All Forum Posts by: Kosh Vokter

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. 

The tenants renewed their rental agreement for 11 more months. before they renewed their lease, they guaranteed paying rents wouldn't be a problem. Per the agreement, rents are due 1st of the month, and are considered late after 5th with a late fee.

1. tenant said they transferred money to my bank account which i never received. after I followed up asking, they said they filed a complaint with their bank but didn't know why it could not be transferred to my bank account.

2. I offered to take rents through Zelle which they did not prefer because of fraud and other issues 

3. I offered to take rent through Venmo, which they said they will do when we talk on the phone but never ended up transferring. 

They wouldn't respond to e-mails, and all my calls many times would go straight to voicemail.  When offered to come pick-up the check, they said they prefer only online transactions. 

I offered to waive the late fee, and even offered to take rents in multiple payments. They said they can do installments and paid 1/5th of rent as 1st installment through Venmo. when asked why they didn't transfer the entire amount, they said they don't want their Venmo account locked up and will do in installments of 4-5 payments. It's almost 25th of the month, and they have only paid 1/5 of the rent, even after waiving late fee and agreeing to accepting in installments. I know I can do a 14-day notice, but the other side of me is that are a family with a young child and don't want them to go through stress. 

Is there any other option besides evicting them, that will get them to talking terms and have them pay rents. For e.g. could i propose converting their lease to month -to month and they can leave end of next month without fear of eviction or eviction record in their history? I don't know if this is even possible though. 

thank you all, i don't have anything specific in the lease about pest control which is a good reminder and note for the next time writing a lease. 

My tenants moved out and while cleaning there was evidence of pests in the property. we noticed rat droppings in the garage, around the house etc. the tenants had a dog and chickens, but never notified of rodent activity while occupying the property.  i had to call an exterminator and pay for that. 

Are the $ exterminator costs to clean out pests considered 'cleaning' and thus can be deducted/retained from the security deposit? 

Inspected a SF home in AL built 2009. There was a supply line leak in the garage before that has been addressed since. The inspector couldn't figure out the manufacturer of the PEX used and was concerned that it could  be Nibco Pex and recommended getting a plumber out. Looks like there has been an issue with NIBCO tubing and PEX before per NIBCO Tubing, Fittings, and Clamps Class Action Settlement - Class Action (classactionsettlementguide.com)

There is no active leak and there are other homes in the neighborhood built by the same builder and used Nibco Plex. Anyone know more about this issue with NIBCO tubing pex or dealt with such issues in the past? trying to decide if this is a deal-breaker or if it's worth spending more $ to get a plumber out before making a decision.

Need to apply for 2 conventional loans for 2 different investment properties that are in different states. It just so happened that the 2nd offer got accepted and have enough cash for 20% down-payment for both including some reserves. I have an existing contact and pre-approved with a national bank . I would like to apply and work with a local lender for the 2nd property and loan, to build a relationship with another lender besides the national bank and who my realtor also prefers working with (my realtor is not forcing me to work with the local lender though). I am not sure if the local lender can do simultaneous loans and this is my 1st loan with them. I have done loans with the national bank before but they might not have the best terms. 

Is it advisable to work with the same lender for both the loans?

Besides experience closing 2 loans at the same time, what are the things that you ask both the lenders upfront to help me decide if I should go with different lenders or chose the same lender for both?

I know I have to disclose both the contracts/loans with both the lenders (if I go with 2 different lenders), is it also necessary that I disclose that information with both the realtors? I know it won't affect the loan process, but is it required or courtesy to let them know.