All Forum Posts by: Jay Mayer

Hello everyone, 

What do you do when after an inspection or maintenance visit to your property, you find that the tenant got a cat after they moved in? Will it make any difference to you whether there is no visible damage to your property or smells at the moment of inspection in how you react to this event?

Do you terminate the lease or ask a deposit or how do you handle it. 

I appreciate any suggestions. Thank you. 

 Thanks for the suggestion. I am thinking I will just do a $100 increase since from what I have been reading and even talking to other people, a $100 dollar increase is not that uncommon. If I increase it any more than that it may look like I want them out. 

With respect to your question about the market in Nashville for rentals, I don't know really since this home was my primary home that I rented only because I needed to move out of state on short notice. I didn't buy it to rent it out and at the time of lease signing, the "known" person was a ready to move in tenant who was ok with taking the place without requiring new paint or this and that as many renters want when they look for a home to move into. It worked out at that moment for both of us. I needed a tenant right away without having to put the house on the market and deal with applications, tenant screenings, etc while also dealing with having to move on short notice out of state. 

If this tenant can't afford the $100 increase, I will have to travel back and spend the time and money getting the house ready for a new tenant (paint, carpets, etc) , not to mention decide whether I will hire a company to deal with the rental and the new tenant, which could mean 10% of monthly rent or I will have to deal with it long distance myself and hope for the best. 

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. 

My mortgage is also going to go up one last time next year, increasing the pymt by another $50. So if I increase $50 this year and then $50 next year, I will still be just covering the increases in interest rate and way under market, but It may be the only way to go if I don't want to risk a vacancy. 

I will have to do at least the $50 and need to start thinking of how to communicate it so that it doesn't sound too bad to them. After all it may still be a lot of money to them to pay $50 more each month despite what other homes are renting for and whatever logic I explain that makes it fair. 

With that in mind, what is a good strategy to communicate this and reduce the shock ? Should I first email the increase to him and then call to explain or talk to them first? At least I have a good excuse since my mtg is increasing, but this will be the same tune for the next year as well, which also makes me wonder if I should tell them about that increase for next year too in order to get them prepared and include it in the new lease. 

Thanks again!!

Hello everyone, 

I am a new landlord with little experience and wanted to get some insight on a rent increase I am planning on my rental home. 

It hast been 2 yrs since the tenant moved in and assuming they want to sing up for a 3rd yr, I would like to increase rent at least by $50 in order to cover a recent interest rate increase on my mortgage. 

I initially rented the home $150 less than similar homes at the time because the tenant was a "known" person and they could not pay more (at the time the tenant had a lower paying job than today), plus it was convenient for me to have someone mover right away. That was that, probably a mistake, but it worked out so far in the sense of having the home rented and a good paying tenant. 

As for the numbers, from what I have researched online rents are up today by at least $200 more for similar homes. Rent is $1100 and a similar home would Rent for $1300 today. 

So I was thinking of a $100 increase to cover the $50 mtg rate increase plus $50 to get close to market price. At $1200 monthly rent after the increase, It would still be cheaper by $100 for them to stay versus finding a similar home, but they may not see it that way and I don't want to piss them off or make them leave because a $100 increase could be a shocker. 

So should I go for $50 or $75 or $100 or what number would you suggest?

Sorry for the long post, and thank you in advance for your insight you may have. 

Have a great day.