All Forum Posts by: Jeffrey Duck

My triplex has a ~6'x8' enclosed area for trash cans (55 gallon rolling receptacles). Each unit has one for trash and one for recycling so there are six in total. The cans need to be rolled to the curb twice a week and the city limits the time they can be out, from the evening before pickup, to the night of pickup. 

Currently, I lease one of the three units to someone who keeps it clean. He's someone I already knew, and he does the work for a small rent discount but he's about to move out and I don't think it'll be so easy to find another qualified tenant without losing a month's rent while looking.

Before I bought the building, the tenants were all responsible for taking their own cans to the road and they were collectively responsible for keeping the area clean, but they didn't (and I didn't know they didn't.) After I bought it, I learned that the owner, who lived close by would take the cans to the road and clean up the area. In reality tenants would use each other's cans so they wouldn't have to take theirs out, OR for retribution, because another tenant used their cans. Also, there was regularly raw garbage or trash bags left sitting on the ground. 

How can I keep the area clean and the tenants happy at a minimal cost?

I have a tenant who's 'activated' a number of the sections of the lease and it's become unclear to me what takes priority, and more so, how to approach the problem in the most cost effective way.

Along with that, the market conditions, my current location (away from the triplex), and the sheriffs not doing evictions, make it harder to figure out what to do or how to execute a good approach.

I'm hoping BPers can give me some referrals to a few local landlord-tenant attorneys along with what you like about them. I prefer someone who's easy going and good at long-term, independent relationships.

Thanks much in advance for the help!

(The details are a bit long to type out clearly but I see a lot of curiosity in BP so I'll add the details along with the resolution to the post when I get an idea of how the issue gets handled.)

So the can of worms may be reopened, but I've made a final decision... no evictions allowed! I'm sharing this to show how a small crack can expand.

(Just to summarize, I had a prospective tenant with a long history at their last place but ended up with an eviction request recorded that was negotiated, so there was no actual eviction. Some people commented that something was wrong with the big picture and that was true.)

I'm seeing that current life events can be the secret reason for a relocation, especially with someone who otherwise appears very stable.

The 'husband' was the 'father' of the 2 teen boys. I had reason to believe he has enough money to buy a house but he wouldn't fill out a credit app so he couldn't move in. The woman qualified on her own so she and the boys moved in. She's a school teacher with a near guaranteed salary.

The school district matches teacher's savings for summer so over 9 months, they save 1-1/2 months of pay but get paid during all 3 months of summer. One month in (I later learned), she got a DUI and that left her short on funds so she retracted/cashed-in her summer savings plan believing she would get 3 months salary but since she didn't take it monthly as pay, she only got the 1-1/2 months that she paid in. So now she has to work for the summer but summer school is only 2 months long so she's still going to be short by 1 month. I set an 'absolute' rule for myself that once rent is late, notices go out on THE day they're supposed to, BUT having just started, my head was spinning over this, and she came to me asking for my help with her finances so I decided to work with her.

So... I know what she makes and when she can make it. And she's VERY a very clean housekeeper. So I made a new lease from $1540/mo to $915/2-weeks and she gets 3 pay periods each year that she doesn't pay rent (xmas, summer start/end). It's working perfectly! She's very happy and I'm getting my money back, and over time, I'll be ahead (although my plan was to give her back the 'extra' and/or bring the lease back down once things stabilize.)

The second summer rolls around and she's not able to pick up a class for summer school. She can't get any work tutoring and she stops paying the rent because an Alien ate her Buick and various other excuses. Oh, AND she got another DUI, and went off on the officer, and was now wearing ankle jewelry.

Fortunately I didn't break my eviction rule this time and the documents went out on time so with the help of Judge Miniana she was removed in about 1-1/2 months.

After the increase rent, missed rent, and eviction costs, I lost a total of $300 and I'll chalk that up more to luck than skill, but I can see now how you need the best of both to succeed.

<soapbox>Some people have bad luck, some make bad decisions, and others just live with the decisions of their parents but they all want and need a home. As their stuff was being carried to the curb I tried to explain it to the 6'3" 250# 19yo weight lifter (not the point your thinking) why his and his 18yo special needs brother's stuff was being placed in the street. Both of the boys may always blame me and that's fine. When I drove off, that boy was sitting on his mattress in the street crying in his girlfriend's arms. It was a sad sight. I guess my point is, it's not my fault they got evicted but the better job we do of screening prospects, the less likely we have to see people like that.<\soapbox>

I know it's been awhile: @Thomas S. I'm not clear how the 3 year lease works against me. I think a tenant either meets my requirements or needs to be evicted, and the eviction would be the same either way. When I got the building I started with a M2M eviction which cost me a lot. I feel I'd have less management anxiety if I'm not worrying about a M2M tenant, but I'm still too new to see the benefits.

acuityscheduling.com

calendly.com

These will work directly with your Google and other calendars. Consider Zapier if necessary.

