All Forum Posts by: Cora Yeakel

With the current environment, depending on your states rules right now letting them out of the lease without penalty is mandatory. (IN WA.) I am unsure of how to address the back rent. 

Did she give proper notice per your states RCW and per your lease?

If covid wasn't a thing this is how I would address it

1. Accept the notice and send a detailed letter or email regarding the break lease options. 

Break lease options usually are a buy out OR the tenant can pay the rent through the end of their lease term. Once a new tenant moves in (you cannot accept double rent) you would refund the old tenant the rent from the date the new tenant moved in through the end of the leasing period. 

2. You legally cannot hold onto the deposit without documentation of what the deposit was used for. Every single penny needs to be accounted for and the tenant needs to be sent a statement after moving out. So if her deposit was 1,000 and it cost you 500 to turn the unit you could only use 500 and you would then refund the rest. EVEN with her permission!  

3. Any balance unpaid at move out can be considered liquidated damages and the deposit can be applied to it. 

Hey Sam! 

1. Real estate agents will expect you to pay them something for this and may not produce the most qualified leads. You can show yourself or if you want the anonymity of a real estate agent you can! 

2-4 In my experience the majority of people are still searching VIA craigslist. However Zillow can be a great platform as they produce qualified leads whereas craigslist is hit and miss. Renters aren't aware of all of these platforms like for rent, apartments.com (even though the ads are good.) hotpads, etc. Many people are familiar with zillow and craigslist. Month over month We saw that upwards of 70 percent of our leads and renters were coming from CL. This doesn't mean those platforms don't work they may be attracting the wrong renters.

5. This depends on your area. If you are in a location on a busy street in a city with a higher crime rate it's probably safer to not attract people to your rental. EX: I would never in a million years put a for rent sign on a property in downtown Seattle. In a residential neighborhood outside of the city with lots of neighbors, I don't see the issue! 

No, never give out anyone's information ever, this is against fair housing. If they want to find out the information they can do so on their own terms. If a tenant found out you gave out their information you could potentially face issues with HUD.

Hello! 

I stumbled across a home in one of the nicest neighborhoods in our hometown. The home is placed in a neighborhood where comparable homes sell for $900K-$1.3 million and it's set to go to auction in a two months for just under $400K. 

Upon further investigation we found out the following:

-Owner has been very inconsistent with payments since 2013 at one point he was delinquent $8000. 

- Owner filed for tax exemption and for that exemption has to make LESS than $40K a year

- Owner removed a homeowner from mortgage in 2009

-Owner bought the house just under $700K in 1997

-Owner recently made a payment lowering his balance but he still owes 

My question is how can we intervene before the home goes to auction? Or if the owner pays in full he still has significant financial issues and will end up in pre-foreclosure again- Is it possible to take over someone's loan? Also- could someone explain the foreclosure process? 

Thanks a ton!