All Forum Posts by: Katherine Rossell

My partner and I just closed on a three unit the end of July. We purchased the building from someone who was not a good landlord. Two of the tenants in the building are still on his year lease. The lease is very vague and only states that rent is due on the first of the month. There is no late fee or grace period. When we closed on the building I wrote a letter to both of the tenats and asked them to contact me so we can discuss the lease and make any other arrangments. Only one of the tenats contacted me.

Last month (the first month to collect rent) I tried to get in contact with one of the tenants. I didn't have her contact information so I stopped by. After the fifth day of the month I gave her a late rent notice with my number which essentially said if she didn't pay rent we would start the eviction process. She called me and said that she couldn't have rent until the following week because she gets paid every other week. 

This month she said she was going to have rent on the first of the month, and I arranged a time to go and pick it up. On the day I was supposed to pick it up she sent me a message stating that she couldn't pay rent until the 17th because her car died and she needed to fix it to get to work. Via text message I let her know that she could pay rent on the 17 this month but on the following months she needed to have it in by the 5th and if it was not, the proper time and notices would be given for her to pay rent or vacate. 

Via text, she essentially lost it!!! She said she new her tenant rights and was going to legal aid as soon as it opened. She accused us of discriminating against her. 

Needles to say, we will also be in touch with our lawyer. 

As a new landlord, part of me thinks this could have been avoided if I gave her more slack, but the other part of me knows that if I don't set the limits and tell her what is expected she will continue to try to take advantage of us. 

Any thoughts on what I should do next, or what I could have done differently?

Welcome to BP and good luck deciding where you want to live/relocate. If you move close to North Eastern VT feel free to reach out. 

I am giving them a warning notice about breaking the lease by not taking their trash out. 

Do I need to have my tenants sign the notices that I give them? 

@Rich N. for the most part yes, they are good tenants. They make a lot of trash and their trash cans are always over flowing. They are responsible for garbage removal. I know our tenant brings two bags a week to the dump, however They make more then two bags a week in trash. They pay on time if not early. We typically fill vacancies in a month. We spend a lot of time on tenant screening because there are unqualified people who apply (no jobs, and drug abuse). 

What about the apartment above theirs? Do they need to leave the building as well? Should I bomb their unit also? 

The fleas are living outside of the house in the sand by the deck. Will the bombs kill those? Do I need to get other stuff for the outside? 

Yesterday I was talking with my tenant and he said that he was getting attacked by fleas. In conversation he explained that the fleas must have stayed in eggs in the house before he moved in because before he lived there the owners of the duplex had dogs. While we were standing outside several fleas jumped up on my leg. This duplex sat for two Vermont winters with no heat. I am pretty sure that all fleas and their eggs would be killed in that temperature. Please let me know if I am wrong. We allowed him and his two roommates to move in with one cat. They asked if they could have a dog and we said no. Recently I have had the suspicion that they moved a dog into the house anyway. I have heard it barking while I am working on the house and I stepped in dog ****. 

My biggest concern is that we have a great tenant who lives above him with no animals and I do not want her house to get infested with fleas. My lease doesn't say anything about fleas, it just says that they are responsible for keeping the house clean. Can I tell him that he can choose to flea bomb the house and spray the outside or we can do it and he has to reimburse us for the money? 

I am also going to tell him that the dog has to go. I don't want the animals to continue to bring fleas into the house. 

Welcome to BP @Nathan Bartlett. Where are you investing in these properties? I purchased a duplex in Lyndonville, and a duplex and triplex in St. Johnsbury, not sure if you are close to the area. I would be interested in hearing how you and your brother purchased the six unit and how your running that building. Also interested to hear your thoughts about the single family home. Are you renting it out? Has that been profitable? Is there less management required? 

I agree, in a rural area like this it is possible to improve the communities. My partner and I also share a mission of providing safe clean homes to families and building strong communities. My partner Derek and I are just getting our feet wet in investing and are looking for networking opportunities in the local area. 

Thank you @Amber Koontz! Yes, I am always a little worried about choosing the right tenants, however that does not stop me from jumping in. We go through a tenant screening process when the tenants first apply to try to mitigate any problems. The three unit that we just purchased had two existing tenants in their units. we have to abide by the existing lease. Unfortunately the lease is not as detailed as I would have liked it be. However, we wrote the tenants a letter and talked with them in person about our expectations and how we will follow the lease protocols and rules for eviction. 

We have three months of expenses in a bank account for reserves. We then decided to put $200 a month into a reserves account for this building for needed repairs. I could be using the word reserves wrong it may also be for CapX. 

My partner and I just closed on our third investment property. We purchased a three unit for $78,000 with the seller contributing 6% towards closing costs, with an FHA loan (love house hacking). The buildings operating income is $2185, expenses are $1238 (with reserves), and the mortgage payment is $354. A total of $593 with all three units being rented. Because we are living in one of the units, we won't have any cashflow but the other two rents will cover the expenses. We will also be moving out of the duplex we currently live in and getting the cashflow from our 6 units in total.

Looking forward to building our investment portfolio further. And seeking to grow into large investment properties.