All Forum Posts by: Eric Zawadski

The lease doesn't say anything about pests..

I am not sure what my obligation is in this situation, so I'm hoping someone will weigh in and help me out....

A month ago I had a tenant that said there were a bunch of flies in her apt. I asked how they got in and she said some of the screens are ripped (this is an inherited tenant of a property I bought a year earlier). I sent her some new screens and she hasn't said anything more about flies. I also sent her some links of household ways to get rid of flies. She calls them cluster flies, but this in taking place during the summer in New England. Cluster flies can come out of attics and whatnot in Spring and Fall. Also her apt is a renovated attic. So there isn't anywhere for these cluster flies to live. Either way, I'm fairly certain they're just house flies. 

Now today, she said she moved around some furniture and found some maggots and fly eggs underneath her couch and rug and under some lifting up floor boards. I have been very friendly and helpful, giving her tips on how to get rid of them (keep doors and windows closed, spray certain essential oils around, vacuum up the maggots, etc.) She has not said as much, but I believe she is insinuating that it is an infestation and I need to take care of it....

What are your thoughts? Can house flies actually be an infestation? Is it my responsibility to call a pest person? Or hers because she most likely let in too many flies and they ate her garbage and laid eggs and had nasty maggot babies?

Thanks in advance!

My brother and I “co-own” a triplex we just bought. Technically I own it, but we will be splitting all expenses, mortgage payments, rent, etc. All of the rent goes through me first because I am close to the property and the tenants know me as the landlord. My plan was to just send my brother half the rent each month minus expenses.

How would we go about claiming this? Would I need to say that I’m paying him like a general contractor? Would it just be less income that I’m claiming? I imagine he would just claim it as rental income, although I’ve personally never done that without first owning the property.

Obviously this is the territory of a tax professional, but I just wanted an idea of how we’d do it next year.

Thanks!

I have been investing in RE for about 3 years now and have never had trouble getting a unit rented. Quite the opposite. Most of the time there are too many applicants. During my 1st year, at one turnover, I had 30 different applications. After that I raised the rent and the number has gone down to an average of about 6-12. 

I use Windows 10 and my email is not very organized. I keep having trouble keeping track of where I am in conversations with prospective tenants. 

Does anyone have advice for how to effectively organize prospective tenant info (answers to my pre-screening questions, names, numbers, etc.)

Thanks!!

My partner and I are moving to the city soon (Burlington VT) and are going to be house hacking in a fairly small apt on one side of a duplex we are going to purchase. 

We currently have a home office in our house, but when we move, the apt will be a bit too small. I know a lot of people that can just work from their laptop at the kitchen table, but we have an energized 2 year old and I'm much more productive if I have a little space for an office. 

My partner is a massage therapist and rents an office to work on her clients. When we move, the amount she will have to pay for rent will most likely double to about $120/day. She may work 2 or 3 days a week, adding up to about $960 - $1440 per month. 

My thought is to buy a small property with a few bedrooms, maybe a small kitchen, within cycling distance of where we will live. She can use one room as her office and I can use one as mine. To make it a bit fun we could have little parties there sometimes or let relatives stay in one of the extra rooms.

I was wondering if there are any tax benefits to doing this? Or ways to look at this as an office hack? Maybe less benefits than a traditional rental property? Would it be legal to charge my partner rent? We aren't married but live together with our son. We don't share a bank account but technically don't differentiate between my money and hers.

 Technically this wouldn't be a home office right? Because it isn't my home, but I will own the building. There is also the idea to rent out a room as an office to another person as well.

Trying to find info on this question online has been tough, so I thought I'd ask all of you!

Thanks!

@Joe Splitrock may be right about most business cards going into the trash. Here is what Gary Vee has to say about business cards. Pretty funny. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkgUGoKxwzc

Thanks Chris, your reply is incredibly comprehensive. I think I may have totally overlooked my personal housing expense. To be honest, I bought two rental properties right before buying the home we live in. The income from those properties has always gone straight to paying the mortgage of our home, which sort of allows me to forget about that mortgage all together. The checks come in and go right back out again (haha). 

We are actually planning on selling this home (its in the woods) and buying/moving into a duplex (its in the city) to house hack. Maybe this move will help my DTI ratio.

Thanks again for your comments.

Cheers

I have read other threads like this but I still can't seem to figure out what to do...

I have 3 rental units. They all cash flow $300-$500 a month. Each tax season I input all of my income and my deductions/repairs/expenses/etc. By the end of it I don't have any taxable income from my rental properties, only the small income I get from being a seasonal park ranger. 

I have read on these threads that a small bank or credit union, one that keeps loans in house, will look at the cash flow numbers of the investment and not at my taxable income, or lack there of. Yet, just moments ago, I got an email from my mortgage loan officer saying that my debt to income ratio was too high and they won't be able to move forward with approval. 

This has happened a few times now and I solve it by asking my parents to co-sign. I'm a responsible 32 year old and this feels a bit odd each time I do it, but it gets the job done.  I'd love to move forward on my own though.

How can I change this? How do others, that have real estate as their main income (with minuscule taxable income) make this happen?

Hey everyone. I just got a phone call from a neighbor to one of my rentals. He said that one of my new tenants (they have been in there for 1 month) has been intimidating him. It was hard to hear him but it seemed like he was talking to the new tenants girlfriend and my new tenant went into his house and told him not to talk to her. He mentioned something else about the tenant saying something rude to his father and possibly his kids. 

These new tenants seemed very nice when I screened and interviewed them. The boyfriend seemed a little distant, they had recently lost their young child. I'm sure there are emotional pains that I can't imagine that they're going through.

Regardless, they should most certainly not be intimidating their neighbors. I am pretty certain that in this situation I should thank my neighbors for calling me and suggest that if they think it is warranted, call the police. I am not really sure where the line should be drawn between the tenant, landlord, neighbor relationship here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks