All Forum Posts by: Kat Rathell

We asked our tenants to move out due to multiple lease violations (main ones were smoking and pets, where the lease prohibits both), and the floors are left with multiple cigarette burns (both hardwoods and linoleum), the bathroom sink has permanent cigarette (joint?) stains, and the hardwood floors reek of dog pee. All of this is definitely outside of the normal wear and tear.
If we replace the linoleum, can we deduct the labor and materials costs from the deposit? If we replace the sink, can we deduct the same? If we treat the smell issue in the hardwoods, can we deduct supplies and labor? If we are unable to take care of the burns in the hardwood floors (I don't even know how we could do that), can we still deduct for the damage, and how do we approach determining the amount to deduct? 
Thanks!

We asked our tenants to move out due to the blatant violation of the 'no pet' clause, but the damage has been done, and the unit reeks of dog pee. The floors are dark, so we have no idea as to the source, and it has been a few months. 
Has anyone been successful at eliminating the dog pee smell from hardwood floors where you had to treat the entire floor (2-3 rooms)? How did you accomplish that? Is that something you can deduct from the deposit, and if so, can you only deduct supplies, or also labor if you hire somebody to do it?

It really sucks because it was a newly rehabbed unit, they were only our 2nd tenant and the floors were in fantastic shape before they moved in :(. 

@Marcus Auerbach, thank you for your reply! Glad to hear we are not alone in our approach! Thank you for sharing your insights!

Personally, I have had no trouble with connecting with HR, and usually get a reply within 24 hours, aside from this whole 3rd party trend lately.

On the other hand, about 70% of the paycheck stubs submitted to us in the last 6 months have been fake. My day job involves identifying fraudulent documents, so it helps tremendously, and most fakes have spelling, punctuation or mathematical issues, or are just badly done overall, but there are situations where I am in doubt and would love a 2nd opinion.

This whole 3rd party verification service trend is also really concerning to me as an access equity issue, as in how low-income individuals are disproportionately affected due to the high cost of verifications that is a lot easier to pay for applicants who apply for B and A class properties and have higher incomes.

We have used TenantBackgroundSearch that is powered by SmartMove, and found it helpful, but its information regarding employment is often out if date, in my experience. And with the eviction moratorium in place, we are very cautious who we rent to, even at the expense of a higher vacancy rate.

We recently started running into more employers using the Worknumber or Truework or other employment verification services. Our rentals are in the inner city of Milwaukee, WI, so our renters are low income.

The services charge $50 for verifications, and it is a lot for our prospective tenants. We don’t charge an application fee, and only charge $25 for a background check if we have confirmed their rental history and employment and want to move ahead and offer the unit to the applicant. Yes, it is a lot of work, but we are a small business and want to be fair to our applicants, and not charge them until there is reason to.

We do not ever call the number of the ‘supervisor’ listed on the application, we go straight to HR, and caught a ton of fake employment records that way. But I feel that our low income tenants are at a disadvantage with this new trend, considering how they have to pay to prove they are employed to qualify for an apartment.

Any thoughts or workarounds?

Thanks!

Update: TD Bank does not work with out-of-state customers. AAAAAnd the search continues.

On the bright side, Marine Credit Union in WI seems to have a HELOC option for investment properties. Waiting for a call-back from them.

US Bank is out - no HELOCs on investment properties at the moment :(

Any advice on obtaining a HELOC on an investment property in the current lending climate? Mortgage rates on investment properties are higher now than last fall! And I would know, because we did a cash out refi last year at the same time.

If you know of any WI or nationwide lenders doing IP HELOCs, please, share!

Thanks in advance!

So, 3 months ago after we closed on one of our investment properties the titling company misplaced our cashiers check for a portion of the closing costs, in the amount of $10K.

They reached out to see if the check can be canceled and reissued, and we found out from the bank that we have to wait for 90 days.

We did, and now the bank stated that yes, they can reissue the check, but we have to sign a disclaimer that contains a tricky provision stating that in the event someone comes in with the original check, they’ll have to honor it - at our expense.

What can we do to make sure we get this resolved, but do not open ourselves up to having to pay it again, *** years down the road? We don’t think the titling company may do so intentionally, but people come and go, and someone may find the check in a wrong file folder in 5 years and decide to cash it to be thorough.

Thank you!

@Daniel Brown, @Mark Durham - thank you for pointing out that the picture was not complete.

We plan on scaling up. The plan is to cash out refi the investment properties one by one after they season (we own them free and clear thanks to the HELOC I mentioned), and fund further investment properties with the cash out following the BRRRR approach.