All Forum Posts by: Johann Jells

No, still pretty low quality. Lots don't bother to read and see they don't qualify. Had a woman making $3k/mo gross wanting a $1400 unit (down from $1680) and thought I was unreasonable declining her for not meeting my 3x requirement. Had a guy ask on the tour if it would be ok to break the lease with 30 days notice! 

but I did get a tenant for my current vacant unit losing only a 1/2 month, so I should count myself lucky.  He said he works for a company that feeds on bankrupt companies, so I guess I won't be seeing a sob story from him about losing his job!

I have a potential applicant who wants to rent the unit for his retired parents who do not have sufficient income to qualify. He would co-sign or take the lease himself, and let them live there. I don't recall ever allowing a co-signer, it always seemed just a licence to sue a 3rd party if things went bad, so I don't have actual experience with this. Any thoughts on what my liabilities are in the situation above a normal tenancy? I'm thinking it won't happen as it's a 3rd floor walkup, but I'd like to have a well thought out answer.

I don't think this helps you, but I did a common area stairwell in LVP and used aluminum nosing on the treads with 1/4 round holding down the inner edge, terminating the LVP inside the balusters. All the woodwork is painted. It's a very robust setup, another property has it with real linoleum rather than LVP, been basically maintenance free the 23 years I've owned it and lord knows how long before that.

You'd be amazed at what is considered acceptably 'rustic' if it looks original. I repaired and refinished 120 year old 5/4 x 4 yellow pine subfloors and people loved them. OP, you should fix the bad repairs and refinish the floors. I actually salvaged flooring from the kitchen that was going to be tiled to repair the rest of the place.

Here they're taking negative cashflow to ride the (usually) appreciating market.

At least you're not stuck with them like I am in NJ. But I'd like to point out that the cost of the utilities to you isn't what's on the bill, it's the difference between the bill and what you build into the rent. I eventually realized this when considering what it would take to break out the heating in a 4U I bought with a steam boiler or the insane cost to replace it with individual systems. Assuming there's one heating system, it seems to me so not worth the effort and hassle of trying to break up a gas bill between the tenants every month rather than just get it right to begin with in the rent. Nobody around here bills tenants separately for water. It's part of the overhead.

Sorry, didn't see this was being responded to. Well the good news is it works great...most of the time.  My tenant most dependent on it reports that occasionally it fails to open the door, and the system needs to be rebooted by depowering. But this is every month or 3, not all the time. Of course, the other failure point is that the package delivery personnel still can't be bothered to ring the bell, they just drop it and run.  I was just today discussing with a tenant my making a sign begging them to ring the f**king bell and explaining the tenant can buzz them in from their phone anywhere they are in the world that gets network service.

I agree with the many people who say stay in for various reasons. I'll add one more. I'm in my late 50s and very few people I know are doing what they thought they'd be doing when they were 18 or even 22. Getting a degree keeps your career options far wider than going back undergrad when you're in your 30s and have a family. 

My son is a college senior and already successful in his chosen field of being a rock and ice climbing guide. But he's finishing his degree in recognition that things change. In 10 years he might go to grad school or go into medicine. Or he might be starting the next Patagonia. But his options will be open.

While the Master Policy sounds interesting, and you can explain the advantage to me, what I want is exactly as you describe the umbrella policy, increased liability coverage so a suit on one property does not endanger the others without having each in separate LLCs with all the ensuing paperwork and cost that entails.

A few years ago a couple of guys came to tour a vacancy of mine without disclosing 1st that this is what they were up to. They didn't even offer me a rent premium! I told them to take a hike. My city became ABnB central after NYC limited them, many people bought or rented apartments to ABnB until many buildings became virtual hotels and the camel's back broke. There was a plebiscite about limiting short term rentals that became national news for the well funded election battle between ABnB and the hotel industry. STR forces lost, and a whole of people invested in properties that could not come close to cashflowing as a normal long term rental got stuck holding the bag.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/1...