All Forum Posts by: Hima A.

HI, Johnny & Drew-

I will definitely act on your suggestions. While I'm still angry about my family, I'm excited that I can make plans without taking their needs into consideration anymore as I shelved my own life to prioritize their needs. No More. YES, a job is essential and the sooner I land something, the sooner I'll get on my REI journey. thanks for the encouragement & advice. I need some perspective on moving forward after this situation with my family.

I am new to the world of REI & a late comer. I want to build wealth for me & my child and feel stuck. I depleted my savings when I stupidly renovated a house on which I'm not the sole owner on title. I am currently ending the co-ownership because my dad seriously screwed me over & I have no idea if it'll end with me getting half the fair market value now or waiting until my parents die before I assume it. My parens want to put their share of the house into a trust for my child who is currently 10yo. I haven't agreed to the trust yet because they have acted with little integrity in many previous money matters. Hard lesson learned for me that my family isn't to be trusted ever again and that I need to severe my relationship with them completely because they have harmed me & my child emotionally & financially.

I need to get a job & start saving again. I'll be able to access my roth IRA in 3 yrs when I turn 59.5yo and I expect it'll be over $500k at that time. What can I do now to start my REI journey? I'm reading REI books. I live in a very small 1BR coop apt & can't house hack because there isn't a 2nd BR. Obviously, I need a job and want something in RE so that I'm in the loop & can learn from to apply my skills and experience towards REI. What are some paid jobs I should consider (I have a child & can't work soley on commission). I live in NYC but I'd like to invest outside of NYC where it'll be more affordable. I plan to buy SFH & multi-family houses that I can house hack while I live in them, fix them, then rent them out. I gained some experience in being a general contractor by managing & working on some renovations on that other house. I'm open to suggestions & advice

Quote from @Vlad B.:

Quote from @Hima A.:

Tenants trashed Rental before they Moved out this past July 1.  What should I detail in filing Claim w/ their Renters Insurance company?  They trashed the floors (carpet & LVP), damaged the washing machine & dishwasher ; trashed the deck stairs risers; poop in yard; trashed one bathroom vanity, left tons of their clothes, fridge & pantry closets full of food, didn't maintain the yard, deck stair risers were damaged.  The lease already stated that $900 would be deducted for deep cleaning carpet (this is what last cleaning cost when previous tenants moved out & we needed to get out pet smell & stains) but these carpets are trashed & need to be replaced. In the 20 months they rented, they never washed the carpet with their dog & cat stains.  Several people helped clean out which took nearly 20+ hours with 3 -5 people.  I'm getting quotes on repair damages that will likely exceed their remaining security deposit.  What will help me in my claim to their renters insurance? Tons of videos & pictures were taken.   I am assuming that landlord insurance won't kick in. Please advise.   

Sorry, you're going through this, believe me I've had this in my properties. Once I used a company that a PM recommended which collects a monthly deposit for rental insurance from the tenant and I was able to submit a claim and get some money as a landlord on the tenants' behalf. But it was one time.

What everyone here is saying is all great advice. One thing to consider, and this is the last option, sell the property if it's in a bad neighborhood. I did that and my stress levels have gone down considerably, but now I'm hunting hard for a replacement in a good neighberhood. 

 The house is in a very good neighborhood & these tenants made very good income (tech sector).  But they didn't give a damn about leaving the house trashed when they left.  The house was gloomy (curtains closed), wall to wall items, and things all over the floors when I did inspection but I didn't want to be judgemental if that's how their family of 3 lived in 3000 sq ft house.  My previous tenants also packed the house with things but the huge difference was they left the house in excellent condition and nothing was trashed/abandoned upon move out so I took minimal $ out of their security deposit. 

thanks for this example.  I will use this process of inspection/referring to lease violation/follow up moving forward.  I was worried of pissing the tenants off and that they would stop paying rent & that I'd have to deal with a lengthy eviction process. Other thing was that if I took $ out of their security deposit for yardcare, then if they did real serious damage, the remaining security deposit might not cover repair costs and I'd have to go to Small Claims.  Its becoming very clear from other BP members' comments that Small Claims is where a Landlord might win but can't expect any $$ to follow.  But it sound like if I have employer info & bank statement info, the a judgment can be used to garnish their wages

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Insurance will only kick in if it is "malicious damage" which means things like spray-painting the walls or breaking out windows as an act of retaliation. Your Tenants destroyed it over a 20-month period through neglect and abuse. That's not an insurable event.

