All Forum Posts by: James H.

I really like the idea that David Beard gave for weekly payment. I would not be opposed to trying that in the future.

As far as due dates, when to charge late fees, etc., I would take pause before following George Paiva's super stern policy. First of all, in Texas, you CANNOT legally charge a late fee until third day late. Furthermore, there may be a standard of practice that most apartments and landlords follow in your area which may be more lenient. Why be different?

This is my policy: rent is due on the first, late after the first and a late fee will be assessed if rent is not recieved by the fifth. Rent is to be paid at the BANK. The tenant is responsible for depositing cash or money order at the bank in person. I mail a prefilled deposit slip as a reminder, but every time I mail one, I also inlcude a boiler plate letter saying this is a courtesy and that it is always their responsibility to pay rent regardless of me sending the notice (in case I forget to send it).

This makes it much easier to charge late fees (at least in my mind) because that is more than generous. It also encompasses any weekends or bank holidays. It also allows a little more wiggle room for poorly timed paydays. If I had a more sophisticated tenant pool, I would offer online payment options.

Seriously, what difference does it make to me if I get the rent on the 1st or 5th? If you have sufficient reserves, your mortgage obligation should and can be handled completely independent of which day you get rent.

I agree that poor people have poor ways. Not poor ways in the sense of shameful ways, but just everything about how they do things.

Poor people go to the grocery store to pay bills. Poor people get behind on rent and can't find anyone to loan them 100 for the day because they don't have any friends with 100 to give. Poor people come across hard times more easily. Poor people make financial decisions more with emotions than logic. Poor people spend what little money they get very quickly because they aren't used to having it - like a binge of a sort.

I have poor family members and poor friends. These are by an large good people. These are not people that I spend lots of time with anymore, but I am quite familiar with the poor man's mentality because I myself have had it in the past.

There is just a ton of truth to what Bill Gulley says and I think y'all taking offence to it need to put your big boy pants on and face up to the truth.

I don't think you are wrong to be leary. What kind of expectations will there be after the fence is built. They might say, "oh yeah, I understand this is just business", but what happens when/if they pay rent late? How about when you want to raise the rent? It is easy to say on an internet forum that the situation will be easy to deal with, but another thing altogether when you have to do it in real life. Establishing emotional boundaries with tenants is important.

I am pretty leary of applicants making big plans for my property. If it was an existing tenant with whom I had already established a repore, I would be more inclined.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do it. Just be careful. I don't have a set in stone policy about pets, but every time I have been asked if I allow pets, I am pretty discouraging about it. Fences are nice, though, even without pets.

I was recently quoted 450 to replace a shower valve. That did not include the demo and rebuild of the wall to gain access - just replacing the valve.

Actual cost of materials to replace the valve and redo the wall was 250 in my case and I decided to do it myself. Replacing the valve was the easiest part of the project.

Say this if asked.

If not asked, don't say anything

I have a tenant landscaper. His company keeps their people busy in the winter hanging and taking down Christmas lights among the other odd winter jobs that get called in.

I would not paint the window frames. I cannot visualize that looking appropriate, but I could be wrong.

A good power wash and a cedar or redwood color stain on the deck would help add some "pop".Maybe you could go with cedar shutters stained to match? I would not like flower boxes personally and would worry abou the termite inspector calling that a "conducive condition". However, that would probably be the least expensive thing you could do fo fill some of that space between the ground and the windows. A bird bath might look good over their. I deally, you would have taller bushes below those windows, but that alone would probably cost more than 500.

I think I would probably remove that awning on the right hand side of the house, too.

The front door would look best, IMO, if you painted the door dark red and put a brass kick plate on the bottom and a brass knocker. If a storm door was a must, I would replace it with a full glass door to make it look the best.

I experienced this for a while. Not really complaints, but weird questions about things that could have led to spending money on things that were fine as they were.

My guess is either it's coincidental, or maybe, these areas of discontent tend to come up when paying rent reminds her of it. Either way, if it is something that needs to be fixed, who cares if the repair needs to be done around rent time or between?

How about this:

Don't be as desctiptive in your adds and then you won't be annoyed at people who ask the questions anyways. You save time creating your adds and you don't get insulted by people not reading your adds.

Or possibly: Just accept it. It is a fact of what you are doing.

I don't even adverstise on-line. Yard sign only. I put the number of bedrooms and bathrooms on the yard sign and people still ask - usually when they are sitting in the car looking at the sign, lol. I think it's funny.

I'm not terribly worried about the fresh water lines. The still have about a quarter inch inside diameter left, haha.

Let's see, if I estimated the friction factor of the lines , have a given pressure at the supply and a needed pressure (known) at the outlets, I suppose I could calculate how many more years are left in the galvanized lines based on a deterioration rate of inside diameter of about 1/4 inch over 60 years......

Seriously, if I get another 3 or 4 years out of the plumbing, I will be happy with that.

George Paiva, that was what I was wondering about, if anyone had used one of those covers. How did it work for you? Did you go back and replace the wall later or leave that cover in place? I think in all reality, given I had to replace some elbows and nipples leading to the valve (for clearance reasons) that cover probably would not have provided me with the needed working space. But I still like the idea of using that cover if appropriate.