(I don't use these for my rentals so I don't know how they'll work on sites like Zillow.)

Thanks Dana but how do I get the deposit when they sign an electronic document from their home? And what form of payment can I take to assure it clears and isn't a bad payment?

They can sign it electronically but in FL the landlord has to sign the lease and have it witnessed by two people if the lease is for more than one year. Otherwise just the electronic copy would be fine.

I'm about to get my first leases signed (for two 5/1 moving-ins and one 6/1 move-in) but I'm out of the area today and want to get them signed tonight. I'll be there tomorrow afternoon and can give out keys, etc. but I've had a lot of interest in the property and want to get the leases done ASAP so I have a chance to find another tenant if necessary. Also, the leases will be signed electronically by the tenants but I have to have two witnesses so I plan to print and sign them here at home then bring the perfected copies to the property tomorrow.

My main question is, how and when do I collect the initial payments? Before I return the counter signed copies or when I do? Although I seem to have very clean tenant prospects, I don't want to take a bad check and get stuck with an instant hold-over. I plan on allowing ACH payments or deposits directly into my account which is 1-1/2 miles from the property.

Any feedback on my entire process is greatly appreciated!

OK, one last update...

So as I said, I have a triplex, and I'm hoping to have the leases signed by tonight (for Sunday 5/1) For my second unit, I AGAIN have a tenant lined up with 16 years in their past residence to sign a 3 year lease. I almost lost her because I started out using Rentalutions which totally destroyed communications and relationships with prospects (for various reasons). I switched platforms and things are starting to go much smoother. She came back and contacted me after I changed platforms

My third unit won't be ready to occupy until later in May but I've had a lot of interest in it and have a tenant (about to sign) who has been a nurse for 20 years. I'm told the oldest son is in medical school while she has a 23 yo son in nursing school. She's only been in last place for 1 year but the two before that were each 7 years.

All that said, I REALLY feel now that this is all too good to be true. I only believe in luck to a certain degree so now I feel like I'm missing something or doing something wrong that hasn't come to a head yet. When and if things change, I'll post back (hoping this is interesting to others) and share what went wrong. In the meantime, my fingers are crossed.

I have to say this forum is a lively bunch! I'm learning quite a bit here about landlording - mostly that there's no hard-and-fast rule about following hard-and-fast rules. It seems that some people's success comes from sticking to the rules while others comes from finding the gems that fall through the cracks.

The biggest thing that stands out in this discussion is that what some people see as facts, others see as presumptions. As just one example, one person may say "speak to the previous landlord to learn what kind of a tenant they were" and someone else will say "yeah, but the prospect could have just given you the name and number of a friend and not the landlord." For me, I have to say that if I speak with the previous landlord, that means I would have only spoken with a friend if the landlord was a friend. 

By the time I've spoken to the previous landlord (since I'm just getting started, I've only done this twice so far) I've verified the landlord's name, phone number, property ownership in the county, state business licenses and names of relatives - about the same steps as I would with a prospective tenant. I KNOW they are the landlord. This takes about 1/2 hour.

So, back to the prospect in question... It ends up that the prospective tenants have no criminal convictions, nor expungements, etc. The man has 20+ years at two water treatment companies, and the woman is a tenured teacher. They have two boys who are (clearly) heading to college this year and in 2 years.

But as for the landlords - they have a criminal traffic violation, multiple evictions (as landlord), a felony conviction, and multiple foreclosures. I stopped by the current residence and found all the things the tenant said about the property to be true, including that they (the tenants) take good care of it.

Only having a triplex, I've had the chance to do more digging than I could if I had more units but it's been a good experience. I've gotten to know the tenants pretty well and have established a respectful open communication channel with them. I was able to keep the rent at $1520 which is at the top of the market. (A few months ago I wasn't sure I would get $1450.) Having already discussed it with them, we're planning on signing a 3 year lease with 3.5% increases. I know I don't even have a lease yet but for now I'm feeling like this has gone well.