All Forum Posts by: Brandon C.

I was working at my rental a couple weeks ago. I went into the backyard which has a privacy fence when I heard a dog barking that I didn't recognize. Peeked over the fence and the house next door (which is also a rental) had a pit bull chained up out back. This house also has no fence. When he saw me peek over the fence he went crazy barking, growling and trying to come at me. I'm wondering if the owner or property manager knows the tenants have it. I checked the property data page and found the owners name. However, it is spelled a couple different ways so I'm struggling to track him down. The "owners address" listed is a UPS po box. Is there a way I can find out who the property manager is? I checked the house info on Zillow and it does not appear to have ever been listed for rent on there. Would this type of info be on MLS by chance? How would you proceed? Thanks!

Hello. Hoping to get some opinions on this. I think these people are ok, but just want to get feedback from some of you more experienced folks. I’ve a very logical person and hard to impress. Screening people has been a challenge for me. I’ve always saved money and planned for the future. My wife and I have no drama. Seems 95% of applicants aren’t in that boat. Therefore, I am quick to say “no” to people. However, I also know if people had money and no drama – they probably wouldn’t be renting.I’m still trying to learn this balance.

I haven’t run the background and credit checks yet, but that is definitely next step.

General Info

• Engaged couple getting married in a couple weeks. He’s 37, she’s 26. Each has a kid from prior marriage, and the wife is currently pregnant.
• The guy makes right at the minimum required income without factoring in his OT. She is on bed rest and does not work.
• They both say they have bad credit due to their divorces. Neither has ever filed bankruptcy. The lady said her ex-husband became addicted to drugs and drained all their money.
• The 26 year old’s parents will co-sign the lease. The girl’s father is a professor at a prestigious school in the state. He’s been there for more than 35 years and makes six figures.
• They currently rent a 3 bedroom apartment for $1400 a month (my house is 1250). They are leaving because they have had issues with the neighbors above them. She said they have had constant noise problems throughout the night which is causing them to not get sleep. She said the complex has not done anything.
  • She was recently placed on bed rest. Her doc issued her a handicap tag. The building that she lives in has 2 handicap spots, but there are 2 disabled people living in her building so there are 3 people fighting for 2 spots. She claims the complex won’t put in another handicap spot

Verifications Completed

• I have 2-3 paystubs from the guy and the dad (the professor).
• I called the guy’s current employer and he said he was a great employee and he would have no problem renting a house to him.
• I called the guy and girl’s previous employer (they worked for the same person) and he would not give me any info. He said I need to call HR.
• I called their current apartment complex and they told me they would not release any information and that it was confidential!?!?! Is this normal???
• I met the girl’s mom. She seems very educated and upper class. I get the feeling the girl is the youngest child and has a string of bad decisions and the parents keep helping her.

I'm leaning towards approving them assuming the parents don't have a significant amount of debt. Anything I'm not thinking about? What would you do?

Appreciate your feedback!

Thanks for the responses. That's exactly why I posted here before saying (or not saying) something to the tenant right now. I'm 6 months into my first rental, and I've learned A TON. I worry and stress about everything, but it's weird because I've not been stressed dealing with the tenants/problems to this point. I don't know if it's confidence in the lease or that I'm super anal and have done my homework or what. My wife is a little freaked out that I'm not freaked out. =)

Thanks again!!

You may have seen my post from a couple weeks ago about my tenant wanting out of the lease. I'll put the link below if you are interested in reading it. If you didn't see it, here are quick details:

• Tenant called me to tell me he wanted to break our lease. We had completed 5 of the 10 months. 
  
• He told me they purchased a house...The problem was that he informed me of this on THE DAY THEY CLOSED on the house. (rolling eyes smiley)
• I told him he was responsible for the rent until I found a tenant, but he was worried about being able to make 2 payments. I offered him a lease buyout option after speaking with my attorney. The buyout stated he would forfeit his SD, and pay 1 month of rent. I'm confident I can get the place rented within the next month at a higher rate. 
• I gave them until 12/27 to turn over the keys as part of the buyout. I finally ended up having to threaten pulling the buyout option because he kept delaying on signing the agreement. I finally got it back a couple days ago. 
• I had a showing at the house today. First thing I noticed - the electricity and water was turned off. I specifically told him he was responsible for it until he turned the keys over. 
• Not an expensive problem, but the blinds in 2 bedrooms were broken and will need to be replaced. 
• I walked out back and found the vinyl siding had melted in a spot from where a grill lid had been left against it. The damage is about 2 feet wide and covers 2 pieces of vinyl. 

Luckily, I took a ton of photos and videos before they moved in. I also have a pretty detailed check-in list. 

I'm going to go ahead and turn the electricity back on on Monday. I really don't care about the blinds because they are cheap and maybe old (can't remember if i replaced them before they moved in). 

What are your thoughts on the damage to the vinyl? I'm pretty handy and can probably replace it, but there no way it will match. My initial thought is to hire a contractor to fix it and make the tenant pay for it. However, I'm trying to wondering if I just be happy with what I've gotten as far as the lease buyout and move on. 

Surprises are bad. =)

My other related post

Hey everyone. I just wanted to give an update on the situation.

I met with my attorney for about 15 mins on Friday. Told him what I was thinking and he said I was well within my rights. He didn’t even charge me for the visit! =)

I called my tenant and offered him 2 options. 1) he could pay rent, utilities, upkeep until I found a tenant and then get his full deposit back minus any damage or 2) he could forfeit his security deposit and pay me 1 additional month of rent and move out this week.

