All Forum Posts by: JD Martin

I would cut him loose. And skip the 2 year leases, they only benefit the tenant. 

You don't need an attorney in our state (I'm in TN also) but Davidson County, like a few other high population counties, has some specific things that apply in the Landlord Tenant Act, which you should really be intimately familiar with before renting out anyway. As far as the tenants, they sound like professional tenants and are snowing you. I would get them gone ASAP.

I used to live in the area. If you don't mind driving a little bit you can find nicer multi family in some of the ring areas - Oxford (Miami U), Richmond Indiana, Greenville, Eaton, St Mary's - all these places are commuting distance to Dayton but decent little towns in their own right. 

It really depends on the nature of your debt and how it is allocated ( I'm assuming you have no assets to garnish). You say credit cards, loans, car repo, student loans, collections and child support. Well, there's no bankrupting your way out of child support, nor should any man worth a damn want to do so. There's no bankrupting out of student loans. So if that 60k in debt is 50k of student loans and back child support, you might as well grind because you don't owe that much. If it's the other way around, it might make sense just so you can make your primary responsibility (child support, then student loans) whole and current and clear the slate everywhere else. 

Mostly it sounds like you need more money. If you can live somewhere for near free while you clean up your act - say back in your parent's basement - you should focus there. Most parents would probably be keen with their kid sleeping in the basement for a year if they were serious about getting their act together. If that's not an option, you should forget about extra shifts and find a second job. 

In the early days we only provided hook ups. Today's renters want turnkey. We provide them in all units and just build the cost into the rent. Besides that, we found that tenants and washers and dryers barely go together. I've seen them hooked up wrong with water leaking, dryer hoses not attached to the vent and just blowing lint into the house, abandoned dead appliances when they move out, bashed up walls and floors from them trying to move them in and out on their own, etc. It has been far better to supply the appliances and just add the costs into the rent. On the rare occasion someone has their own, we tell them tough nuggets - they can sell or store theirs or rent somewhere else. We buy basic units and they rarely ever have problems, pay for themselves in a year or so just on the cost of appliances not counting fixing damages that the tenants do. 

Our housing and tenants are generally B to B- class. If I was renting C or below I might not provide them.

The giveaway was the "handyman" calling you instead of the other way around. Nobody who is actually a professional at anything cold calls, because anyone worth anything always has more work than they can handle. 

Quote from @Mark Cruse:

Quote from @Carlos Lez:

Quote from @Mark Cruse:

I would release them quick. However, are you implying they are making up all these things. If those things exists, Id make the same demands. 

As I have said several times, this is all made up.

Well excuse the sht out of me. Maybe I missed it. 

To me personally, it sounds like you have issues with the place. I see no logic in asking and requesting all that, for imaginary stuff. Your idea of habitable may be filthy and disgusting to the next person. If anyone said that about my units, Id seriously assesses the full scope of the situation.

If multiple people simultaneously freaked out in one of my properties, It would freak me out. 

I do know if you play games and they call someone in and find all that stuff; you will be the one condemned. 

A couple of thoughts:

1. You never rent anything out without collecting deposit and first month rent. You made a serious error in collecting deposit instead of rent. If you are only going to collect one at lease signing in the future (not recommended), you collect first months rent. That way if some nonsense like this comes up, you have the first months rent and you don't give anything back.

2. If you are going to require co-signers, especially for students, you should not consider it rented until all responsible parties have viewed the property. 

3. Never align rent and deposit payment with the first day of the lease, especially in a situation where you are on a timeline because of seasonality or other issues. Now you are left with no market and no tenants.

4. I agree that you want these people gone. They will suck to deal with.

Lying is an automatic disqualification in my business. 

Quote from @David I.:

I’ve been in the rental game since 2019, have 20 units all single family or duplexes. Also am a lender during the day so pretty good at looking at credit reports, income, debt to income. 

All of my properties have been completely remodeled and updated at purchase.  Most have 2 bathrooms, a nice deck, some have washer and dryer.  All appliances are new or fairly new and all operational.  Most are plank flooring and new paint. They are clean and in good areas of town. I look at similar rentals in the neighborhoods and price mine accordingly to the group based on sq footage, upgrades etc.  

The past year tenant selection seems to have gone downhill significantly. 80% of the prospects have below 600 scores, terrible job history, and even the halfway decent ones completely waste time by begging to see the property then not showing.

I’ve resorted to only having one or two open houses per week and I post that a week in advance and message anyone interested. I still get flaky behavior, no shows - and then they call the very next day wanting to see it. 

A current one for rent in LaGrange I would say no less than 25 begged to see it - I had an open house on a Tuesday night and a Saturday afternoon - 2 people showed up.  

I have a very nice house in Rolling Hills, again priced accordingly.  I get some higher quality prospects but still the same bad behavior - flaky, no shows, etc.  

I try to screen by asking simple questions like credit score job history etc., I end up lowering the rental price below market and I still get the same behavior.  it’s just even getting them to show up at this point. 

Also most have done 0 research. Don’t know where the house is, show up and didn’t read if it has 3 bedrooms or 4, or a garage or a basement.  I’ve resorted to saying please drive by the property before inquiring to see if it is what and where you are looking for.  

Is anyone else seeing this worsening? Any other suggestions? I work FT and have family kids so I can’t run over there and show a property 3x a day…

We don't do open houses any more because it draws less than serious people. We batch showings around a couple of time options during the week, by appointment only, and that has worked pretty well. I haven't noticed any drop off in tenant quality but I have noticed over the last year that the people that get right on it tend to be the ones we end up selecting. The ones who wait around or don't jump on it aren't serious these days.

I definitely think you should start with shaving your head. It's pretty much a given that bald guys live the dream and guys with hair work for the man :D