All Forum Posts by: Josh Otero

Hi @Laura Kreinbring, you can give them 30 days notice before their lease ends (written via email & a letter on their door) stating that you will not be renewing their lease. 

If their lease date is far from being over, I suggest letting them know that they have violated lease terms under section x (whatever part of the lease they violated) and that the lease will be terminated in 30 days.

Hey @Kyle Deboer, it's great that you're eager to get started. Don't let anybody tell you you're "too young" to get started. I suggest getting a job anywhere and saving your money to then invest. It's up to you if you want to put it in an ETF, CD or something else in the meantime. At this stage of your life, communication skills are most important so be sure to develop those. Some jobs that help are by being a waiter at a restaurant or try getting a job in property management or something real estate related of some sort. You're in the Ohio market where it's definitely possible to team up with maybe a sibling and get a property when you're 21 ish.

Hi @Chan Park, this is an interesting scenario. You must first confirm that the cause of the leak was because of the tenant. If so, then you can refer to your lease in the part that states they are liable. 

You have many options here.
1) Terminate the lease: It clearly states that they must have renter's insurance and the lapse can result in a default
2)Have them cover the damages with sufficient evidence that they caused it
3) Claim it on your insurance for the property, likely they won't give a good payout unless a fire, flood, or some sort of wind damage.

Hi Esther, I personally as a property manager in Los Angeles have a process when it comes to tenants not paying rent. I have RentRedi charge them a late fee after the 4th day if rent is not paid. Then on day 8, I put a notice on their door. If they have not paid, then in Los Angeles, you're eligible to file for eviction 30 days after putting the notice on their door. In this case, I would file for eviction. 

My advice is to require them to pay the full balance upon the next payment. If not, let them know that they will be sent to eviction.

Quote from @Ashley Kehr:

Hi Everyone! I came across a question for our Rookie Reply podcast episode asking about property management software. I have used several but am wondering what everyone else is using and why you like/dislike it. Over the past several years it has seem there have been more and more options. I'd like to be able to give a variety of options for the listeners along your recommendations and feedback on the options. Thank you!! 

Hi Ashley, I recommend using RentRedi. It's much more affordable (you can get the $100 annual version instead of $300 per month like Appfolio). All the add-ons are a la carte so you can definitely get a lot of value based on what you need.

One thing I personally don't like is that when tenants pay rent, they are charged $1 per transaction for ACH use. Of course credit card is going to be like 3.5% but it does kind of such because it's already hard to get tenants to pay it lol.

Hi Briar, 

These are always tough situations. This PM company definitely did not do what they promised and therefore violated their contract. I suggest that you do ask for a reimbursement. Also see what company they used to replace the damage for that issue. They may have used one of their friend's companies or something shady like that. If you're in the LA area, it's definitely very common. If that's the case, then you definitely have a strong argument for getting a reimbursement.

Quote from @Olivia Blake:

I’m a first-time landlord (just signed my first fully-occupied LTR in Jan 2025) and have already run into my first potential tenant issue. I have two long-term tenants in the duplex—one for 5 years and the other for 7. I met both of them and provided a letter with my contact info, my property manager’s contact for repairs, and instructions to sign up for Avail to pay rent (the previous landlord used Zelle).

One tenant was cooperative and signed up right away, but the other sent me this text:

I understand you're the new owner and want to use Avail for rent payments. However, it seems that when I accept the invitation, I’ll be authorizing you to review my credit history amongst other things, and I’m not sure I want that yet, as we’re still unsure about renewing the lease. We need to know if repairs will be made and what the rent will be for next year? In the meantime, I will send rent via Zelle.

How should I respond? I want to avoid mistakes as a new landlord so hoping to learn from all of you! This is a good tenant of 5+ years, and I don’t want to cause unnecessary friction (I’m just trying to set up automatic systems for myself). However, I did take issue with the tone of the message, especially the part where they told me how they’d be paying rent.

For context, there are no outstanding maintenance or repair issues, so I’m unsure what the tenant is referring to.

 Hi Olivia,

As a Property Manager myself, I've had to deal with tenants (mostly the elderly) who don't want to use RentRedi to pay for rent and input maintenance requests. To overcome this, I suggest you resolve the issues the tenant is complaining about if they are reasonable issues to resolve, and then you can explain all the benefits of them using Avail. 

If they still want to pay through Zelle, I think you should accept it because it's not that much more work since it's only 1 tenant. It also makes sense to continue with Zelle since they're almost done with their lease.

Quote from @Victor Patel:

I’d avoid flat-rate fees if possible. With a flat fee structure, if you have a vacancy, the property management company has no real incentive to fill it quickly. In my market—Cincinnati, OH—most property management companies charge around 10% of the collected rent, plus a fee equal to one month's rent for finding and placing a tenant. Some may also charge a small fee for lease renewals.

As a real estate broker, I’ve come across a lot of property management companies, and honestly, most have been disappointing. When interviewing property managers, make sure you ask plenty of questions, thoroughly review their management contract, and request references.

A little due diligence upfront can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

 this exactly! 100% agree. PM companies who charge a flat fee have no strong desire to rent out your place because they get paid either way.

Hi @Ryan Brown,

I've had some tenants that have had a bunch of noise complaints about them as well. The first warning I always do written (via email), second warning is an official letter on their door saying they're violating their lease to allow other residents the right of enjoyment (if you put this in your lease). In the letter I also put that I will be filing for eviction if this doesn't stop and since your tenant is a section 8 tenant, this will cause the removal of their voucher entirely. Once you mention that their voucher may be taken away in an eviction, they normally get their act together.

Hi @Nick Rutkowski,

Yeah evictions are always tough. I'm in CA and you're in NY so we have it a bit harder than most states to evict a tenant. Thanks for sharing this, I will be mindful of this myself when moving forward.