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All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Account Closed has started 6 posts and replied 78 times.

Post: tenant says he is going to call the police on me at 6 PM friday night

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23
Originally posted by :
Originally posted by :

Thanks for the vote of confidence.. this is the maybe third post i have written and I always get a " you should get out now response".. I don give up that easy.. and like I said I like this work.. and to be honest i have a guy here in Baltimore who is coaching me ( for free because he is just such a nice guy) and I told him that I filled all 13 vacancies, kicked out the squatter, collected back rent from 2 dead beats who were behind a total of $14,000 and evicted someone in the short time I have been in charge.. and I have raised the rent and by October of 2016 the rent roll will have gone from $300,00 annually to $674,000 .. ( some rents weren't  raised in almost 8 years and i started with new pricing for all new entries almost $300 a unit higher than they were getting last summer.. so I actually kinda think I'm pretty good at this.. do I know all the loop holes? nope? am I good with people and details? yes? do i have great vendors who i work well with and who want nothing but to please me? yes..do i truly care about the property and the people living there? yes.. i just get a little thrown off track when someone says they are calling the cops on me for endangering their life due to no A/C.. 

Sounds to me like you are crushing it. Good for you. It's a big responsibility, but if you like managing, I say go for it.  I have 3 units, so nothing like what you're dealing with, but I can tell you that every once in a while there's a tenant who pushes my buttons. I don't know what it is - some kind of negative chemistry or something, but I can find myself getting really worked up.  I just have to remind myself, and sometimes the tenant that it isn't personal, it's business.

I agree with other posters that it's probably best if you just don't engage with this tenant. Just get the the repair done.  Check over your lease and see if you have any responsibility for that hotel bill, but honestly I don't see how you could. The unit wasn't uninhabitable from what you're describing.  It sounds like you're being a good landlord. You just don't need to take every call, or even return every call.  Best of luck to you!

Post: Revocation of Condominium Plan, Dissolution of Condominium Plan in California

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

@Chris Martin

  Thanks for your input on this. I am still working through the process. I've had a lot of frustration. There just isn't that much information or experience out there.  I agree, though, it would be interesting to see how profitable the "conversion reversion" niche could be.

Post: Not attracting good applicants

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

Hi Bryan,

I've had situations similar to yours, dropped the rent by $25 or $50 and then gotten a whole new bigger and better pool of applicants. Where I am in California, rents are really high. What I've seen is that some of the better tenants have a budget.  They know what they can pay for rent and they are not going over that.  When I do a Craigslist ad, I always note the following: no section 8, we will run a credit and background check, no evictions.  Perhaps you're doing that too. I know around here, I still get people who apply even with lousy credit and an eviction. Some people just hope they can slip through.

Are the other rentals you see listed moving at all?  If they are, I'd be curious about what they're doing differently. If they aren't moving it could be the price.  I wish you luck.  Please let us know how things work out.

Post: Does Age really matter?

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

@Daria B. One of my units has a foundation from 1915. The house was basically rebuilt in 1940. It has a small addition and two-car garage added in the 1980s. As @Steve B. says, the construction is excellent.  We had to get a new heating system, and we will need a re-pipe at some point, but we've owned it for 20 years.  Beyond that, all the fixes have been typical -- new flooring when needed and minor repairs. If you feel the house is solid and want to move forward, I suggest having your contractor look it over. If it were me, I'd also ask my plumber to take a look. You might want to look into required disclosures concerning lead-based paint. I have these in my lease agreements, but it's never been an issue. Every surface has been ultra-cleaned and painted over many times. We keep it fresh so chips don't happen.    If it checks out and all the numbers are good, it could be a great investment.  Good luck. I'll be interested to hear what you decide to do.

Post: New Member from Santa Barbara, California

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

Hi Kellen,

Welcome to BP and to our beautiful area in California. BP is full of supportive and encouraging folks with a ton of knowledge. You won't be disappointed.  Best of luck to you!

Post: Diary of a New (wannabe) Investor in Southern California

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

@Cornelius Charles Best of luck to you. SoCal is an unusual market. I admire your drive and focus.  Good for you for putting your goals out there and making yourself accountable. That is an excellent beginning! I look forward to hearing more from you!

Post: Multi-Family reposition in Los Angeles - Lots of Photos

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

Wow! Beautiful! Impressive! Congratulations and thanks for sharing.  Inspiring!

Post: Help! I have a "High Maintenance" Tenant

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

I think you’ve done a pretty good job of holding the line. The main problem for me in these situations is the sight of that email in my inbox and the feeling that I’m being nagged. I’ve had very similar tenant situations, which had a similar trajectory — daily requests at first, then monthly, then eventually spreading out even more.

Here’s my two cents:
Tenants like this often take very good care of the property.
Many tenants have the attitude, “It can’t hurt to ask.” So they always ask.  You just have to say no a lot.
As you’ve been doing, prioritize tasks that need attention according to your needs, not hers. i.e., safety, property value, etc. Many minor repairs can be deferred indefinitely without jeopardizing habitability.
Even if she has access to lawyers, most decent lawyers aren’t keen on filing frivolous lawsuits.
Try not to let it get to you. ; )
Don’t renew her lease if you really can’t stand it. Sometimes a steady rent check is worth the trade off of dealing with a tenant’s personality. Sometimes it just isn’t .

I truly feel your pain and wish you the best of luck!

Post: West Coast BPers, please advise!

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

Yes, definitely come to Santa Barbara! We need your tourism dollars! LOL. Seriously though, our town is lovely and is on the way to San Francisco. We even have our own little wine country in the North County.  

In terms of investment opportunity, things are pricey out here, but I don't think it's impossible to find deals that could generate a decent return.  The starting price just might be a bit higher than other areas. Or possibly a lot higher -- honestly, I am shocked everyday by what houses can fetch around here!

Here's a link to SB information http://www.santabarbaraca.com/things-to-do/  

Best of luck to you!

Post: How far below market do you keep a good long term tenant's rent?

Account ClosedPosted
  • Investor
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 23

@Michael J.  Thanks for your comments. 

I'm not afraid to raise rents, and I don't think any Santa Barbara area renters think that SB landlords are particularly charitable : ) The big obstacle to bringing the unit up to market was money. We didn't have the funds to make necessary improvements all at once. It was safe and solid, but not on par with our other rentals that fetch a higher rent. So my plan had been to make an improvement, then raise the rent and continue that pattern over a year or so. So it was never our intent to "lose" $270 for 10 years. We had just put a new floor in a portion of the unit and I was about to raise the rent around the time of the original post. And, just to be clear, the tenant had been getting regular rent increases, just at a lower percentage than our other units.

However, shortly after the original post, I updated with the news that the tenant was moving out. So now we're having to do improvements now that we would have spread out over the next year. It will all work out. We will have to use more credit than we wanted to, but we will make that back quickly enough once it's rented.