All Forum Posts by: Darlena Jones

Rentals :)

@Sarnen Steinbarth - Happy holidays to you too :)  Thanks for reassuring me that it's ok to be a softy sometimes.

Thanks too, @Michael Boyer

@Michael Olesky  @Jim Keller - thanks for the advice. 

Hi everyone - Thanks in advance for any help.

I recently bought a duplex and inherited tenants which have been fine.  This is a C property, rent is $550/month.  I was told that one of the tenants is disabled (husband of a husband/wife team).  Today, the wife called and said that they needed to move since he can't climb the 5 steps until the front door.  He has ALS.  A dear friend of mine died of ALS in May so I have a soft spot.  They could stay, however, if they had a ramp.

I know I'm not obligated to build a ramp; the cost and burden should be on them.  But, we own a construction company and can easily build a ramp.  They have no means/way to build a ramp and I just can't imagine adding to their huge burden of a horrible disease.

Am I being too emotional about this?  Please tell me to build the f'ing ramp and not worry that I'm being a bad landlord by not making them pay for it.

Upsides:  Exposure.  We do open houses but don't expect any actual buyers to show up.  We also hold broker's opens which I highly recommend.

Downsides to open houses:  You need to make sure that you have your carpet protected (put down the sticky plastic).  You need to get those little blue bootie things and make people wear them (or they can take their shoes off).  You need to make sure that everything is secured (we've lost a ton of those crank knobs for casement windows over the years).  You need to always remember that most, if not all, of these folks are just out to look around.  Very few are true buyers.

Just saying that I agree with everyone here.  In your personal life, you can say "Merry Christmas" to anyone you want.  In your professional life, you need to be aware that not everyone is Christian.  It's easy to say "most people are Christian" or "they should just accept Merry Christmas" but that's easy to say when you're in the majority religion.   BTW: nearly 25% of Americans claim no religious affiliation and 6% are a non-Christian religion (e.g., Judaism, Hinduism, Muslim).  That's a fairly large population in total.

Personally, I like the cards with snowmen.  Who doesn't smile at a snow man? 

I would definitely have a handful of portfolio lenders names in my pocket to give them but, ultimately, it's up to them to secure financing.

Go to your local REIA group and ask them who funds their projects. At my REIA, we have members who are employees of the local portfolio lenders. Great way to make connections.

Sorry - your experience with zoning wasn't great - they're not real friendly in my neck of the woods either.  But, they probably have a thankless job.

I take it that the property can't be split such that both parcels have road frontage?

Is this such a great deal that you're willing to go to all of this work?  Where I live, we have a lot of land and don't have to work with zoning other than getting building permits and inspections.  

Other than suggesting you apply for a zoning change, I'm not sure I can help.