All Forum Posts by: Craig Janet

The tenant will deny knowing anything about how it broke. It could be the truth or lie there's no way to tell. It could have been from a neighbors lawn mower, kids, a tree branch, even a hard wind in some cases. Replacing a window pane isn't very expensive. It's just another day in the life of a landlord. Fix it and move on.

What I hate about older homes is that nothing is "standard". Every window will be a different size, all the doors will be different. The plumbing will be in a weird place. You can't just go to lowes and find replacements without major modifications. If the trim is damaged you can't just find another piece to replace it. They can be beautiful homes just not very tenant friendly. As someone else mentioned, if you can do this type of stuff your self it makes a huge difference. Contractors know all the extra work and hassle it requires and will charge accordingly.  

 What kind of tub surround do you use?

If it was a good deal at $350k (assuming you ran all the numbers), why wouldn't it be a good deal at $342K. The lower appraisal just saved you $8K or more if you want to play hard ball. 

I post all of my rentals on Zillow. If you pay the extra $29 for the premium listing it gives you some great data to analyze your property. For example it gives you a total amount of rentals in your market over the past 14 days. In my market the supply of rentals is increasing. This tells me that demand is low. I know this for a fact because I'm having trouble renting out my homes even after numerous price drops (I never had any problems before). 

It also gives you a chart of the average rental price over the past year. In my market the average rental prices has decreased all most 20% from last year. So you can look at this data and see if it matches what your PM is telling you.

So technically you don't even have a issue (Yet). Their rent is paid and according to you they are great tenants. Have they paid December rent? The guy spent one night in jail. Unless he did something illegal in your home it's none of your business. He's innocent until proven guilty. Do you know what the charge is? DWI, domestic violence, unpaid tickets, murder?  

The best move you have is to wait until he's late on the rent, then proceed with an eviction. He may surprise you and pay the rent (he has to live somewhere). If not proceed with the eviction, most people move out on their own. 

Sale price-Materials-Labor= Net Gain

Then they spilt it 50/50. I know it doesn't seem "fair" that the ex will profit from this, but it's her investment too. Your boyfriend should have had an agreement with her prior to doing all the work. 

I do all the repairs myself and I would say an average $1000 plus one or two months rents. This is why it always surprises me when everyone is quick to recommend getting rid of an PITA tenant that complains about minor things. Turnovers are very costly and time consuming they should be avoided whenever possible. 

Valves usually don't fail after a few months. If it was on there incorrectly it would have been leaking or would have failed immediately when the water pressure was turned on. If it worked fine for months then all of sudden something happened and it flooded your home, I would look hard at the tenant. They could have yanked on it used a faulty hose, washing machine failure etc.