All Forum Posts by: Gary Dawson

Closing next week on my cabin in Sevierville. Should I use Spectrum and have cable/internet/phone?

Or should we get Spectrum just for internet and go with Directv?

Anyone?

Insurance seems to be very high in the Smoky Mountains region since the fires of 2016. I can keep the premium affordable if I opt for a $10,000 Deductible. My question is, how often people make insurance claims? Have you ever had someone make a claim on your STR?

Hi fellow big pocketers! In escrow on our new cabin (thanks to Avery Carl) in the Smoky Mountains area. What is best approach for the initial ad on Airbnb and VRBO? I've heard that discounts for the first couple of months are necessary to attract renters since you start out without any reviews. Also, is it possible to list the property before you close escrow in order to get some early bookings?

My property was listed with "Cabins of the Smokeys" and they had quite a few bookings for the next month or so. Is there no way to do a deal with the management company to retain those listings?

Any and all advice is appreciated.

For your Vegan sister, download the HAPPY COW app and it will show you all the restaurants in the area that offer vegan and vegetarian options. The Mellow Mushroom 🍄 was quite tasty! Good luck!

She was awesome! Great podcast and lots of great info and insight! Congratulations!!

Just to button this thread up. Sent tenants my letter and they got an attorney and then made an offer to settle for about 25% of damage. I reluctantly accepted the offer as small claims will not enforce a payment and tenant could have appealed a loss and escalated this to superior court where lawyers would be running the show and I would ended up with nothing. 

Have you checked out EVOLVE property management? They only take 10%

Thanks Hubert. I did serve them with a notice to quit and you outline pretty much what my plan was. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to win in small claims? Apart from photos, I was thinking about having a letter from the real estate agent who listed the house 2 years ago (and who is re-listing it now) give me a letter stating that the damage from not watering was substantial from the last time he saw it.

Thoughts?

My tenant here in Thousand Oaks, CA stopped paying rent and also stopped watering so the grass and landscaping is damaged. They are moving out at the end of the month and I'm already using their security deposit to make up for unpaid rent. Going to have to take them to small claims. They gave me 30 day notice and I gave them a 3 day pay or quit for rent and late fees.

Any tips on how to proceed in:

1. Notifying tenant that I plan to pursue damages

2. Document damage and gather any other info I need to win the case

3. Present the case in small claims.

Any tips or pointers in any of these areas would be appreciated.

Hi everyone.

I have a tenant here in California that is moving out at the end of the month and basically stopped watering the landscaping for the quite a while ago. Grass and a lot of the landscaping is dead.

When they move out, how should I handle:

1. Notifying him of the problem

2. Documenting the damage

3. Taking him to small claims if he doesn’t correct the problem.

Any advice would be appreciated...

Thanks!