All Forum Posts by: Jolene Adam

I have a two-story mixed-use rental with decking (a long wheelchair ramp and landing) along one side. 

The deck is often damp, slippery in places, and mildews quickly. It doesn't get a lot of sun since it stands only about 15 feet from the one story house next door, on the east side. I am taking down a few small trees on my property to get a little more sunlight on the decking and reduce the moisture, and I'm hoping the neighbor will remove the bigger one on their side before too long, since it's too close to their house and will have to go eventually. The property is located about an hour from the Gulf Coast, so high humidity is common to begin with. 

It was painted/stained years ago, but much of this has washed off. I pressured washed a week ago and a lot more came off, so I'm at about 50/50 paint and bare wood now. I'm crossing my fingers that our dry weather lasts long enough so I can paint it before the winter rains really kick in. I'm thinking of Restore or Deckover with lots of texture, maybe in a dark grey to make the inevitable mildew less noticeable, and grit to make it less slippery.

Is painting the dripline on a dry afternoon good enough? It will definitely be wet again in less than 24 hours. Do I just put some towels down during the night? When the mildew returns, will the texture still give traction? Can I clean the mildew out of the texture in the future without messing up the paint job?

Thanks for reading!

Jolene

Thanks everyone for the great feedback!

My rental property is a historic home, divided into 3 units. I have successfully rented them for the past 13 years (until 6 months ago) on a month-to-month basis with no written leases. It's a small town, so folks know each other (yes, we are "up in each other's business"), and a lot of deals are still done on a handshake. Anyhow, no lectures necessary, I am switching to written leases in the new year!

My upstairs tenant of two years, F., always pays on time and occasionally volunteers his labor to make agreed upon improvements to the property.

About six months ago, I had a bit of a falling out with F. I had given 6 weeks' notice to my downstairs tenant, C., who had lived there for one year, that I needed the apartment back for a sick relative. Long story short, C. went off the deep end, sent numerous whiny and/or mean text messages, and threatened me with legal action, when I was actually being generous, because by law I could have given her only 10 days' notice. F. invited C. to move upstairs with him, but I refused to have C. remain a resident because of her threats and her overall response to me. C. didn't want to move upstairs anyway, but F. let me know that resented me telling him who he could have in his home, and proceeded to give me much unsolicited advice about how I was making a huge mistake having my relative move in.

About four months ago, F. informed me that he had invited a homeless man, M., to live upstairs with him so that F. could help him get on his feet. I didn't like the idea, but I didn't object because I found out after the fact, and because I deferred to F.'s good judgement and character prior to the incident with C. Most days F. and M. get along well, but there are occasionally loud arguments and fisticuffs around 11:00 pm or midnight, and on 2 occasions now, the police have intervened.

As of Monday the 21st, F. told the Justice of the Peace that M. had moved out, following a posted Notice to Vacate the week before, which was done on mutual agreement between F. and myself.

On Christmas Eve, I noticed F. and M. entering the property together. I let them be because of the holiday and they had a quiet night, but now I have to decide if and how to address M. visiting.

On the one hand, F. pays on time and I do appreciate the improvements.

On the other hand, I am fed up with F.'s attitude toward me and my relative, who lives in the downstairs unit. (I have now received what I assume are drunken text messages calling my downstairs relative "a nosy spy who should mind her own business" because she told me that M's brother (the one with recent prison time??) was sitting on the front steps for several hours and asked her if she know where M. was.

I'm also concerned for everyone's safety. What if their next argument involves a weapon? What if M. or his associates are criminals? (I wish I had done a background check on M. before he moved out....can I require one now?)

I have to decide if I've had enough and F. needs to go, or I'll give F. another chance with a written lease that includes a 7 consecutive days/30 days total per year limit on guests.

I'm also thinking if the police come again, I'll have F. move out and be done with it

What do you think? Thanks for reading!

Thanks so much for the great info !

About 10 years ago, Friend A (on advice from his CPA) and an IRS rep both told me that I should strive to not have a loss on my rental property for more than three years, or no more than three out of ? years (not sure of the number now...5?  7?)

Last week, Friend B insisted that while that rule may apply to other businesses, there is no such limit when it comes to rental property. He was shocked that I'm not reducing my tax burden each year by maximizing my losses. For example, his CPA had him report some reasonable maintenance costs that he did not actually incur. "Everybody does it." I'm not interested though, unless this is actually legal.

My main concern is that my _actual_ maintenance costs could cause me to have another loss year, and I don't want to push the envelope. The IRS explanations aren't entirely clear to me. Where can I learn more about how to handle losses at tax time, and get a better understanding of passive losses, carrying losses forward, etc.? Can I have a loss as often as I want to, as long as I don't use it to offset my other income? Or does that make my rental property a hobby and not a business, and thereby prohibit me from using rental expenses to offset rental income?

Thanks for the feedback!  I won't charge him anything, but I will move toward a written lease. Not because of this incident, but because another tenant is becoming complicated, and so I think it makes sense across the board.

I have a great long term tenant since 2002, who has never been late paying. 

Last week he went out of town and forgot to make his payment. We texted and he said he would deposit his rent on an agreed upon day, the day of his return. But he forgot again, and I bounced two checks and was charged $75 in fees.

We have a verbal month-to-month lease and have never discussed late payment penalties because we have never had to.

It's my bad because I shouldn't have written checks assuming I had his funds. But he also didn't make the deposit on the day we (re-)negotiated.

If money weren't tight for me at the moment, I wouldn't worry about it. Should I ask for all or part of these fees?

I am new to biggerpockets. I'm excited to be here! I visited the mortgage section but didn't see where to enter my info below to be paired with 4 lenders. Is this part of the site working? Is it because my computer isn't updated?