All Forum Posts by: Chris B.

Name the lender here and yes, you probably need legal action at this point. What time frames do your signed contracts state? If you don't have a signed contract and you sent money, that’s sketchy and a normal lender generally wouldn’t take any money without a pile of signed paperwork.

Great story and glad to hear you finally escaped the property.  D and F class neighborhoods have D and F class people living there.  I don't need any part of that stress.

Hopefully it only needs a minor repair, but if the AC is dying and the heater and fan are fine, seek out an AC company that has the knowhow to replace only the AC portion. My example: In the Phoenix AZ area, the builder special AC had been causing problems for a few years and then started leaking through the ceiling. OK, I'm thinking it’s time to give up and replace this mess. The builder put in a low end unit and did a terrible job installing it. I got 4 quotes, all for complete replacement which I assumed was standard (about 3 years ago) and they ranged from $7000 to $9,000 with Costco surprisingly being the most expensive even after rebates and credits. Then I started researching AC units myself and thought Amana units seem to be economically priced and decent quality and their website had a list of local installers. I called one and the owner came out instead of a sales rep which was nice. The sales reps roll out a sheet with 3 units: Expensive, more expensive, and most expensive. This guy crawled up in the attic and took a look and said my heater is fine as it’s pretty much not used in AZ and the fan is fine. I only need an AC condenser, evaporator, and new pan and the housing around the new part. He quoted $4500 installed. It’s been 100% perfect since then. So for anyone who thinks they may need the whole unit replaced, consider only fully replacing the part that is a problem.

$4000 does seem high for labor and I got similar rates from the companies where everyone had their hand out for a slice with salse comissions and lots of advertising.  Look for a smaller family owned company that has lower overhead.

I use Charles Schwab for my main brokerage account but I have other accounts with other companies also which are fine.  Charles Schwab brokerage accounts are free and trading is now free.  No minimum required.  You do have to know what you are doing when trading stocks and ETFs though and risk can be high but with returns like five percent plus in the past week, I'm happy.  You potentially can loose it just as fast if you don't have a good feel for when to sell or convert to something more conservative.

i initially opened the account about 7 years ago because of the free ATM usage across the world and not because of the brokerage.  I like international travel and they will refund ATM fees from any machine, anywhere in the world.  So if it cost me a $10 fee to pull out $300 equivalent on Mexico for example, I get the $10 back.  When I opened this checking account, they also opened a brokerage account for me at the same time.  Now I keep all of my funds in the brokerage account and if I have any upcoming travel, I just move some instantly over to the checking side and it's ready for use. If I need to sell stock, that will take a day or two to clear and then I can move it over.

They also gave me a stack of free checks.

I had a tenant hook up a hand held shower head with the hose and dropped the shower head and it hit and broke the handle and cartridge. I was able to locate a "cartridge and bonnet" store nearby and they were able to match what I needed so I didn't have to bust open the wall and replace the whole thing.

As a landlord: If the income was sufficient to pay the rent, and all parties agreed to this and signed a contract, and then payments fell behind only because they were forgotten and for no other reason, then the money to catch up on the rent should be there and used as such immediately. The landlord can’t forget to pay the mortgage. The bank has investor money that was lent out and needs to be returned. There’s no free magical money here. Everyone owes and payments need to be made. Alzheimer’s may be the reason for missed payments, but it doesn't mean it can't now be paid once its remembered.

Your suggested solution is certainly not from a landlord. It’s from tenants that want their cake and to eat it too... a free ride on $15k owed.

The eviction on your record is the last thing you should be worried about.  DO the right thing.

This problem is entirely of the tenants making and entirely in the tenants hands to resolve.  As a landlord, I can work with tenants.  I have compassion for those sick and I would work with a situation like this to create a workable repayment sturcture.  I certainly wouldn't let it get anywhere near this far behind though.  If the tenants are not interested in the effort it will take to resolve this, then that's a reflection on them.  It also reflects poorly on the landlord's business skills to allow this to get this bad.

An eviction should absolutely be on the record of all adults who lived there.  Everyone living there benefited from the $15k in free cash.

Con:   Disclaimer: I know a lot of people couldn’t care less.  Section 8 is immoral. It penalizes people for learning to take care of themselves and improve their situation as it is currently structured. I greatly object to paying taxes to support this and refuse to take these tenants.

I just got a cash out refinance of my primary home last month at 3.5 (it would be lower if I kicked it off now) and this week kicked a cash out refinance on my rental at 3.99. Nova home Loans in Arizona; not sure if they do out of state. I've done several through them and they have been great for me.

I use brokerage accounts for anything beyond basic expenses for the most part and buy stocks and ETFs. That way the investment grows and it’s been doing really well at the moment. Usually you can sell a stock and have the funds available to write a check with the proceeds in about 48 hours or less.

The rate you found for normal savings / checking accounts sounds pretty good.

We rented out a place in April and are very happy with our new tenant and rent rate. We had standard showings, but we wore masks and had hand sanitizer available for everyone. We also cleaned the door handles and countertops frequently. We didn't restrict showings. Not directly related to COVID, but with some concerns in the back of our mind, we decided to be stricter with a minimum credit scores after being too flexible in the past with issues as a result.  We also put about 20+ photos on Zillow and had used the 360 virtual tour feature with about 10 panoramas in it.