All Forum Posts by: Gwen Fyfe

This is a great idea to offer. I'll keep it in mind.

My tenants are all good folks who know me and that I want to help them out when possible. That being the case I thought it was better to open the door to a conversation rather than suggest something specific which might be 1. not helpful to everyone and 2. taken advantage of by some. 

So I sent out a text to everyone over the weekend: "If your work is affected by the Coronavirus emergency and you might have trouble paying rent, let me know ASAP so that we can plan ahead and figure out what to do. I don't want anyone to be concerned about their housing. Stay safe out there!"

So far, everyone has been reassuring me that they're either working from home or have been deemed essential and are actually picking up extra shifts to make up for people who need to stay home. Somewhat worried about the people who haven't said anything but we'll see. So far so good.

Just straight up if they pay rent? Not if they pay by a certain date? Or if they show that they've had hours reduced etc?

Thanks Bob. I appreciate your attitude on this and your suggestions. I'm going to be contacting all of my tenants and asking them to let me know ASAP if their income is jeopardized by the current emergency so that we can figure it out. Agreeing on a discounted rent amount as long as it's paid by a certain date is a great idea.

I already have a lot of Section 8 tenants and tenants who are in steady employment but working on repairing their credit, leaving a bad situation, etc. Letting tenants "borrow" their security deposit for a month's rent as you suggest is something that has worked out well for me in the past. 

I've received partial rent payments from local churches when tenants were having personal emergencies, so that might be a suggestion for tenants. Also from Catholic Charities. 

I've had security deposits paid for by programs helping with specific situations (ex. domestic violence charity to help a woman and her kids get into a different home.) I'll ask around with my activist/housing advocate friends and post any suggestions they have.

If you're doing it yourself you'll need to file a 2019 municipal net profit tax return form, I believe. I would give them a call directly to confirm and to see if they want to give you an account number.

Ohio city taxes are nuts. I'm an accountant, I live here, almost all my clients live here, and I still spend almost as much time figuring out the stupid city stuff as federal for many of my clients. If you have a CPA doing your taxes, they should be able to add Bedford to the return in their software through Ohio Cities. Bedford isn't with CCA or RITA so they should use a generic ohio city return and designate it to Bedford.

I hate that people have to deal with this stuff. Feel free to send me a message if you get stuck.

Did anyone get in touch with them about this? I was trying to find info on it and their "for property managers/landlords" link just takes me to a calendar to sign up for something - a sales call, I assume.

Hi Brian, I just had S&J Construction out of Bedford do a full roof replacement on one of my occupied duplexes. They were very quick and did great work. Quote was also more affordable than the others I spoke to. I can give you the owner's number if you'd like

Thanks for the shout out Jeff! I moved out of the 4 unit a couple months ago and it's cash-flowing beautifully. Tons of demand for those small units in Bedford.

Yeah, I live in 44106. There are strong "path of progress" signs in my area - and I feel perfectly comfortable where I'm living - but I wouldn't generally recommend it to distance investors. It's so extremely block by block and even if you're comfortable with it, you still need to know that it might not work out. I'm here because it's a good place for me personally to live, I think it's going to appreciate, and because I have a personal belief in stabilizing these neighborhoods. Stabilizing, not totally gentrifying. There are good people who deserve good housing at affordable prices here. I'd be sad if my neighbors got pushed out of their homes because it turns into the next Lakewood or something. So opportunities? Yes. But there are definitely very profitable and safer investments in other parts of Cleveland.

It's definitely interesting in my area though. Lots of new development going in, and houses being flipped. (Someone flipped mine! Apparently there was either a puppy mill or dog fighting going on here 5 years ago.) Half the houses have the porches crumbling off the front and needed to be repainted 20 years ago, half of them have work ongoing or have already been flipped and are looking super cute and turning into stable rentals. You never know how it'll work out.

Hi Jessica, I lived and invested in Bedford (just moved in to Cleveland) and did that for some out of state investors too. It can work out great, but yes, it's not very official and you really need to trust the person. I wouldn't see the cash app thing as a red flag, though - it makes sense in the situation. Are your friends happy with her?

I'd be interested to know who we're talking about! Wouldn't mind grabbing coffee with a neigbor who's also doing this.

If you decide you're not that comfortable with it, I can recommend IIP Management. I use them on properties in Bedford. We had some hiccups getting set up but I'm happy with them now.

@Brian Garlington I'd have the PM notify the tenants right now that if the water bills continue to be high, changes will need to be made to give them responsibility for it. With a month to month tenant you have the flexibility to make those changes, at least, but just threatening it might get the water use under control. It's hot as hell out here this summer, maybe they're running a sprinkler all the time or filling up paddling pools for their kids every day. They might knock it off if they know they'll have to start paying for it. Or they might start taking you seriously when you say that you need to know about any leaks, drips or running toilets. Let them know that, see what the next bill is like, go from there.

If you do make changes I'm very fond of my system of paying a reasonable bill and invoicing for anything over that. Maybe say you'll pay the first $70-$80, and they will be invoiced for anything over that. Explain that if they don't pay the invoices they can be given their 30 day notice to move. It's a pretty reasonable setup, tenants are usually accepting as long as it's explained well.