All Forum Posts by: Garen T.

I have a duplex with one side rented to a nice lady. Before getting into recent events, she did 2 things that have been causing me issues. 

1. She changed the shower head in the MBR which caused a water leak in the wall, and I had to replace carpet and pad. The fault of the issue really was in fragility of the pipe in the wall, but the change was done without my permission.  I don't have anything in the lease that forbids changing of the shower head, and the little pipe that was in the wall was essentially that really cheap weak metal substance. 
2. She has been smoking in the garage with the door up about a foot with the rational that the garage is not part of the house, which I told her it most certainly is.  I do have a mistake in my lease where smoking is not in there. However, it was discussed at length during the screening process. 

On Memorial Day weekend, she left town and her God Son (who was living there at the time with her permission) through a HUGE party. I obtained a picture taken from across the street and there were about 50 people lined up to get into the house, and I have no idea how many people were inside. Because of this, she told him he could no longer stay there, and she changed the locks to the house (against the lease). In addition, I think because of this, she put locks on 2 of the 3 bedroom doors. 

This past weekend, I was contacted by one of the neighbors who did an amazing job tracking me down, that there was a large party going on, and they were lighting fireworks off all night long. She sent me RING camera footage, and I can see over 15 people running back into the house after a MASSIVE fireworks explosion goes off at ground level. I called her right away, and lo-n-behold, she says she's in Dubai and no one is at her house. I call the police, and head over there for breaking and entering. 

Her god-son had figured out a way to get in the sliding door and for the last 3 nights, has had as many as 15 people spending the night there. The police got on the phone with her and the god-son was arrested on her instructions. The rest of the people were let go as they didn't know. 

Remarkably the house was in amazing shape. No damage, no spills, no nothing.... It was really weird. Except that the garage just REEKS of weed. 
They did light a bush on fire which looks to have only killed the one bush but no more.

So, the house is now empty awaiting her return from Dubai next week. I am checking on the property (inside and out) every day or so to make sure no-one is entering. 

What do I do upon her return? Part of me wants to just cancel the lease for non-compliance and get rid of her. Another part wants to increase the rent on her, or increase the deposit I obtained when the lease started. This is literally one of those ****-shows of landlord hell that I thought I would never have happen to me. When talking to her on the phone, she is embarrassed, apologetic, and in my opinion, really did not know what was going on. However, she knew enough of what was going on that she changed the locks without telling me. 

Advice?

Hi all,

Is there anyone who understands the visibility that Zillow will show your property? I listed two rentals on zillow about 2 weeks ago. In the 1st day, I received about 50 queries on one of them, and 5 on the other. In the past 4 days, I've received 1 query. Is this a normal trend of lots of activity, or have I fallen into a space where Zillow wants me to upgrade (Pay) them to increase the applicants I get. 

In 2 weeks of having the listings up, I have received 2 potential candidates to see the units. Once I send them my rental criteria, I tend not to hear back from most of them. There have been these 2 that got a showing. One of them has been in her job for 10 days, and the other (a mom and her adult son) both have cleared up and resolved bankruptcies. One was chapter 7 and the other was chapter 13. They both maintained employment and rental with the same place throughout the process. They both have current credit scores above 650 (my min is 55) but I've not run them through a credit service yet. What is the best service to use these days to run a credit check? My intention is to use apartments.com to collect payments. I'm already there with a tenant and I like their system. 

Thoughts on both concerns? THANKS!!!

I have verbiage in my application, as well as the lease, that clearly states that at the time of acceptance, I require 1st month, last month, and a $500 deposit. This is not a problem and is very easy to understand the amount due at the time of move-IN....

Recently, a tenant gave me a nice 2 month notice that they are moving out. Since the time of move-in, rent has gone up. I responded noting that they would need to provide the difference between what they paid, and what the current rent amount is. Their response was that the verbiage in the lease clearly states that they already paid the "last month rent" and there was nothing in there that stated they needed to pay the difference. I looked at things, considered the fact that the small amount of rent difference means a great more to them than it means to me, and had to agree with them. I am not going to be forcing the issue to re-coup a couple hundred dollars. They found a flaw in my lease and a loophole, and are going to use it. I'm OK with this one tenant doing it. 

However, I would like to have language in my lease agreement that resolves this issue. I can either choose to keep the language the same, and essentially let them lock in a lower rental rate in their final month, or have some sort of language that states that they will have a final month due of the difference between what they paid, and the current rate. 

What have others done on this?

Thanks

Received an e-mail this morning from my existing tenants. They have been there for 2 years and I allowed them 2 cats for which they had doctor notes for as companion animals. 

The letter today had the following elements. 
A tenant who has been there for over a year struggles with PTSD 
A companion dog would be a help. 
They would like a small breed dog like a Chihuahua 
They say that have training for dogs and can train the dog to not bark or be destructive
They say that he does have a medical allowance to have a companion dog

Questions I have. 
Am I legally obligated to let them have a dog?
Is a chihuahua really a companion dog? 
Can a dog be trained not to bark or be destructive (I've had dogs, I love dogs, I think dogs are great, but I think saying that they can train a dog not to bark shows to me that they don't have much training experience with dogs)
Can I let them do this, but charge a monthly fee and make it worth it? I know this is a valid strategy that is discussed here. 

