All Forum Posts by: Michele Fischer

Agree with above.

The pros are that a large portion of the rent is virtually guaranteed, that you have another party to try to work out tenant issues with, and that the tenant is a little less likely to leave since their voucher limits their housing options.

The cons are the hoops to jump through to get your property inspected, it can make bookkeeping a little more complicated with a property manager, and generally lower quality tenants.

We don't actively look for or shy away from Section 8.  Keep up with maintenance inspections if you move forward.

I don't do short term rentals, but since it is fully furnished, there is more that could be damaged, so I would take that into account.  It is unlikely that you would be able to collect damages beyond the security deposit, so the security deposit lowers your risk and should be high enough to be helpful.

I have changed my view on this over time.

I think a big part of it is how it is normally handled in your rental area.  Following the majority will make life easier.

Some of our units have utilities included in rent.  This used to be our preferred way of handling it.  We knew it was always paid, we knew we would not get caught with a $800 unpaid bill that we were responsible for.  Applicants seemed to understand that it was included and there is value there.  But they don't know how much value, because units vary so much.  And there is no incentive to keep their utility costs low.  I swear some of our tenants run their faucets 24/7.  Typical US usage is 80-100 gallons/day/person but our households where WSG is still included are well over that.

Now I prefer the utilities to be in their name, so they can see and understand the cost better.  We can advertise a lower rent amount.  We pay a lower amount to PM since it is a percentage of rent collected.  We can have the utilities cc us on past due invoices and shutoff warnings.  We're getting such high move out costs that the unpaid utilities are no longer the sting they once were.

Take a deep breath, give thanks that you are out of the situation, and move on with your life.  Our move out costs have gotten more and more expensive.  It is frustrating, but it is just a cost of being a landlord.  People wonder why rent is so high and there is so little housing available.  It is unlikely that you will see any repayment, the sooner you internalize that and move on the better.  The collections claim is now viewable to other landlords when they apply for housing, and like others mention it may become important to clean up their credit, but for now you have done what you can and it is a waste of time and energy to keep spinning.

There's another recent thread about Christmas gifts, general concensus is don't do it, for various reasons.

I can support either side, but I think that just showing human compassion with words can go a long way and the gift part probably isn't necessary.

I think it's sad that gestures of good faith can be misinterpreted, but that is the age we live in, so better to be safe and blameless rather than giving and vulnerable.

Agree that vacancy is part of the deal.

In my mind your big tradeoff is whether you can effectively and efficiently do the paperword side of the landlording for one unit. You can clearly do the maintenance part, but do you know how to get credit checks and how to spot a good vs bad tenant... it's a lot of overhead on one unit.

I watch Craigslist to see how long our local PM's advertise units, that is a good indication of how long it might take.  We have our properties spread across two PM's.  One has a wait list and there are hardly any days of unpaid rent.  But high turnover.  One has very low turnover but is very picky in qualifying applicants and the units can sit empty for months.  I knew this going in and strategically chose the properties to send to each PM, you can interview them and others and watch the local market to find the stregths and weaknesses.

WIth a PM you lose a lot of control, but you also have more time to spend on other things, like buying more properties.  We self managed for several years, loved it, but loved getting out of it too.  The first was the hardest, because we were so naive even with a lot of studying.

We are in a similar situation, except we weren't notified of the fall timely.  I won't go into details since the case is still open.

Insurance is handling it.  It it goes to court and we lose we have to reimburse lawyer fees but otherwise insurance is handling everything.  

We have been interviewed and have provided a lot of documentation that we did maintenance and inspections in good faith and to code.

It's a big waiting game, wish we could get it behind us.  And we wonder why insurance rates are going up so much with such expensive frivolous lawsuits.

If you can't get a word in edgewise early on, that will not change with future discussions.

If they ask for upgrades as they walk through the property or talk about how they don't like the finishes or details.  Being overly enthusiastic can be a red flag too.  But the biggest is not even really looking at the place, it makes you wonder why they don't care more.

If they JUST started a new job or their first job and are already looking well before they see any of the funds.

Declaring emotional support animals.  Or worse, not mentioning pets when they have them.

Moving to the area and having no knowledge of the neighborhood.

I would do it as a non-refundable holding deposit that transfers to a refundable security deposit.  Honestly, you will probably absorb about half of that vacancy lost revenue, it is unlikley they will be willing to bear two months cost.  Sometimes we offer a discounted rent to get them to take the keys sooner, benefits everyone.  But often when we take a holding deposit they don't end up moving in, so be prepared for it.

If you have her paperwork and signature she is a tenant, otherwise she could be treated as an authorized occupant.  We are fairly indifferent.  A valid contract with two tenants gives you two people to pursue for rent and damages, but it also two people you have to communicate with and serve notices to, so sometimes it is just easier to not have the less qualified or less long term occupants as official tenants.