Use the deposit. Send them a bill for the remainder and give them 30 days to pay in full. Accept a payment plan if they ask for it, but no more than 4-6 months long. If they fail to pay, send them to collections with the expectation you'll never see a dime but it will at least sit on their credit report and perhaps stop them from abusing someone else.

In the future. screen better. Inspect more often. When you see violations, deal with them immediately instead of allowing them to continue for 20 months.

 I inspected every 6 months and never saw huge problems.  I mentioned the carpet smells & asked them to clean. I didn't follow up to see if they did. What can I do to require this?  Also, they rarely did yard maintenance and I had to remind them that it was part of their lease agreement. They'd always come up with some excuse how they were too busy or someone was sick. I told them they could hire someone.  They never did. Can I tell them they have to pay for yard maintenance (lawn mowing/weed removal) as a separate line item on top of rent?  

Quote from @Michael Smythe:

Do you have their paystub and/or bank statements for garnishment?

Otherwise, getting a money judgment is worthless.

 I have their bank statements & employer info for one of the 2 tenants (she kept the same employer over the last 2 years). The other tenant who changed employers refused to give me updated info about his new employer.  I didn't realize that it;s illegal to ask for updated employment info after their tenancy was approved and they moved in

Quote from @Corby Goade:

The renter's insurance is for their benefit, not yours. 

Document everything and take them to small claims. In my experience, you'll never see a dime, cost of doing business. 

Sorry you are dealing with this- it's probably a sign to bump up your screening criteria. 

I will be contacting previous landlords before & after new tenants move in to see how they handled last move out so that I can plan better in the future. Almost 15 yrs ago when I was a tenant, the landlord kept my deposit inspite of leaving them with a fully cleaned out & undamaged apartment.  When I took them to small claims, the court directed many of us to do arbitration.  That arbitration judge didn't even ask for receipts of the supposed damage I did inspite of me showing her pictures of the apartment in good condition. I had to appeal arbitration because the landlord countersued me without a single receipt for repairs.  In the end, I lost my full deposit without the landlord showing any evidence of damage.

Quote from @Michele Fischer:

This is part of landlording, it's pretty normal to have units trashed at move out.

If another owner or property manager asks you about a prior tenant, answer, but no need to go offering when they haven't asked, and no reason to reach out to prior landlords.

If it was me I would itemize the damage, complete the deposit return paperwork, mail it to your unit address with their name, see if it gets forwarded, and get all the paperwork together to turn them into collections.  That can help you feel better and help warn future landlords but you will likely not collect anything.

Be thankful that you got possession back and can move on with another tenant, things can always be worse.

agree that the best part was they didn't stay beyond their tenancy so we don't have to do an eviction--the only "good" thing

a friend who is also a landlord suggested that we write the tenants and list some of the quotes we received (trash out labor/dumpster/deep cleaning/carpet cleaning, etc) to make the house rent ready again.  The estimates we got are already $1000 over their security deposit.  We told the tenants that if they agreed to waive the full amount of their security deposit, we wouldn't pursue legal action against them to collect the remainder of the fees.  They just now replied "we accept the terms of your agreement." Do I need to do anything else to document their security deposit waiver?  

-------------------------------------

our email correspondence: 

ME:  "As this already totals more than your $2,900 security deposit, we would like to suggest a deal. If you agree to forfeit your security deposit in full, we will agree to not pursue any legal action to attempt to recover any costs over and above your security deposit total. That allows us to move forward quickly and efficiently and protects you from possible additional financial obligations and legal action. If you agree to this plan, please respond briefly in writing that you accept these terms.

TENANT:  We accept the terms of your agreement.   

Tenants also conveniently didn't leave a forwarding address and haven't responded to my request for it. Their new property management company said they can't give out their info & instead they forwarded my request to the tenants who still haven't responded. Should I let the new property management company know they trashed my place? I also want to reach out to previous landlord to see if they did this to him.