All Forum Posts by: Dominic R.

Best advice I can give you is look at the State of Connecticut's rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants.  It's on line and can help you from making all the mistakes I made.  

Here in Connecticut resale value of a slab homes is terrible.  No matter which foundation up here you need to go down about 4 feet to get below the frost line.  So why not go an additional 4 and have a full basement?  That way they have storage and a place for the washer dryer without the expense of a laundry room.

Forgot to add we shampooed the carpets with it also.

I purchased a house with heavy smokers and another landlord pointed me to a Home Depot product called Odoban.  The smell comes from bacteria in the smoke residue.  We cleaned every nook and cranny about 4 times with it as stated above and the smell went away completely.

When we get a new tenant we give them a move in checklist and have them inspect the house and sign it so that they can't claim it was that way before they moved in.  It is very specific with comment sections for each room and the basement .  In connecticut you must give your tenant a security deposit accounting statement within 30 days of the last day of the lease or they can sue for double the amount.  Most landlords and tenants don't know this but just incase I make sure they get it within 30 days.  

Coin operated washers and dryers can be purchased from Lowes and home depot then have a plumber do the plumbing if the property manager will manage it.

Have you left messages explaining you are willing to let him walk away.  Sounds like the mold issue is just him trying to cover his butt with an excuse.  Like I said first check the local laws because they may just say that obvious abandonment will let you in.  All states are different.

Before you enter the property make sure you are legally able to.  Just because he left doesn't always give you the right to enter.  Usually a letter of abandonment or mutual termination of the lease will.  Check the local laws. 

As Brie says you don't want to do anything to "pierce the veil" of the LLC so following the law is extremely important with a LLC.

Maybe it's overkill but I keep my single family rentals in an LLC to shield my personal assets from legal action. Let's say someone does something stupid and falls from the roof or electrocutes himself duing some sort of unauthorized modification. Possibly a drunken fall off the deck. I don't want to take the chance with our court system siding with the other party out of pity and let them go after my personal property. I like the added layer of insurance for only a 150$ dollars a year