All Forum Posts by: Tim Johnson

Not looking for official legal advice here, but what would you do if you found out that there were 5 cop cars surrounding one of your properties trying to gain entrance? I am remote in another state, but told my manager to give the cops the keys to enter if needed so they don't have to bust down the door.

I have no idea what they are there for at this point but I am preparing for the worst.

What would you do?

@Bettina F. Great story... he must have figured that national politics were bound to swing back in the other direction.

@Bob Crane Six months to fill a vacancy sounds pretty dang scary... now I'm not feeling so bad about my unit being empty for 45 days!

Thanks all for your input

Bump! Surely there's some stories out there...

Have you ever invested in an area that went bad? Major employers leaving town, big layoffs, etc.

What happened to your rental properties? How did you react? Were you able to stay profitable? 

What is your advice to someone investing in a small town (pop. 35,000... okay, not THAT small) where a couple of large companies in the same industry provide the majority of middle-class jobs?

@Melanie Tribble @Sean Duncan @Deren Huang @Jeff Gonzales You might be interested...

@Lisa Williams what do you think?

I called the tenant yesterday and explained that she was going to be evicted. She ultimately decided that she didn't want to live there anymore anyways and is coming to move all of her stuff out today and sign a termination agreement. So, it appears no formal eviction will be necessary although I will certainly be warning the local landlords.

I feel like I have to knock on wood because this feels like the best-case ending for a weekend that was absolutely nuts! 

Have you ever taken advantage of OK state "immediate eviction" procedures for criminal activity, drug use, violence? What did that process look like for you? What was required? How long did it take?

OK Landlord-Tenant Act Section 132 states:

First landlord nightmare experience is in the books. One roommate out of three tenants on a joint + several lease has descended into hardcore drug use, bringing domestic disturbances and unwanted guests as well as drug use on the property according to the other roommates. It all exploded this morning with a violent disturbance, front door kicked in, and tenant's guest threatened one of the other roommates with a knife. Cops were called, they were placed in cuffs, and yet somehow the tenant + guest were ultimately released due to conflicting testimony. Police report is expected by Tuesday.

I've never done an eviction before. Everything I am seeing online says that, in OK state, this type of behavior is grounds for immediate eviction with no more than 24 hours notice. The lease is joint + several so I am looking to evict the specific problem tenant and allow the others to stay.

What would you do?

Thanks all for the input!

1) If the carpet's already old enough to need replacement within the next year, would you deduct carpet damages from a tenant's deposit?

2) How do you calculate the "reasonable wear and tear" on carpet (or other assets) if a tenant has lived there for a long time?

Bought a property last year with existing tenants. They are buying their own house now after 3 yrs of living there; did the walk-through and there is considerable damage / staining in the carpets so they will need to be replaced. I knew that the carpet was old and was planning to replace it sometime within the next year, but there's enough damage that it now needs to be replaced before I can re-rent the unit.

I am thinking to deduct a reasonable % of replacement cost from the deposit. i.e. if typical carpet lifespan is 5 yrs, and there was a year of life remaining in these carpets, then I would deduct 20% of the replacement cost. However... apparently the carpets have been around since the unit was built in 2007.

So, bit of a conundrum... don't want to take advantage of a tenant's deposit for a replacement that was definitely going to happen soon anyway -- but also not able to re-rent the unit immediately because of the damage caused by the tenant. What would you do?