All Forum Posts by: Lala Weiss

@Joe S. Why aren't we talking more about this! I love that you mentioned you're not taking an extreme approach are are doing simple things like eating less donuts, such a win. Although I do track all the trends and partake in a few bio-hacker type things myself (hello sauna), it doesn't matter how much money people make, it always comes down to simple low hanging fruit kind of changes that make the biggest difference. Less sugar, more real foods, more walking, better sleep, and if you can.. better relationships. The good news in my opinion is that picking any one of these things effects all the others, and when your life quality starts to inch up, its a rising tide that in turn effects everything else in a positive feedback loop i.e. making more aligned decisions, which effects your mood, which effects how you show up as a partner and so on. 

Hi Anthony, I'm a project manager in Utah. Feel free to reach out if there is something I can help with here. Best, Lala. 

Update:

Thanks for the constructive feedback. After considering my options and doing some research/based on your guidance I've started working with a collections agency to attempt to recoup some of the costs. all in all there is about 7-10k worth of damage and lost rent, but the property is well located near a university and hospital, we had no trouble re renting it within the week. I won't hold my breath about collecting lost money. I've hired a friend who lives in the area (because we are out of state) who drives by the property occasionally and takes photos for us, does inspections and fixes little issues. 

As a first time out of state landlord who is enjoying the DIY over PM journey, here is my recommendations for new landlords. If this seems obvious to you, what are some of the things you wish you would have done the first time you land lorded (aside from hiring out the job). 

Always check your lease for collections clause 

Have a relationship with a collections agency in place for if and when you need them

Correspond by registered mail not email for breaches and potential evictions (this might seem obvious if your not y gen or millennial!)

Do several inspections per year

This might seem obvious but I know lots of landlords that don't formally collect information from tenants before they move in. ALWAYS collect the information you might need in a worst case scenario. Make sure all contracts are signed and dated. duh.

@William Hochstedler Thank you, great info. I've been calling around to the various collections agencies but I'm small potatoes! I'm going to touch base with the folks you mentioned and I'll let you know how it goes. My lease is solid and does have provisions for collections agencies to incorporate their fees. 

@Joseph Parker did you end up pursuing the matter or just take a the loss? I'm not a wealth of experience but I've done a lot of contracts. Usually the days referred to are always business days, weekends and public holidays are not included. HOWEVER. All offices keep different hours. You would think if they wanted to do the right thing by you, they would let you know if they are closing early or on a day that isn't an official public holiday. Around here everyone was open Friday but some people closed Monday. They may not have told you becuase they wanted the deal to fall through (that would be what I would imagine if we aren't giving them benefit of the doubt). I just closed on a place and the EM was due before Easter, the sale was in another country and the agent working with me made sure to remind me that the office would be closing early over the holiday (not a public holiday). I needed to show that EM money had left my account prior to 5pm on the Public holiday. 

I'm not sure why but the reply screen isn't picking up/highlighting peoples names. Sorry! 

Bob b. Thank you. I have and now am going to forward to a collections agency. You make a great point. 

William Hochstedler: Yes its in Utah. I'm considering the collections options.. anyone have a good suggestion? Can you expand what you mean on the cost of collection? Its a tricky situation becuase even though my lease does have fees for early exit and unpaid amounts, I can't locate the cheeky buggers and don't want to break any harassment laws. 

Fradel Schaechter: THANK YOU! 

Tom Radus: Wow this is some excellent guidance here. Can you maybe expand on what you mean about doing due diligence and choosing judgement proof tenants? I'm not sure if I follow. I did due diligence before selecting these tenants, they were ideal in every sense (a great example of not judging a book by its cover for me). 

When you say to 1099 them, can you elaborate? This is a new tactic for me. 

Jay:  thanks for your two cents. I was hoping you would chime in. I like the land lord 'job' for now, certainly doesn't make for passive income but check in with me in a year and I'll likely have switched over to management by then! Landlording certainly isn't everyones game. 

Gregory Byrnes: This is a good point. The rent is under market value so I'm good there, no roommate laws in Utah that I've found. I'm inclined to agree that its not worth doing anything but $2500 is an unexpected loss all the same. I want to learn how to actively handle these situations on principle. My payment to the school of hard knocks! 

Frank Adams: Good to know re judgements. I screened the tenants, strangely, both were managers at a reputable business (similar to Amazon) so I wasn't expecting this at all, I've heard a lot of landlords complain more issues coming from certain higher end tenants, but all the same I should have been better prepared. I like your IRS approach, if all else fails I'll try it! 

Thomas S: That is one way of looking at it. I'm undecided on how to proceed yet, your right about it not being out of pocket; but Its the principle of it all, shortchanging someone becuase you couldn't be bothered communicating with them when you have a legal agreement, the laziness of it all! Onwards and upwards. 

Todd Radus This is super comprehensive, great answer to my question. Getting a judgment seems to be the true right of passage to becoming a seasoned landlord. I'm going to start the process on Monday. Out of the frying pan, into the fire I guess. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Hi BP community. I own a single family and as my first house a.k.a 'mistake house' I'm sure experiencing a steep learning curve. I house hacked, then land-lorded and am now out of state so I'm officially a long distance landlord. BP coincidentally just mentioned this issue in their latest podcast, being out of state I made the (now obvious) rookie error of not doing regular touch ins with my tenants, I only did 1 inspection a year and they knew I was self managing and out of state. 

Dealt with all the expected.. extra people living in the house, extra pets, expected damage to walls from nails etc etc. BUT I made an agreement with the tenants that I wouldn't evict them mid lease when we discovered an extra person had been living in the house (contract breach), but that we would update the lease to add the extra person as a sublet and they would pay back rent for the time they had lived there. The tenants agreed, and signed a new lease agreeing to pay the rent back by a certain date. Fast forward to the last month of their lease and my friend checked on the property to find it vacant. They had already paid their last month rent at the rate for 2 people (not 3) when they moved in. 

Am I surprised? No. Here is what I have already done, leading up to their last month I started sending a weekly email or text asking about the back rent and reminding them of the lease. I was told by them that they would send me a copy of their drivers license and the back rent asap. The replies stopped and obviously the tenants decided to forgo their deposit and bail. I warned the tenants that if I discover that they vacated the property or if they refused to communicate that I would contact the Credit association to inform them of unpaid rent and contract a collections agency to get back the amount owed. ($2500). Note: The house was left clean, I have new tenants moving in this week.

Have you dealt with this before? I know I made some obvious errors here, I didn't train my tenants well, didn't create an environment of accountability, was too friendly initially, I've learnt my lesson. So with that in mind, what would you do moving forward?