All Forum Posts by: Kosh Vokter

Currently, a 4 bed 2.5 bath, 2 story SFH. All bedrooms are on the 2nd level and there is a big open loft area with windows on 2nd level that's not used much now. Upstairs has 2 bathrooms (1 for master bedroom + 1 shared with the other 3 bedrooms).

Thinking of converting this loft space into a functional bedroom to make it a 5 bed 2 bath house for equity. This conversation would need drywall + 1 door min (not sure if a closet is also need to qualify as bedroom). 

Are there factors that am missing to consider if this conversation would really add equity to the house? I can see some families wanting to use the open loft space as additional entertainment room, or using it as study/office space. 1 shared bathroom upstairs would be shared by 4 bedrooms (instead of 3 currently) - is that somehow less desirable and/or not add a lot of equity? 

I have a remote rental in B- neighborhood that's currently vacant. It takes 2 hours to get to the property, and so have a friend who lives like 30 minutes away from the rental assisting me with the showings for prospective tenants. 

I have had lots of challenges with prospective tenants who want to come for the viewing but would drop last minute due to some issues. I had to have my friend wait at the property at-least 4 different occasions on a different dates and time, only to be stood up and the tenants don't show up. I get all kinds of reasons like car broke down, 'caught-up' with something else last minute etc from tenants. 

I have considered scheduling an open house on a weekend, but there is no guarantee even that would work for all. Some of them say they work on weekends, or multiple shifts etc. I want to be respectful of their schedule and try and accommodate, but I can't also have my friend being stood-up every time. 

What other strategies do you employ for managing showings? 

For making rent payment, tenant prefers to use Paypal with a business transfer (and not a person to person) option and Paypal charges a fee for that. To avoid that I suggested that they can make rent payments through direct bank deposit, which they are okay with.

Tenant said they can either do a wire transfer or ACH transfer.

Are there any downsides to giving the bank account # and having them make rent payments directly? I read on the forums, it's better to create a new account and provide that account # and immediacy transferring the amount to a different account once rent comes in, so as to not leave a balance. 

I don't have cozy or any other account.

I sent 14-day pay or vacate notice through certified mail. I also have proof of the notice being delivered to the tenant. I also e-mailed the notice to the tenant via e-mail. I didn't have it deliver it myself or post it on the premise, and so don't have proof of that. 

Tenants have not responded or acknowledged to e-mail or for the USPS mail delivery of the notice. 

Is certified e-mail considered as an acceptable form of delivering the notice or could the tenants possibly claim that they never received any (e-mail or USPS mail)? 

great information Richard thanks to you and Zane.

My tenant broke/shattered a window glass when moving furniture. I have a couple of bids to get the glass replaced. 

Do I just pick one, replace, charge the cost for repair/replacement to the tenant in the next monthly rent payment? or I pay now and take it out of the security deposit when the lease ends? 

I just have this in text from tenant, anything in writing I should have from the tenant?

okay, thank you John and Theresa. 

I have a water leak in the living room ceiling area, just below the tub from the bathroom upstairs. A plumber cut the drywall and detected the water leak coming from copper pipes that's connected to the bathtub in the bathroom upstairs. The copper pipes need to be replaced, but accessing the copper pipes has been tricky. The plumber said he has to cut more of the subfloor to be able to access the copper pipes, but he was reluctant to do it because he said something about that might affect building code or might create instability and suggested to get a building contractor. The bathtub is not usable until this is fixed.

I got another plumber to come in and he said he can cut some more of the subfloor and access the pipes, he wasn't too concerned about a bigger hole through the subfloor. the subfloor is already cut for about 10x10 inches, but that's too small an area for the plumber to reach the pipes. 

Question: How big of an issue is this, if we have to make the hole in the subfloor bigger? I don't know if I need to be cautious like the 1st plumber said or go with the 2nd plumber's recommendation. The alternate options mentioned below are likely to be much more expensive. 

Alternate options considered:

1. cut the fiberglass bathtub from the bathroom upstairs to access copper pipes - need to get someone for cutting a hole through fiber glass and fixing it back up after the copper pipes are replaced.

2. cut the drywall in the bedroom upstairs adjacent to the bathroom - the bathtub and copper pipes are deep inside might still make it harder for plumber to access

3. pull out the master tub, remodel and rebuild the bathroom upstairs. 

I have landlord insurance with Liberty Mutual for a SFH in Alabama. The premium is going up by $500/year with the renewal approaching (have had no claims last year or prior on this property). I have shopped around last year but didn't find many insurance providers covering/underwriting SFH in Alabama, for some reason.

Any recos on insurance providers for Alabama? 

Have a rental in B neighborhood that's coming up for lease renewal. The tenants have been there for the past 1 year and they have been good paying tenants for rents. If they are late for a month, they usually let me know in advance and I have waived the late fee. 

They are interested in renewing the lease and have enquired about a 6-month term lease. In the current economic conditions, do you renew for a longer period such as 12 or 9 months or a shorter period like 6 months?

I have run into a bad experience with a previous tenant who renewed their lease for 9 months and started to default in month 2 and couldn't pay their rents. It was a harder to get them out and am concerned about renewing a long-term lease should a similar situation arise with these tenants. I know it's kind of subjective but would like to know what other factors you take into consideration while renewing the lease with recession looming and the job conditions are not great.