All Forum Posts by: Jarrod B.

Thomas S and Alan G:  Thank you for taking the time to respond, I very much appreciate it and respect your experience and words of wisdom.  Sounds like I need to get my ish together and stop being such a pushover.  

Thank you once again.

Hey there guys, I have a question for you all in regards to late fees.  I made the mistake by giving my tenants my bank account information and just had them deposit their rents into the account, well that opened up a can of worms that allowed for partial rent payments.  I have since closed down my bank account and have instructed my tenants to either pay me by way of check (and then I'll use the postmark date to assess late fees), or I have set up an account with erentpayment.com that will not allow for partial payments.

That being said, I have one tenant that's a constant pain in my ash.  He's consistently late and pays partial payments all the time.  His rent is $1,500 and this past month he paid me $1,450.  In the event that your tenant is even just $50 under their rent payment, do you all assess the late fee (the late fee for this unit is $50) if your lease allows for it?  In addition, when the following month comes rolling around, if they don't pay you for the underpayment and the late fee and just pay you the full amount of rent ($1,500) do you again assess a late fee because there is still uncollected rent ($100)?  And so the late fees keep incurring until they're paid in full...is that correct?

I'm a new investor and have a couple of rentals, but I'm still trying to get my processes down.  Thank you for your wisdom BP community :-)

Chris Martin...you hit this nail on the head.  

I have a couple properties in Jupiter, FL.  I told them all to get out and seek shelter elsewhere, because this storm is going to be a nasty one.  As far as the shutters go, that's really the owner's responsibility because ultimately we're the ones that are going to have to pay for the property if it gets damaged (windows, sheet rock, etc).  The tenants' contents on the inside are covered under renters insurance.

I have hurricane insurance with a 2% deductible.  Based upon the replacement cost of the property, that'll determine what my deductible will be.  What I'm concerned about is if the unit is indeed deemed inhabitable it just throws up a lot of grey areas in my mind.  I have a clause in my lease that allows me to break the lease if the unit is uninhabitable.  The insurance claim process is a long drawn out process during which not only will i be paying the mortgage and expenses on the unit, but I'll also stop receiving rental income from the tenant.  According to what I read, I would have to wait for an insurance claim adjuster to come out and assess the property, during which time I read not to touch the property and leave it as is so they could see the damage.  This is really what has me stressed out.  I would want to fix the property right away to get the tenant back in there and allow me to collect rent again, but if i have to wait for a claims adjuster, that could take months. 

Does anyone have any experience with this?  In the event of a natural disaster, how did you handle it?  Did you just clean up right away, keep your receipts and take pictures?  Or wait the long drawn out wait for an insurance adjuster to come in, assess the damage, and then offer a settlement.  Again, this has me stressed out, so thank you for your feedback.

Nothing beats the MLS. Make friends with a local realtor and get on there to see your comps and what's offered...I've found Zillow to be mehhhh....rentometer was too high in my observations.

Hey there everyone, I have a couple of rentals in FL and am just now starting to experience some issues with Mold.  I searched through a lot of the discussions, but was unable to find a clear cut answer as to the process a landlord must go through in order to determine what course of actions need to take place in order to remedy the issue.  I value very much the opinions and wisdom of the biggerpockets community, so here it goes.

On my first unit, it appears as though there was a crack in the ceiling allowing moisture in. Either that, OR it was from a hard rain that went through the vents and into the house. They sent me pictures of the mold and to be honest with you it doesn't like like much mold at all. You could see where the water might have gotten in, but the mold was minimal. In order to remedy the issue, I called the HOA, whom is responsible for the roofs, and they were able to make an appointment 5 days later. As far as the mold is concerned, I had a plumber come out to look at the mold to ensure that it wasn't from a pipe and clean up the mold. He verified that it wasn't from a pipe, but told the tenant to just use a little bit of bleach and water to clean up the mold (ughhhhh, i really wanted him to clean it up, but what am i going to do). He also mentioned that the mold wasn't hazardous like black mold. Is there anything else you all would have done in order to make sure that this issue doesn't cause any future lawsuit issues? They have kids in the house too, so I just want to make sure all my bases are covered and that their health is not jeopardized.

At my second unit, it looks like I have some mold coming from the AC pipes above a closet dripping down.  The mold is extremely minimal there as well, but tenants freak out at the sight of mold.  What would you do to remedy that situation?  Would you call in a handyman just to clean it up and maybe put a drip pan where the pipe is developing condensation?  What would your course of action be.

Thank you again everyone!

We've closed on two properties within the past 6 months, on both properties they asked for all the information your banks are requesting. It's a pain and may be intrusive, but if you've found a good deal then just do it! Not everyone can get a conventional, so just be happy you qualify :-). Good Luck!

Hey All, 

I was wondering if you could help me out here with some advice.  I have a 12 month lease that ends May 31st.  Of course they paid first, last and security deposit, so really and truly if he were moving out he would have already paid for May's rent and of course he would move out May 31st.  

I sent them a rent increase notification April 29th letting him know if he intends on renewing for a another 12 months, the rent would increase beginning June1st.  He sent a brief response indicating that he was going to stay, but then sent me a long email today trying to negotiate the new rent and blah blah blah.  So he didn't renew.  Normally, I would tell him to pound sand and get him out by May 31st (he hasn't been the best tenant in the world), but the problem that I'm having is I have him set up on direct deposit with my checking account and he deposited the rent for May in addition to having paid the last month's rent when he initially signed the lease.  If he just wrote me a check, I wouldn't have accepted it until he renewed, but since he double paid for May, can I still legally tell him to get out May 31st and then reimburse him for the last month's rent in addition to the security deposit?  Or am I somehow entitled to allow him to stay for an additional 30 days because he paid in May?

Your help and wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

jb

It looks like Fannie Mae is taking measures to qualify millenials with boatloads of toxic debt.  These measures will qualify millions of indebt youngsters for mortgages, which doesn't seem like a good idea, but it certainly bodes well for the real estate market.

http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/media/financial-news/2017/student-loan-debt-6546.html

Hey guys,

I'm in the process of increasing my rent at one of my units and was wondering how you all handle the last month's rent held and the security deposit.  Do you request and additional deposit as well?  

So if my rent was $1,000 and i'm increasing it to $1,100, if they've already paid last months rent of $1,000 and a security deposit of $1,000, do you all request an additional $200 deposit to account for the shortfall?  Or just leave the security deposit and last month's payment as is at $1,000 and then expect them to make up for the shortfall on last month's rent?

Thanks for your time.