All Forum Posts by: Ellen Womack

Where can I get an itemized letter of damaged property as it pertains to the security deposit? I've combed the internet for NC. What am I missing? 

Anyone who could answer this question, please feel free to chime in. I am in the middle of evicting a tenant for non-payment and also trashing my property. I was told that it is never a good idea to appear in an eviction court case without a lawyer. Is this true? In the unfortunate event of having to go to court to evict a tenant, must one ALWAYS have legal representation or are documents and evidence of damaged property good enough? 

Quote from @Tom Fidrych:

What state is the rental property in?

 It IS in North Carolina

How does the eviction process work?

I'm house-hacking in a duplex. I have a tenant that lives on the other side. From time to time he asks me to unlock the door because he locked himself out. I would say in 10 months he locked himself out 7 times. I have tried to charge him he doesn't want to pay. How could I handle this situation?

I'm house-hacking from time to time the tenant on the other side keeps asking me to open his door. He's locked out. How do I handle this? Even though I told him I would charge him he still doesn't pay.

Is it the landlord's responsibility to provide the tenant with pest control and security cameras for a duplex? Are there any other responsibilities I need to be aware of?

The advice is helpful. Thank you.  I will try looking into a personal line of credit.  I believe my husband is leaning toward selling, but I was looking for a way that would make sense to him for us to keep it. 

Also- the neighborhood is bad but the overall city is a hot market. Thank you, again.

Quote from @Taylor L.:

You mentioned that you skipped the inspection but didn't dig into what needs to be fixed. How bad is it?

Did you screen the tenant? If so, how? If your goal is to keep the duplex and move out you'll need to have solid procedures and criteria in place.

No. We didn't screen the tenant and had to ask for his info after closing. We got no information on him until afterward and felt it best to honor his current lease. 

We haven't dug too much into the weeds of this duplex, but we were told we need new pipes for our waterlines. The house was built in the 1940s. 

My husband and I are ambitious, new investors. We bought a duplex, made a classic rookie-noob mistake and skipped the home inspection in order to close quickly. We also, didn't take into account how bad the neighborhood is and we really don't like living here. 

We want to keep the property, but we don't know how. We're BROKE! Decent credit scores, but broke! The tenant is horrible- I mean like starting-a-carwash- in -our-driveway horrible. We really don't want to sell. The area is a hot market, but we don't know what to do. 

How can we:

1. Keep the duplex (and get a tenant that will actually respect our property) 

2. Afford to fix it up

3. Afford  to get our own house