All Forum Posts by: Jean Ridlon

I just kicked out a tenant for having 3 dogs when the lease clearly stated no pets.  I had to clean up 1/4 of an acre of dog poop that was left to dry in the hot desert sun.  then I found out that they had dug a (*&##(*&#(* fire pit in the back yard....they had also installed a latch on a chain on the bathroom door into the master bedroom that tore the molding to bits. 

So I think the 3 dogs were a sign that they weren't going to give a crap shoot about the property.

I'd tell them to get rid of the cat or leave.  Actually, I'd just kick them out for breach of contract.

Thanks for your thoughts, Steve. I absolutely do not want to have anything done without the proper permits. So that'll go into the next lease...Now I just have to figure out what kind of year-to-year increase I want to build in it...even if it's just 1 or 2%.

Giving them a lease option is a good idea - but if they take it - I'm out $75K. Property is now worth less than half of what I paid for it - but values are creaping up a little. So I'm thinking if I can just hold out a little longer.....

I pretty much agree that they are jerking my chain. You are probably right that I shouldn't re-up the lease. No, I KNOW you are right. But since I am just barely hanging on to the property as it is, I would rather not have to find another tenant and deal with vacancy issues. My thought is (aside from the fact that they are pretty old and I don't feel right kicking them out...) that I should be able to cover myself with another lease that specifies that they need to get my permission to do anything further. and then if they can't handle that, I'll move them on out.

And yes, you are right, I'm trying my darndest to treat this like a business, but, but, but...they really are little old people. Am I better off having a nice 5 year lease and cutting my vacancy costs? Or living with the guilt and tossing them out.

I think I need a lawyer to help with the lease. Anybody know of a good one in So Cal?

Thanks so much for your input!

Thanks, everybody, for your input. I'm upside down on this property, so can't get rid of it without it costing me a chunk of change in taxes (debt forgiveness - investment property). This was my first property and I managed to buy at the very tip-top of the market....without having a clue as to what I was getting into.

The biggest things that concern me regarding your responses are the equitable interest and my liability should their "upgrades" go to pot.

It's hard to specify that they have to use a licensed contractor for the work they want to do because they want to do it (mostly) themselves, and what they can't do they have their son-in-law do - for free.

Their lease is up at the end of the month, so I'll have to put in the lease that I have to authorize the work they want to do, and approve it after it is done. The hard part is going to be to approve it objectively. I really like these guys and don't want to hurt their little feelings! I'll have to steel myself - maybe I can have my cousin go in and approve it...that's an idea.

Anyway - so that's the bad side of it - the good side of it is that I had to buy another property to pay for this one - and then when I found out that I had to pay taxes on the second one (because I actually am MAKING money! on it), I had to buy a third to pay for those taxes. Now I found out that I like property management, sort of.

I have great tenants that pay their rent on time. They are retired, and want to stay in the property “forever” because they love it so much. (It has a phenomenal view.) A few years ago they lost their house to foreclosure, and now they want to settle in my rental ‘till they die.

They want to upgrade the property to their specifications. So far they have installed their own cabinets in the kitchen, carved up a built-in to add more counter space, and painted the bathroom cabinets. They added hanging lights in the kitchen, but have not replaced the broken lightbox plastic.

My problem is that some of the upgrades are not absolutely perfect; the side of the added counter top is bare naked showing the cheap manufactured wood; the backsplash they installed above the added counter space goes halfway through a doorway molding; and I haven’t yet seen the bathroom cabinets that they painted.

I think I need to stop them from doing any more work, because if they ever leave, I’ll have the expense of correcting the things they did a little haphazardly.

Rent does not cover anything but mortgage, interest & taxes. Under the scenario of 50% of rent covers expenses, I am about $200 short every month. They will pay for small repairs, but I get the big ones like a new roof, a new swamp cooler, a new water line to the house.

Does anybody have any suggestions? Am I being paranoid when they keep telling me how much they love the house and want to stay their forever (and I keep hearing, we want to do whatever to it because it is ours and screw you if you don’t like it).

Thanks for any input