All Forum Posts by: Kimberly T.

I agree with others, don't push it to get the extra little bit of money. We bought a triplex in 2010: one 3 bedroom and two 2 bedrooms. The 3 bed tenant has lived there over 10 years, and her rent is lower than that of the 2 bedrooms, so she's way under market rent (about 20% or so under). Her unit needs a complete rehab when she vacates (new kitchen, etc.), but she told us she has no plans to move for a long time (has young kids, it's "home" for her). We just finally raised her rent a little last year, and may raise it a little more again this year, but we don't want to drive her out, so we plan to keep her below market rent for a 3 bed for as long as we own it (probably selling it in the next few years).

We never advertise or show a unit until it is vacant and rent-ready. We don't want prospective tenants seeing anything unclean, and we don't want current tenants claiming items were broken or stolen by people viewing the unit.

@Marcia Maynard is exactly correct, you need to check your state/local laws regarding serving notices. The options she listed for serving a pay or quit notice in Washington are basically the same options we have here in CA. Check your state/local landlord tenant law to see what info needs to be on your notice, and how it can be served. If you are using the pre-made notice forms that realtors use, it might say right on the form what the options are for serving the notice. The pay or quit notice that realtors use here in CA does.

Good points about shutting water off, but that may not always be an option (such as a multifamily property with one meter). Perhaps that's when it makes sense to leave the faucets dribbling a little water, especially on an exterior wall.

Thanks everyone!

Thanks @Rob K. !

That made me think of another potential issue - what happens if the power goes out when it's freezing outside? Seems plausible enough, with ice-laden tree branches falling on power lines and such. Wouldn't the heater stop working then?

Being from SoCal, I have had no personal experience with freezing pipes, but I'm aware that it happens. We currently own rentals in CA (OC) and AZ (Phoenix metro), so we don't have to worry about it at our rentals. Now that we're looking into other markets to invest in, it's something to consider, so I've been learning more about it.

So I'm curious, if you have a vacant unit in the winter, do you have to winterize it? Or do you typically just leave the heater on in the unit so the pipes don't freeze? Are adjacent occupied (and therefore heated) units sometimes sufficient to keep pipes in common walls warm? I'm thinking this may be something you assess on a case by case basis.

Thanks!

I agree with others here, I don't see the value in misleading tenants or prospective tenants. We own a triplex in our city that we manage, and our tenants know we own it. We also own 2 fourplexes in AZ and go out there periodically to work on it, and the tenants we've met out there know we're the owners (though they don't have our address or phone numbers, since we want them contacting our PM for issues).

Seems like a lot of people know that what the owner says is final, versus if they're talking to a PM they might think they can get the PM to wiggle a little on some issues rather than being the final decision-maker.

Our rental agreements have a separate line about a fee for a bounced check, so if yours doesn't, you may have to eat the cost. You might consider it a lesson learned and add that into your future rental agreements. You might also add a line about being able to require future rent be paid by cash, cashier's check, or money order, as Kyle stated. Check you state/local laws to make sure that's ok.

Awesome thread! I identify with a lot of the ones I've seen here. A few more:

You know you're a real estate investor when...

- you've used vacation time from your "day job" to go work on your investment properties.

- you get genuinely excited about researching potential new markets to invest in, and set up spreadsheets to compare different aspects of multiple markets (unemployment rates, vacancy rates, population trends, etc.).

- you're planning on taking vacation time from your "day job" to go visit some potential new markets to invest in.

Guilty as charged on all counts!

I agree with others, I think you should be filing a claim with your insurance company, and they should be the ones going after the driver's insurance (not you). Besides, things like your rent loss should be coming from your insurance, not the driver's insurance, and then your insurance can go after the driver's insurance for all those costs. I think you might have to go after the driver's insurance for your deductible, but that would be it.

A driver ran into the front of my sister-in-law's home last year, and I believe that's what they did - filed a claim with their own insurance. They weren't home at the time, but were fortunate that one of their neighbors stopped the driver from trying to flee the scene, so they got the driver's info.