All Forum Posts by: Craig Janet

Go online, google facebook, newspaper, etc and make a list of every handyman in the area. I usually start with about 10-20. Start calling one by one. Half won't answer, most of them won't show up. Don't stop calling others just because someone said they will do it, they probably won't show up. Just keep going down the list to until you find someone your comfortable with. 

In my area it cost $200 to make a small claims suit. Fix the fence and move on.

A eviction is way worse than bad credit. Many people can make bad decisions or fall on hard times to tank their credit score, but it takes a special kind of person to go through the whole process of getting evicted. If you're like me, I bet many of your friends and family have questionable credit scores. How many people do you know that's had a sheriff show up at their door to toss them out? It's not a risk that's worth taking in my opinion. 

Getting evicted lates a long time.

Lets look at a typical eviction scenario in my area:

Jan 6-Landlord: You're late on rent 

Jan-6 -Tenant:  Sorry I'll have it Jan 13th

Jan 13th- Landlord: Where is the Jan rent?

Jan 13th- Tenant: No response or some lame excuse

Jan 14th- Landlord posts 10 day Eviction Notice

Jan 28th- Landlord files for eviction at court house. Court date is set 3-4 weeks (in my city, much longer elsewhere). 

After filing the eviction it still isn't on their record. So I'm assuming that this actually went to court. This person probably tied up this property for at least two months without paying rent. I'm guessing it got "dismissed" because they agreed to move out. Then the landlord probably sued for damages and past rent. Hard pass!!

I would move on. Keep an eye on the property and maybe you can get it cheap at a foreclosure auction.

I'm in Louisiana and have the same insurance problems as flordia. You need to find a good independent agent that can run policies from multiple companies. They will give you an idea of what to budget for insurance expenses. My insurance cost have doubled in the last couple of years and its only going to get worse. Do not buy a house in a flood zone with the flood insurance 2.0 system rates have skyrocketed and will continue to do so. This will eat any cash flow and make the home almost impossible to sell. 

If it was under a week, I would have told the tenants to pound sand (stuff Happens). But they went an entire month without AC. Every landlord should have a couple of window or portable units to install within a couple days. Would you go an entire month without AC? Maybe you could compromise and give them half of the rent and consider this a learning experience. 

My opinion is that the grind of landlording gets to them and they sell. Repairs, chasing down rent payments, damaged properties after a move out, expensive improvements (HVAC, Roof). It can be a lot for just a couple hundred dollars a month (if you're lucky). They realize that you don't just sit back and collect checks. 

How slow is the charging with a regular 120 volt plug. If they plug it in and leave it overnight shouldn't that be enough to "top it off"?

This seems to be a reoccurring post every couple of days. In most markets the price of homes and expenses have outpaced the increases in rent. This is making deals very hard to find. The increase in interest rates is also making other investments like bonds and CDs more attractive.