site, not the social media space for ranting and pounding your chest. 

The above reply is now, forever, in the web universe. Seriously dude, see if BP will let you edit your own post, unless "spoiled, fragile ego having a temper tantrum" is really the professional image you want to project (in which case that particular post is truly about as perfect as you could get....). 

I would worry less about the timing, and more about the individual property. If the numbers make sense (ie no neg cash flow every month), and you can afford to hold, that's probably better than waiting for the cheaper deal that you "might" get at some time in the future. Don't fall into the trap of must-buy-anything-at-any-price though. The first deal may not end up being the win that has you strutting around the RE investor's meeting crowing about your brilliance, but if it's a solid deal that makes you a little bit of money that's fine. My first property was good; my 2nd and 3rd were MUCH better, since I'd found my niche by then (they were 8 and 9 years later, BTW, and in "worse" market for investors. I looked seriously at 6-8 properties that I did NOT buy during that same time because either the numbers didn't work or someone else was willing to pay more for them. First prop is still solid though, and has done well for me over 11 years, and boy have I learned a lot about land-lording!

Personal opinion is about 60% of problem is lack of housing being built, 40% is  "need" vs "want" mentality. I've been in a multi-roommate house for 20+ years. It's always funny when we have a vacancy and a potential roomie declines because they "NEED" their own bathroom, larger bedroom, better-looking appliances, etc., then several years later that same person contacts us no longer "needing" those things and far more interested in the great rent deal....

No extra charge for pets, but they have to disclose them, and they are listed on the rental agreement. The "pets" section takes up one entire page of the rental agreement. I can and have kicked out tenants for lying on the number/breed of dogs. That said, the tenants with problem dogs have almost always been problem tenants. Sometimes I would have gladly kept the animals and gotten rid of the people. I now require front/side pics of animals, and if possible meet them in person, or have a NON-animal person meet them-- if she's comfortable with them they tend to be OK. All my current tenants have dogs, and I have animal-resistant flooring in all my rentals. Works out fine. Animal owners tend to stay forever rather than looking for a new place.

When you say "tattoo", does it look like bad prison art, or cool stuff?
A couple of the Mississippi Mudsharks musicians were the first ones that I ever saw with the really GREAT photo-realistic tattoos done with micro-needles (circa about 1995). I don't have tattoos, probably never will, but seeing those changed my bias against ink ---they were night and day vs my great-uncles 1920's hula girl LOL. Personally, I'd think either make sure they are really sharp, or laser them off....

You CAN refinance, however the terms on a rental are not likely to be as good as a home-owner loan. Most likely you are better off keeping the existing (home-owner) loan. There may be an option of a 2nd mortgage or HELOC if you need to pull out some of your equity.

There is no useful "average", and you are dealing with two distinct parts -- the rehab and the resale. The rehab time depends entirely on what a particular project needs, who is doing the work, and are the resources avail (skilled labor, materials, money) . The buyer demand in the market you are working in determines the other part (the "after rehab sales process"). Currently (at least in my area) the market is starting to cool down -- houses were selling in hours a year ago, and now they are taking days/weeks. Before Covid (and the insanely low interest rates) they were taking months. Part of that is people listing for more than the property will appraise for, part is buyers getting nervous. 

As far as rehabbing, remember that when you watch HGTV shows, half of it is faked, the other half is untrue, and none of it shows the true time schedule (if you order and prefabricate materials for two weeks, but do the install on camera in a day, did the project take 2 weeks, or 1 day?).