He has chosen the second option. I began advertising the house and increased rent $100 and already have 3 showings set for the end of this week. I think it’s going to work out well for me!

THEN…..I got a phone call yesterday morning…..

A guy saw my house listed on Craiglist and Zillow. His first question was “How much is rent, because I’ve seen 3 different amounts - $800, $900 and $1300.” I was skeptical, so I got online and did some searching. Sure enough….I found my house listed for $800 and $900 on Craigslist. I’m pretty anal about reviewing the stuff multiple times before posting, so I could not figure out how something like that slipped through. The listing had all of my wording as well as my photos and it was the address for my rental!! Then, I realized the contact information wasn’t mine. I emailed the person acting as a prospective tenant. I received an email back stating they lived in KY (I’m in TN), and that I could drive by the house and look at it and complete the attached application. (I’ll paste the email below) There was a phone # for me to call if I had any questions. I called it – it was a Google Voice #. A foreign guy answered. Basically, he wanted me to complete the app, wire him the deposit and 1st month’s rent and he would mail me the keys. I then confronted him that he had MY house for rent. He argued that “I must not know my correct address.”

Ended up at the police dept. However, they were unable to do anything though because no actual crime had been committed. I kept flagging the postings yesterday and by last night they had been removed. However, I’ve had a couple people call me saying they spoke to a foreign guy and things sound fishy.

In the end, I went back and watermarked my photos a little differently so that they can’t be duplicated so easily. Beyond that, not sure there is much else I can do. Interesting weekend to say the least! =)

Here’s the email I received yesterday:

Good Day,

I am pleased to get your mail, i have so many people interested. My home is just lovely and needs only love and care.I am only renting it out because of my promotion ( which came as a surprise) out of the state from XXXXXXX, TN to Fulton, KY. I work with Suicide Prevention Action Network USA (SPAN) as a counselor for young Kids and young adult over here in Fulton, KY, who try or want to commit suicide due to one pressure or the other . My name is Catherine Brewer all you need to do would be to go by and view my home from the outside and through the windows, you can also peep through the windows. Here is the home address so you could go by : XXXXXXXXXX. send me an email, text or call on the number i will drop below, its my husband cell he handle everything about the house. Thank you once again for your interest in my home.

NOTE: WATER,ELECTRICITY AND GAS ARE THE UTILITIES INCLUDED IN THE RENT, I AM IN KY AND DON'T HAVE ANYONE IN XXXXXXXXX THAT CAN SHOW YOU THE INSIDE, THAT IS WHY I ASKED YOU TO GO BY TO VIEW THE HOUSE. I WILL ATTACH THE RENTAL APPLICATION TO THIS EMAIL, IF YOU ARE STILL INTERESTED FILL THE APPLICATION AND EMAIL IT BACK. YOU CAN TEXT OR CALL ME AFTER YOU SEND BACK THE APPLICATION.

You can call or text my husband, Mr Stephen.

Thank you all for your responses. Very helpful! Really appreciate it. I'm meeting with my attorney tomorrow just to make sure I do things right since this is the first time I've gone through this. I like the idea of them paying a bit, turning over the SD and being done. I'll let you know what the attorney says and how everything plays out. Really really learned a lot today. Thanks again!!!

Thanks @Nathan Gesner! One question - does state law typically define how many days notice a tenant must give to break a lease? I did not define a time frame in my lease. First item I found where i didn't properly define something. 

Thanks for the response!

Would you try to enforce the lease or let him go now?

I bought my first SFH back in the summer. I was able to get it rented fairly quickly (in a month) just advertising online. Screened several people and settled on a family moving to TN from FL. We did a 10 month lease going from 8/1 thru 6/30. Rent is 1200, and security deposit is 1200.

The renters have been great. I had to make a small repair to the stove about a month ago, which was the last time I spoke to them.

Yesterday I received a phone call from them. The tenant stated they wanted to break the lease because they had purchased a home. I asked him when they were closing and he said "We closed today." He went on to say, we didn't know we were closing up until a couple days ago. This has been an ongoing process for 6 weeks. It's a VA loan and there was a bunch of back and forth. I don't have a lot of cash and I wanted to be up front with you and not just leave in the middle of the night.

I don't buy the "we didn't know we were closing until 2 days ago"

My lease CLEARLY states (TN law states it as well) they are responsible for rent until the lease ends or I find new renters. In fact, I have a spot where they initialed by that section of the lease. 

My lease does NOT state that the security deposit is lost when one breaks a lease. Tenant is charged a $250 fee and SD is returned minus the fee and any damage. 

The tenant stated that he was willing to forfeit the deposit. I did not agree to anything yesterday when I spoke to him. I just said "you've blindsided me and I need to come up with a plan and I'll give you a call tomorrow. I'll go ahead and start advertising."

What would you guys/gals do in this case? 

Part of me thinks I should let him go, keep the SD (after speaking to an attorney) and get on with finding a new tenant. 

Other part of me is a little ticked that he hasn't said anything to me and wants to hold him to the lease. However, my concern is he may just leave, and then I'll have to go thru the eviction process because I don't know if he would pay January rent. 

I go back and forth. Currently, there are very few rental houses in my area available. However...it's 2 weeks before Christmas. Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

I have my first rental house. Got it rented to someone with good credit and no red flags. He moved in on 8/1 and paid rent and deposit several days early. I gave him the option to pay via check or online thru eRentpayment.com. He wanted a to do online. Today's the 31st, and he still hasn't signed up for a profile on the site. Do I reach out to him now or wait? Looking to hear some advice from the folks more experienced than I. Thanks!