All Forum Posts by: Joanne Tsai

Hello BPers, 

this property is in TX. Tenants moved out on Nov 30th, and sent an email to PM saying they moved out after purchasing a house. Their lease doesn't end till the end of April 2022, so they lived there 7 out of 12 months. There is no early termination clause in the contract, basically they are obligated to pay for the remainder of the lease. if my PM finds another tenant before April, they would have to pay rent till then and pay the placement fee. But no surprise here, they stopped paying Dec rent. PM went to check the property, and apparently tenants didn't change AC filters, and that led to a significant repair two months back. AC filters were delivered to them monthly, but they never bothered to change it though it was also in the lease.

My Question is what can I do to hold these tenants accountable for the rent and placement fee till the next tenants move in? should I just hire attorney and let them know if they don't pay accordingly to the contract, a legal action will be taken against them? Let's presume the attorney fee is not a concern, is this the best way to go about it? I believe having a contract is to be able to enforce it, or else what's the point of having a lease. it's also the fact, they never communicated they were looking to buy a home and they pretty much used this house as a hotel while they shopped for a house.

any thoughts would be deeply appreciated! 

@Anjali L.

I srsly will find another tenant. Anyone would look “nice” when she needs a roof. We are part time investors, the headache that this may bring is just not worth it. Would you trust your money with someone without credential but seems nice? Then why do so with your property?

@Alan Y. He did sign a lease, didn’t he? It means he agreed to the terms and conditions. If in a month your next tenant also wants out, would you let him out again?

I agree I wouldn’t want some unhappy tenants but signing a lease means something. You should at least make him responsible for the rent till the new tenants move in. I have rented apartment from big corporations before, and that’s exactly what they would do or they would charge you the entire duration of the lease. They don’t let you out just because “oops, I change my mind”.

@Rahel Ketema I’m not a newbie, but to be frank, the two worst experiences I had with contractors, they were referred to me by my realtors….. similar stories, in the beginning they would show up and they would stop showing up. And I would yell at them and they would show up one day a week…..

lucky for me, long and painful, but they did eventually finish the job. If your realtor finds them enough clients and has some influence over them, maybe ask your realtor to have a talk with them, but don’t get your hopes up……

@Peter Walther

Interesting, in VA it seems to be paid twice a year, one in first quarter and another in third quarter. In 2021, I saw the escrow account paid out twice and it summed up to be the property taxes in 2021.

But we got the 2020 bill in Jan 2021. It seems no one paid the 2020 property taxes (though we prepaid the 4 months taxes at closing)

Hi BPers:

I have a situation here, and this is not the first time it happened... 

We purchased a property in Aug 2020, closed on Aug 31st to be exact. We prepaid the property taxes for the remainder of the year (Sep-Dec) when closing. Recently I logged onto our bank account, and discovered the $ going into escrow is a lot higher than before. After speaking to the escrow company, it turned out, the escrow paid the state the property taxes for entire 2020 because they've received the bill. 

It seems to me that 1) the previous owner didn't pay her taxes. 2) the title company didn't find that out and also didn't pay the 4 months of prepaid property taxes on our behalf. 

who is at fault here? is this something covered by title insurance? any advice will be super appreciated. 

Property is in VA.

Thanks!

@Jeffrey Long

We love Patti too! She is great and so knowledgeable! @Patti Robertson

@Alex Monaco

Like everyone else said, it depends on your goals, the location of your property, and your mindset.

REI is not passive even with a PM, they still have to run through a lot of things by you, like when something costs more than $200 breaks. I'm not interested in getting phone calls at night or during my day job, hence PM. How much is your time worth to you?

@Brent Barnes

I have a new born and a four year old and I just returned to a quite demanding job. I can relate to what you are saying. Don't beat yourself up for being not motivated or drained. After all we are all human. Pat yourself on the back when you actually get some energy to either read a REI book or learn something from the podcast or youtube. This is a marathon, pace yourself and don't judge yourself. It's important to come back to it and pick yourself up, but recognize there will always be bad days. (And it's absolutely ok!)

Hi all, 

this question may be a little odd, but would appreciate everyone's input. 

Is there a downside of having all your rental properties under one insurance company? We are not familiar in this area when it comes to property insurance. Let's say if for some reason, your tenants sue you, would the premium on all of your properties go up? is it possible?

Thanks!