All Forum Posts by: Faisal Farnas

Hello BP'ers, 

I've run into a bit of a situation with my property manager and I need some input. 

I have a Duplex with both units currently rented out. The water meter is shared so water is included in the rent. When I was self managing, I added a clause in the lease that says tenants are responsible for water charges above $100 and things were going well. When the PM took over, they charged me $75 for lease preparation - basically for a law firm to review the lease. Fast forward a few months later and I get hit with a bill of $320! When I asked the PM to enforce the lease clause and collect money from the tenants, they said that the clause in my lease was illegal but they had forgotten to tell me about it!

What is my best course of action with the PM now? I can't fire them because I am out of state so I don't want to rock the boat. Should I ask them to cover the difference in the water bill, or ask for a refund of the lease preparation fees? 

Jordan 

Has anyone worked with Rent It Network in Tampa? I am looking for a property manager in Saint Petersburg, Florida, and someone recommended Rent It Network. Just looking for opinions. The reviews on Yelp were a mixed bag.

Thanks.

I have used New Image Remodeling for a couple of rehabs and they were great.

They are based in Gulfport. I can PM their number if you are interested.

Chris the market in general has gone up a lot in the past couple of years. Last year I believe Pinellas county prices went up by 16%. There is not a lot of inventory at good prices in Saint Pete, which is why rents are actually high. I would say higher than Tampa. Of course this is talking about good areas in Saint Pete (not south St pete). Basically what I am saying is that I am not surprised that you have been looking for months and have not found a suitable rental in Saint Pete.

I am sorry I can't be of much help regarding Tampa. Looking forward for some responses from some Tampa investors...

thank you Deanna. exactly, I did not intend for this post to turn into a discussion about the legalization of pot... I am just trying to run a business properly. 

And for all the comments about pot not being a gateway drug, that is not the intention. If pot is still illegal in Florida, then the law does not differentiate between pot and heroine, so I was asking: if just ignore this incident, then why wouldn't I ignore a heroine incident as well? see my point?

I am all for legalization BTW.

Thanks for the input everyone.

Thank you guys for the input. personally I don't care and I agree it is less destructive than alcohol and should be legalized. I am just trying to conduct business in a professional manner here. I might have a talk with her if it happens again, and point her to the relevant clause in the lease.

Hello,

Looking for some advice here. I am not sure what to do. I live in one side of a duplex and renting out the other side. There is a shared laundry room. My current tenants have paid on time every month, and every time I have entered the house for maintenance it was very clean and tidy.

Today as I was walking towards the laundry room, one of the tenants (this 30-something woman) was smoking weed outside. I heard her say "oh ****" then she ran inside real quick! I didn't think much of it, then when I went into the laundry room, I found a pipe full of weed on top of the washing machine. She must have tried to hide it.

Should I make a big deal out of this? Ignore it? It does not really affect me personally, but what if it starts with weed and progresses to hard drugs? It is against the law for sure. Looking for advice here.

P.S. I screened all the individuals living here and they all had a clean record. This woman lives with her mom and grandma, and they are the ones responsible for paying the rent.

Thanks,

Faisal

Thanks for the input everybody, both the positive and negative :) 

I am adding this answer for the benefit of anyone reading this in the future. I got a second quote on new windows and it came in at around $6000. The guys mentioned how they have to be energy star rated, double glazed with argon gas in between the two layers in order to comply with the regulations. They also mentioned something about lead paint testing being included in the price, which sounded like a scam.

Then I searched for "window repair" on craiglist and found my savior! A guy that does only window repair for a living. He specializes in these old windows and he said he is one of the few people in Tampa Bay that does this! I was suspicious at the beginning but figured I would give it a shot. He quoted me $750 for fixing everything! When I told him about the obsolete parts, he said he drives to nearby towns to these places that buy old windows and sell them for parts, and he knows exactly which store to visit depending on the window type!

Anyway, long story short, I now have fully functioning windows for one tenth the price of new ones!

@victor $4000 is a thin margin for a fix and flip i agree, but for a rental that would mean years to get back the ROI... some of us are still small fish 🐠 :)

Thank you all for the great info. This website and the knowledgeable people on it are saving my financial future! 

I will get more quotes on replacement windows and try again to look for parts online. What I don't get is that the existing style windows don't allow for egress, not for adult human beings at least, so how is it OK by code to just fix them??