All Forum Posts by: Debbie J.

Update, we submitted for a 5% increase.  They approved an even $50 but not $57.  That works, however as the DRAMA has ensued we have discovered we need to evict her.

Because:

After a 5:00 am call reporting a flooded basement last week, we spent 12 hours in the home. It is now our opinion that denied boyfriend moved in anyway. The baby--miscarriage----riiiiigggghhhht. Tenant has become increasingly obstinate, although she needed the basement rescued, she DID NOT want us in the home, was very hateful, refused to run the air and fans to help dry carpets at the same time threatening us with a potential mold issue. Someone did talk her into running the ventilation to dry out. Weeds a foot high all around, neglect and continued abuse on the home. Wouldn't even agree to allow US to do the yard work needed. This screams tenant hiding things. We were prepared to take photos and start documenting a plan for eviction when we finally gained entry for a final check of the dry basement last night. AND found she had moving boxes in the kitchen and seems to be packing. A quick Facebook search found she ISO a new rental property as of Aug 1. Found a post asking for advice how to get red hair dye out of light brown carpeting to prepare for her inspection. And finally--a post announcing on July 8 that HER boyfriend was removing his things from the property. Yep, you told me so.... I cannot believe some of the things she actually posted. Now that she is looking again, she has removed the post about hair dye in the carpet. I do have screen shots..... Not sure if the boyfriend moving his things is solid enough for HUD to take action against her. I have read this kind of thing is pretty hard to prove and HUD rarely acts on these reports.

SO, we have seen the inside of the property and know what our repair list is, will most likely get 30 days notice since it is HUD. No tenants skipping in the middle of the night with no notice. I really hate having property 40 miles away as it is harder to keep an eye on it. So, anyone know if local West Central Office helps connect with new renters? I see this GOSection8 site. Anyone try that one?

Update, HUD told her she cannot add the boyfriend. Only girlfriend most likely because she is pregnant with grandchild. We can live with that. Submitting for a cost of living increase. Thank you everyone for your input!

Really appreciate the hard numbers we are getting here!  

Yes, there are going to be  three additional instead of two.  We know that, but she doesn't seem to know that.  She had three kids when she moved there, one moved out.   We expected her contribution to change when that happened, but it didn't.   It does seem to get smaller all the time.  The kids remaining are under 18.  We also realize the two added teens are not related to her, but baby will be.  Assuming unwed mother may qualify for her own voucher? And likely, since her voucher is for 3 bdr the basement bedroom windows are not an issue yet.  She is figuring they will allow her 2 people per bedroom on existing voucher.

No extra people living there yet, we have been in and out.  Just did some rehabbing on the place.  This family has nothing.  Not even enough beds.  We did try to help locate furniture for them initially, however, she had to learn a hard lesson, as she turned down what we located in favor of furniture they had rented.....  Now the rented items are gone.  And she lost on items we located for little or free.

She meets with HUD tomorrow. Will see what they tell her, their feedback may change her mind.

I stopped and spoke with someone at HUD today. Not at liberty to discuss her situation with them, addressed our rent amount and possible raise. Explained the rehabbing we have done and recent increase in taxes and insurance with no raise in two years. They said to just explain these items and show new raised rent amount. Just a conversation in passing, said they thought our rent was probably pretty good for the area. I asked if there was a set amount we needed to stay in for a raise and was told no. However, not sure I got the full scoop here, would assume even 10% to be high. We are not going to push that envelope. Searching for rentals in the town show only 2 available and neither comparable. When I lived there and had more properties I knew the local rents better. I think we will go with 5% for now, that is very fair and won't rock the boat much for anyone, and let them deal with her on possibility of rent adjustment for additions.

Thank you for your  detailed input everyone!

Two things, the home is 5 bdr, but she says HUD has been paying based on 3 bdr. Although two bedrooms are in the basement with no egress windows. HUD approved those bedrooms based on no young children sleeping in there. So it is possible the rate could increase for a 5 bdr. Still questionable. I did find HUD FY for 2017 which shows exactly what they allow for FMR. It appears we are below that rate by $143 a month for 2017, although the rate shown is for Kansas City and we are actually a suburb of KC. Tenant and West Central have to be notified within 60 days of lease renewal for any raise, which is in the next week or ten days. So need to get the ball rolling here. We ARE going to apply for a raise. Just undecided how much, as that is a large raise for one year. However, if the bedroom rate changes from 3-5 it is even higher. Tenant is asking for an approval letter from us before she meets with them. But we feel the need to speak with HUD before we just hand out any blanket approval letter. We do like the tenant enough to work with her. She is recently declared disabled. So her rent is pretty much guaranteed, which is NICE. (her part is $8.00) No more chasing tenants for their rent, and THEY made HER fix some things this last time it was inspected her kids had damaged. Plus the down time mentioned above as well as cost of getting it market ready again.

We also want to work with her as we are considering selling the property in the future, we have moved and we would like to invest closer to home. She wants to buy it and we have found a program that helps HUD tenants purchase properties, they actually provide grants to help them with their down payment. They do need good credit, but we were told they work with the tenants to help them get in good credit standing and prepared to buy. She needs credit repair and we are not totally ready right now to sell. But the potential of moving from rental to sale with no down time, plus saving realtor fees, and clean up would be great.

In short we have plenty of incentive to make this work.

Hi Adam,

There is a group called MAREI that meets in Overland Park the second Tuesday of each month, I believe.  We attended our first time a month or so ago.  Here is their website:  http://www.marei.org/

We were invited by someone.  Your first time is free, after that there is a fee, I think it is free if you become a member.   We have been looking for similar meetings for a few months now.  So far this is all we have found.

Thank you Nicholas. The tenant will be discussing this with HUD at her renewal meeting. We considered the financial contribution issue, I believe they are all students with no income. But actually not sure about newer kids.

Thank you Nick!

We have a tenant on Section 8 in Missouri. Single mother. She wants to add her son's pregnant girlfriend and, in fairness to her daughter, her boyfriend. "To help them get on their feet". (We are not here to counsel the family) We are hesitant about this. She is about to meet with HUD for her renewal. Is this a situation where HUD would pay extra for the additional people? We don't even know if HUD will approve of this situation. We really don't want to lose them, but are concerned about the additional wear and tear on the property. We have not raised the rent there since she moved in a couple years ago.

I used to work for County Records in Missouri.  You can go to the tax collector's website and look up the property.  There you will find out who is paying the tax bill on it and where that bill is being sent.  I have done this successfully a number of times.  Many counties have this free online.  Finding a phone number is harder, but with the address you can approach a potential seller by mail.

Looking for reliable handyman/contractors in the KC area, probably more southern KC.  I have done rehabbing in another town.  Don't know anyone here.  About to restart business here in KC.  Any recommendations will be appreciated.