All Forum Posts by: Jimmy Chao

I have a tenant in eviction right now. My property manager confirmed they have recently applied for rental assistance. And my lawyer says I should definitely get it when the assistance come. But we don't know how long it will take.

Next court date is in a few days, and lawyer is asking whether we want to work with tenant or move forward with eviction. Tenant owes over 5 months of rent. What would you do here?

I have a duplex purchased in April 2022 that has cost me over 18k repairs so far. An inherited tenant has been in eviction since May. I am still having crawlspace issues that keeps getting flooded every time it rains because water gets in through the soil from the water table. Encapsulation will cost me 15-20k easily. One side is rented so I am negative each month about $100. Once eviction is done, I will need to spend about 10-15k to get the unit rented based on current conditions. This has been the worst property in my portfolio and I am wondering if I should just take a loss on this one. If I sell this at a loss, will I owe any short-term tax?

Would love advice from anyone who has been in similar scenario.

As title said, a storm knocked off power lines from my property. Now an electrical guy is quoting me more than $3000 to repair. Does it normally cost this much to do power line repairs?

@JD Martin

The problem is also the house next door sits at a much higher elevation. And their downsprouts are pointed towards my property.  So, even if I grade my property, wouldn't the water coming down from next door still get in?

I'm thinking going to sump pump option, but when it rains - i fear it will constantly be running.

My crawlspace is constantly flooding from heavy rain. From what I've been told, the soil in the region (Kansas City) soaks up water, which is how its getting in crawl space. A foundation/water proofing guy told me the best solution is encapsulation with sump pump which is going to cost nearly 20k. Has anyone else with crawlspace dealt with this problem and what fixes did you do?

Currently, the grading around the exterior is slopes towards the property. What type of professional is best to slope it outwards so water flows away from property?

My crawl space has been filling with water and had 2 plumbers take a look.

1st plumber says that the gutter down sprout is broken. He recommends repairing and attaching the downsprout to a drain that leads away from house. This is because grading is really sloped into property which is why water is getting in. He says sump pump would not be necessary after this is done.

The 2nd plumber says to just install a sump pump.

Now, I do know the slope is graded into property, but digging trenches and install drains seem a little overboard. Would just a sump pump do? I am also thinking of grading the land to slope away from the property and extending downsprout.

Main sewer line on one of my rentals is backing up. Going to cost around $5,000k. Is it worth having insurance cover this?

Metering of utilities as mentioned above is certainly one issue relevant to this question. However, there is another more pertinent one.

Is the utility bill lien-able against your property? This will vary from area to area for different utilities. Usually this has to do with whether the utility is provided by a government entity. In my area sewer is lien-able unless you have a septic system of course.

Garbage is SOMETIMES lien-able in my area. In some municipalities they charge a flat fee per year, if it isn't paid a lien can be filed. Some municipalities include it with the taxes. Some others sell special bags or stickers to put on bags. Still others require the occupant to hire a private garbage hauler.

If a utility is lien-able, it makes more sense for a landlord to pay the bill directly rather than trust or have to verify that the tenant is paying it. If the bill goes unpaid it attaches to the property and doesn't follow the tenant. So, that is why in many cases landlords pay some utilities.

As a side note, I have seen many utilities provided by government entities. So, this happens a lot and varies from area to area a lot. I have seen water, sewer, electricity, and garbage all provided by government entities. I have not seen natural gas.

Here's a link from the archives. 

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/Runum/file/105-sample-notice-of-rent-increase