This is a duplex and if the dog does bark, I'm sure I'll get complaints from the neighbors. 

Thanks!!

Troy,

I have 3 tenants, and one of the tenants is actually split into 2 monthly payments. So, I get paid from 4 individuals. 

2 of them send the money to me via the Zelle banking app. 
1 of them (the 2 different payments) comes via cozy.co which I love. I think they pay via credit card and are earning airline miles. I get paid from that on exact 1st of every month. 

I do not give a heads up. I have in the lease that they are free to not pay on time. It just costs them $50 after the 5th, 10th. I don't have to remind them, so far. 

I'm just starting on my 2nd new build duplex. The 1st one was on my land, and the full build cost came to $425K. These are nice places with me providing W/D/Fridge. Virtually zero hard. 3Bed, 2.5 baths. 2 Story. 2 car garage, connected units. 1 tax lot. I made changes to plans and was involved in every aspect. The houses were built to high energy efficient standard, and got a HERS 49. I use the proven lower utility costs in advertising and that generates more people who care about the environment, which they then know they are living in. Pretty cool.

I charge $1550/month/side. They pay all utils. I re-fi'd 2 months ago and the Appraisal came in at $635K. I owe $400K. My monthly payment $1800. The rents should be $1650, but I'm not raising rates until next year after our world heals. 

My 2nd duplex just filed for permits last week. I'm expecting construction to being in April. I know quite a bit about the process, and am just starting #2 right now. What can I help with?

I'm getting ready to submit permits for another duplex. Both sides will be for rental. Based on past experience, this time I had added to the plans for bathroom floor drains to be put right behind the toilet. I always put in tile floor, but this would 100% eliminate any toilet or tub overflow concerns. 

I already have a drain pan put under the washer, but this added security seems worth it. Has anyone else ever done this, and is there a downside?

Thanks

I have 2 units paying with Zelle, and 2 roommates in one unit uses cozy.co which I love. Next time around, I'm going to put it into the agreement that they have to pay via cozy, or something similar. 

I needed the services of my handyman on one of my units this week. While doing the work, he started to tell me about a remodel he's working on, with the owner in a tough financial situation, and would I be interested in buying this property. Health issues have caused a situation where the owner is now 2 months behind (taxes due this month) and can't afford to finish the remodel. There are no tenants in the home right now as they were moved out for the remodel. Home is in a B+ neighborhood. 4 bed, 2.5 baths. After remodel, probably in the $450K range. Houses in my area are in huge demand and the supply of 4 bedroom homes is very small. I live in SW Washington State. 

Her current debt (to be verified) on the home is at about $180K, and she owes my handyman $35K for work done so far. He estimates $5K to finish the job. I've been told she would like to walk away with at least $100K profit, but this has not been verified. 

I'm in on a few projects right now, and would rather not leverage the funds for this, but I could just buy it from her in the $350-375K range, and look to try and sell it in the $450K range. However, she is under contract with a realtor and if she sells it to me, and then I sell it again, I'm looking at much of the profit potential going out the door in realty fees and the taxes on the sale. 

So, I'm thinking about offering her this deal. 
I'll pay the past due 2 months of mortgage. I'll pay the taxes. I'll pay for the next 2-3 months of mortgage. I'll pay the remaining work that needs to be done. I'm estimating that if I triple the amount of work left to do, I'd be out of pocket about $23K. 

This $23K would be treated as a loan to be paid out in escrow. There would be 4 loans to be paid out at escrow. 
1st Mortgage= $155,000
2nd Mortgage=$20,000
Remodel=$35,000
Me=$23,000
Total of the above is $233K

We would then sell the house for an estimated $450K
Sales commission (5.25%) = $23625
REET (1.1%) = $4950
Title (estimated) = $2000

That leaves net profit - $188,224

Of that, I would expect $50,000 and the owner would take the $138K

Questions
1. Is this a well thought out plan? My risk is so minimal, and there is tons of upside, for everyone. 
2. How do I protect myself. Do I put a Deed onto the property for the $75K in case things go bad?
3. Are there other options to make this come out. 

Thanks!!!

This is one of those "shower thoughts" that we all sorta get. At least I do. 

Let's say I'm getting into a new lease agreement with a tenant. This is nothing to do with current, only future. 

Is there language that could be placed into the agreement that essentially bypasses the eviction laws if the person does not exit? Something like a personal guarantee, or a promissory note? The person agrees up front to let you take some sort of action against them if they go 2 months without making payment. Something like:
"I <tenant name> agree that upon the 61st day of non-payment, I agree that owner can enter unit and remove belongings to be placed in a storage unit which <tenant name> agree to pay".    OR
"I <tenant name> agree that if I'm a deadbeat, owner can take XYZ steps to encourage me to leave the property". 

Would something like that be legal, practical, ethical?