All Forum Posts by: Greg Mayer

Hello BP community,

My wife and I purchased a duplex in a B class area about 1.5 yrs ago and inherited 3 adult tenants in one of the two units. This was my 1st property.

I live in one of the duplex units (my wife lives in another state) right after purchasing the duplex. 

My tenants would pay rent late almost every month with late fees. Eventually one of the 3 adults became unemployed. The rent couldn't get paid. I gave them a pay-or-vacate notice, they decided to move out. It looks like they are moving out at the end of the month (we'll see).

The tenants are telling me they would like to pay the remaining rent, when they are able to, after they move out.

The letter I mentioned above was a pay OR vacate letter, not a pay AND vacate letter. But if they want to pay unpaid rent ... I don't see why I would say no. 

I was looking into promissory notes as a way to collect that unpaid rent, but don't know a lot about them.

What do other landlords out there do with unpaid rent from tenants who vacate before the pay-or-vacate term is up? 

Thank you @David Robertson, @Brian H., and @J Scott! Very helpful ideas and questions as we work through figuring out which is best for our roof. I think I'll be making a few google searches, calls to roofing companies, and I'll see a few more agents to sort out some of my confusion over the next few days.  

Yep! Comparing products is where I get stuck. 

The offers/bids I've got so far basically give two prices: a price for gutters, and a single price for the roof. Each offer/bid lists a scope of work, and states different brands and terms I'm slowly learning, and sometimes that's where I just get lost. 

For example, one thing I'm trying to figure out at the moment: is there a difference between counter wall flashing and head wall flashing? Anyone out there know? 

Hi BP community!

My wife and I recently purchased a duplex in Atlanta. It's the first property I've owned - I'm learning a lot. We're house-hacking and are using this property as a buy-and-hold: we are fixing up the side we're living in now, then we move out in a few years and rent out the entire duplex.

The roof and gutters are over 20 years old and have to be replaced ASAP. We have one layer of elderly 3tab shingles that needs to go. 

I've met with a few agents from roofing companies to get estimates for roof & gutters for the entire duplex. Hoping to meet a few more agents.

I think I've decided that architecture shingles. Seems like a cost saving in the long run.

Anyway here's my problem: I read the itemized offers/contracts (which for some reason are always only one page), and I ask the agents questions about why things cost the way they do in their offers, but they usually just tell my why their product is the best. So I don't yet know how to compare offers. eg - it's sometimes hard to understand why one offer is more expensive than another.

So I thought I'd ask the BP community: how do you compare offers on a new roof? What do you look for in the contracts/offers that they present? 

thank you Jim and Mike for the advice! 

i can see my wife and i building up our supply of yard equipment, especially if we're living in that property for a year or two. i love the idea of getting a chipper - we have some smaller trees that we need to cut down before they become an issue, and it'd be great to turn them into mulch.

we didn't know goats could be rented - sounds like a great idea!

Hi BP community!

My wife and I purchased a duplex in Atlanta, GA. It's my first property. I'm learning a lot about everything. 

One side of our duplex has tenants, we moved into the other side. Our tenants signed a lease that we basically downloaded from bigger pockets, the tenants are responsible for keeping their side of the yard up, their yard looks well maintained. Both units have a fenced back yard, and the two yards are separated by a chain link fence. There are huge pine trees everywhere on the property. We manage the property ourselves. The entire property is a bit under 1 acre. 

My wife and I are hoping to fix up the side we're living in over the next year or two, and then either rent out a bedroom or move out and rent out the entire duplex for cash flow.

The previous owner let the back yards go wild, and I found out the hard way that there's a lot of poison ivy in the back yard on our side. Lots of it. I was surprised the home inspector didn't notice it. 

Some of the poison ivy vines are growing up those huge pine trees. I don't see any poison ivy on the side of our property that has tenants, but I'm not a professional landscaper. We've made an appointment to have a landscaper come and give us an estimate to have the poison ivy removed. I really don't want the situation to get any worse than it already is, and don't want anyone to get sick, including me trying to remove it myself. And we don't want it coming back again in a few months. 

Any recommendations on what we might do or consider would be helpful! Thank you in advance for the advice. 

Hi BP community!

Another newbie landlord question :)

My wife and I are purchasing a duplex in Atlanta, GA. One side of the duplex has tenants that might stay after we close, the other side is vacant. We're moving into the vacant side and are putting together a 12-month lease for the occupied side in case the current tenants want to stay (and we want them to stay). Either way we will manage the property ourselves.

There are a few adults (and a child) living in the occupied side. I have a copy of their lease. The current tenants are responsible for keeping their side of the yard up. The yard looks pretty good at the moment. Grass is cut and shrubs are trimmed. 

Both units have a front yard with grass and a few shrubs. Both units have a fenced back yard, and the two yards are separated by a chain link fence.

What do you recommend we do for yard maintenance? I think that having us living in the unit next door to the tenants will have some influence on them keeping the yard up, but there's no guarantee that they will. 

Very helpful Ian! Thank you!

Hi BP community!

Another newbie landlord question :)

My wife and I are purchasing a duplex in Atlanta, GA. One side of the duplex has tenants that might stay after we close, the other side is vacant. We're moving into the vacant side and are putting together a 12-month lease for the occupied side in case the current tenants want to stay (and we want them to stay). Either way we will manage the property ourselves.

There are a few adults (and a child) living in the occupied side. I have a copy of their current lease, and the adults living there all signed one lease with their names on it.

The BP Landlord Forms had a lease package that we purchased, and we noticed that the residential lease agreement has the language "Tenant” (singular).

So my impression is that depending on the lease document the landlord chooses to use, some landlords have all their tenants sign one document, other landlords have each tenant sign separate documents.

Any recommendations on whether every adult living in the unit sign a separate lease agreement with identical terms (one document per adult tenant), or one agreement document for all the adults?

Thank you everyone for the ideas and suggestions! All very helpful. I think we'll end up using both an upfront non-refundable fee and a monthly pet fee, on par with what other units in the area are charging. 

Hi BP community!

My wife and I are purchasing a duplex in Atlanta. One side of the duplex has tenants that might stay after we close, the other side is vacant. We're moving into the vacant side and have two dogs, so we want to allow our tenants to have pets. But we're not sure whether to charge our tenants a pet fee or deposit (or both). 

Since we're living on the property and my lovely wife has past experience as a landlord, we thought we'd write up a 12-month lease and manage the property ourselves. At least for now until we get tired of managing things :)

The duplex has separate and fenced back yards. The occupied side has carpet in the bedrooms/stairs and laminate flooring. 

What are the pros and cons of pet fees and pet deposits? Any suggestions on what we might want to charge?