All Forum Posts by: Michele Fischer

Most of our tenants do not want to schedule a move out inspection.  We always offer.

We take photos before move in, for us not the tenant.  Photos of how good the place looks, with a lot of close up and far out photos, not just of the documented issues.  We just put them in a folder by address and date.  And we rarely need to use them.

Tenants sign and initial each page of the condition report at signing, we quickly go through the property and let them take as long as they want.

Ideally at move out they would sign the condition report, but this is nor normally done.  And more photos taken, same photos, and extra photos of any damage.

There's not a good reason to not ask for the allowed rent, the tenants portion generally is based on a percentage of their income not a percentage of rent.  The allowed rent amount should be pegged to market rent, so it would only be way off if your unit is a way different quality or neighborhood compared to average.  But remember that what is favorable now could come unfavorable in the future as they readjust over time.

Reasons many landlords avoid vouchers include the hassle of the extra inspections, the perception of a worse tenant, and maybe the inconvenience of getting rent from two different parties.  Much less frequent, but we also weren't allowed to participate while my husband was a housing commissioner, as it would have been a conflict of interest.

I'm managing D class properties with a property manager and am making a profit.  Last year was the first and only year we had a negative cash flow, and that is driven by the anti-landlord west coast sentiment.  

But we invested several years of blood sweat and tears to get things stabilized and learn the space before we turned them over to property managers.  And I will be the first to admit that it is not for everyone.  And we went in eyes wide open, intentionally inveting in class D, not sliding into it as demographics changed.  The property manager can make or break you, it has to be a PM that is working in that space and is comfortable there.

I agree with earlier comments to look in the front and back yards to see how many old cars, abandoned junk, or treasures that aren't treasures are piling up.  Also try to get a guage on how much people are out and about and living on their front porches.  Class C stay indoors, don't answer the door for solicitors, and don't spend a lot of time with neighbors.  Class D is mostly rentals (another tip to look at owner occupied stats and/or if the neighborhood is identified for revitalization), the tenants are outside smoking, they are talking to neighbors and solicitors, it is a completely different vibe that is pretty noticeable just driving through.

I know there have been delays and issues during government shutdowns but this is a new one for me.  Hopefully it is temporary and they will get caught up.  An interesting conundrum about how/when to start eviction proceedings though, if it comes to that.  Or even interesting to think about the ability to charge late fees.  Our state law states "An owner may impose a reasonablelate fee for each month an occupant does not pay rent when due." HUD is not an accupant. I'd be letting my tenant know that their goverment is failing them.

I would be inclined to not hold on to a cash flow negative property, I see our costs only going up.  But, since you only lived in it for a year, you will have to pay capital gains.  Do you have the option to move back into it for another year?  Or, can you 1031 it sooner into a better suited rental?  Agree that it is better to stop the bleeding, rent it at the lower rent with a term to end in a hopefully more favorable renewal time.  

Interesting topic.

We had a long term tenant who went from taking good care of the unit to letting it become a pigsty inside and out.  She was having significant anxiety and personal problems and once she lost control of it she could not regain any ground.  She had too many belongings and it is really hard to quantify clutter much less cleanliness.

This to say that one deep cleaning may help get them on track, on-going visits may be successful, or you may need different tenants because a lot of people don't know how to clean.

You've gotten some great advice.  The only thing I would add is using your time with prospective tenants to ask what they are looking for, how the unit aligns or doesn't to what they are looking for, etc.  "What do you like about it"  "What do you wish was different?"  Don't be obnoxious, but a few open ended questions may give you good insight into what your unit may be lacking and what people do like about it, to help drive future upgrades and marketing, and maybe help compensate for a shortcoming in the short term too.

Congrats on becoming a landlord, welcome to the "party"!

If I were you, I would be firm with needing rent more timely, I would still contact the male because she can't kick him off the lease, and I would have a conversation with her along the lines of "this is clearly not what either of us signed up for, is clearly not working, and what can we do to get you to a lower cost living situation as soon as possible?"  Work with her on that.  It may be overwhelming to her to think about moving but you might be able to easily make some aspects of it easier depending on what feels heaviest to her.  Keep your goal in mind, a paying tenant, her or the next tenant.  You can also tell her that you are going to start the paper trail so that you don't get stuck with unpaid rent, but that it will be rescinded once she gets up to date on payments.  Be clear that you are not messing around, have some wiggle room and grace, but that you have bills to pay too.  You gave the mouse a cookie and now she is expecting you to give her the milk too.  You have every right to draw the line at the cookie only.  In truth you don't have a lot of power over when and if she pays, but you can and should use the power you have.

We have this clause in our agreement and we talk about it before they move in so that they are clear who the primary is and what that means. 

In the event that Tenants decide they no longer want to live together, ___________ will be considered the primary Tenant to make decisions about modifying or terminating tenancy. Deposits will not be returned (full or partial) until all tenants move out.

Do you have any clauses in the lease about cleanliness that they are breaking?  If so, issue a 30 day or whatever your area requires (with specific violations and expectations to improve) and plan to do another inspection.  Go from there based on the results.

We often tell tenants moving in that they can stay as long as they pay rent and follow the rules.  There is more to the contract than just paying rent on time.

Once you start an application cycle, keep your criteria the same through that same cycle.  You don't want any discrimination claims.

But before posting the next opening, think about your criteria and if you want to make any changes to it.  

Would you average the credit scores, or take the highest as long as the low one does not have anything alarming in the details?  I have always thought of income as combined.  Two wage earners are going to have an easier time making rent than a family where there is only one paycheck, depending on how high such paychecks are, and in both cases you would look at the total household income.

Stick to your guns on what you said you wanted, but when you are not in the heat of the situation reevaluate your standards to make sure they are still serving you well.  Don't get sucked in to borderline applicants, make it as black and white as you can so you can approve or turn down with confidence.  I use a scoring system where applicants gain and lose points and their total either meets or falls short of my established line in the sand.