All Forum Posts by: Julie Felts

Thanks we will check into having it tested. It is city water though (nowhere near Flint) and no fracking nearby. Also please disregard the poor grammar in my thread title. I really should look things over before posting when typing with my thumbs. :)

Hi all, I'm a newer landlord and have had tenants in place in our rental since March 1. They have paid like clockwork so far (via Cozy). They reached out with a a laundry list of concerns, most of which are minor and we will address (kitchen cabinet cabinet door is wonky, missing molding/gap at the bottom of one closet, etc). However the wife reports that she is "allergic" to the bathtub and both her and their youngest daughter's skin breaks out when they take a bath. I'd like to have the tub professionally reglazed to address her concerns (and also change the 80's almond color to white), but there would be downtime where they wouldn't be able to use the tub for a day or so. I mentioned that to see if they were open to it, and her response was "that's a harsh chemical". I'm not sure how to follow up. Whether real or imagined, she thinks there's a chemical in our tub now that their skin is reacting to, and replacing the bathtub is not an option.

I am a very new "accidental landlord" and after a lot of research we just recently used EZlandlordforms.com for our lease agreement and supplementary addendums.  It was state specific (MI for us) and offered hints throughout the process with what is allowable in Michigan landlord/tenant law.  I did review A LOT of other lease agreements before finally going with them, and I did take advantage of the ability to add custom verbiage.  For us, it was a pretty good experience and a great value.  You can create and view your customized lease documents before you sign up for a paid account, which I did before I decided to go with them.

We used Floormasters last year.  They did a great job and price was lower than the majority of the quotes we got.

Thanks everyone for the great advice! Also please disregard my typo in the subject line. 

@Joseph Abbott I have heard a few horror stories from others in the Detroit area about crazy excuses for late and non-payments. I was planning to add a requirement in the lease for automated ACH payments from Cozy.co or similar, as some others on this forum recommend. When I mentioned it to an acquaintance who has a SFR in the area, he laughed and said good luck. Apparently he recently went Section 8 so that at least most of the rent would be consistent. Has that been your experience too? I assume there must be qualified renters out there who pay their bills regularly, we just need to find them.

Hi friends! I'm Julie, a newbie from the Detroit, MI area. Planning to list a SFR in the very near future, after a few repairs are completed. Full disclosure - it was our previous home and we are still upside down. My husband bought it right before the crash (and before we met) and we are planning to hold it, and hopefully expand to other properties in the future that are a better investment. We have been doing a lot of research and I feel that we are as educated as new landlords can be, but I am really concerned about what mistakes we could be making that I don't realize, and considering a property management company instead of doing it ourselves. We both work full time and have a 1 year old, but i am trying to balance our available time with the fact that we might not have positive cash flow if we have to hire someone. Any advice? Also, any recommendations for property management companies for a single SFR on the east side of Detroit?