All Forum Posts by: Gualtiero Piccinini

Thanks, you all, for the very helpful advice!!!

@Tim Herman and @Bruce Woodruff, thanks so much for your helpful advice!

A Section 8 tenant in a SFH says she's seen mice activity for several months. The lease states that the tenant is responsible for the cost of pest control. Nevertheless, I put bait and bait stations in and around the house at no charge. A couple of weeks ago she said she still sees mice activity. I offered more bait stations and traps but she got belligerent and accusatory, demanded a professional exterminator, declined further help from me, and announced she was talking to the Housing Authority and an attorney about the mice situation. I sent her a notice of lease violation that asks her to address the mice situation either with or without my (free) help. Today her portion of rent is overdue and she sent me a text that reads: "Housing Authority is adjusting my rent and I'm waiting to see what my portion is! This is the reason you haven't received rent payment. I want to send the correct amount." Does anyone know what that means? Could it have anything to do with the mice situation? I would appreciate any advice on how to handle this. Thanks!

A tenant who lived in a single family home in South St Louis City moved out in early October while owing, by the most generous estimate, $2,725. She also left a huge amount of items behind, which cost me over $700 to clean up. I do have her phone number, current address (which is in Illinois, however) and SSN. As far as I know she is broke and has no income so I suspect it would be difficult to get any money out of her, unless she gets help from others.

Is this worth pursuing and if so how would you go about it?

A lot depends on how many repairs it needs. If it's close to move-in ready, a competent agent should be able to sell it for close to market value. If it needs serious repairs, any reasonable buyer should demand a discount (beyond the cost of the repairs). If it's dilapidated, only a serious discount (beyond the cost of the repairs) is likely to get it sold.

Update: Following your priceless advice, I got the part in the mail, found a video explaining how to install it, and today I installed it myself. I couldn't have figured this out without your help so THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!!!!!

Wow, you guys are so helpful. Thank you soooo much!

A tenant just moved into a newly remodeled unit, for which I just spent a small fortune. This is a 2 bedrooms/1 bath for which the tenant is paying $750/month. The unit has a nice Whirlpool stainless steel oven with five burners and an oven. However, the tenant just discovered that the "up" button on the control panel doesn't work. Therefore, the oven can only be set at 350 degrees or less and the tenant cannot bake anything at more than 350 degrees. A technician who has looked into it says Whirlpool don't sell those control panels anymore so no repair is possible. Obviously, I want the tenant to be happy with her stove but I'm also bummed out about replacing an otherwise well functioning (and beautiful) stove. What should I tell the tenant?