All Forum Posts by: Lee L.

awesome thank you

I collected money in Dec 2018 for stays in Jan and Feb of 2019. Am I supposed to pay tax on that money for 2018 when it hit my bank account, or 2019 when the actual stay took place? When I was long term renti g and the tenant paid last months rent up front and I had to count it in the year I received it not the year it was used for, but the tax guy is saying something different here. 

Yes I do still have the cover, great idea.

As far as I know she has no proof it was icicles. No she didn't notify me which is why I doubt her story plus she is an entitled old bag. The icicle would have had to have been massive.

My strong suspicion IS that it was crushed from a heavy person standing on it and as it is located directly below where their sattelite dish was installed......

Why go through the stress of it....well her lawyer demanded twice the security deposit, so almost 3k PLUS attorneys fees. No way. Not happening. If he was just asking for the amount withheld I probably would have negotiated that with him, but he thinks he is going to nail me under the states consumer fraud protection act.

Yes the damage was to the top, but the edge of the top, so it could have been a vehicle or a person. It was over 500 dollars to replace it.

I am feeling good about this. I will come back and let you all know how it goes. Still a few weeks out.

As long as the asbestos is in the walls or encapsulated in the floor tiles there is no health risk. I used to work for a company as a claims analyst for their asbestos litigation unit. The risk of asbestos in a residential setting such as you are describing is overblown. The people who have genuine asbestos related injuries are those who had a profession that required them to work with asbestos. Asbestos can cause health problems if it is inhaled, so if you have any exposed pipes that are insulated with asbestos you should replace the insulation, however it is unlikely even that would cause a health problem. The people who sustained asbestos related injuries were people who worked in industrial settings in the trades, boilermakers and such. 

That is a good idea, the generator dealer didn't have an opinion, so if anyone else knows of a profession that would be very familiar with icicle damage I am looking for ideas.

It is difficult to sympathize with someone who claims to believe that housing is a basic human right, that apparently others should be responsible for assuring that right to everyone, and then goes on to say that she herself is UNWILLING to get a job because she retired at 69, which isn't so old that a job is simply out of the question. 

I find it ironic that those who claim to "care" about others are usually those who are already taking more than they are receiving and what they really think is that everyone else has to foot the bill them.

After the tenant moved out I discovered a large dent in the metal cover of the stand by generator, really more than a dent, it was crushed. So I kept the amount for a new lid out of her security. She was adamant that the damage had been done by icicles and got a lawyer so here we are. She never presented anything other than her word that it was icicles, nor did she notify me when the damage occurred. 

I don't believe her for reasons related  to the kind of person she is and due to the appearance of the dent I don't believe an icicle could do that kind of damage. But really this is her word against mine. If you were to guess, how do you think a judge would view this? 

I wasn't under the impression that I had to take a tenant at their word on this but her attorney seems super confident and is suing for double the security plus attorney fees, which has a burden of proof on them to prove "willfulness" in retaining the deposit. I can't possibly imagine how they could prevail on that, but I am quite frankly just flying by the seat of my pants at this point.

I have all my documentation proving the dent and the cost. Anyone have any thoughts? 

What do you mean by selling the property before 5 years but continuing the financing? No one with any sense would agree to not have a due on sale clause, if you defaulted they couldn't take the property back, it would become an unsecured debt.

I have never been in this position, but just spit balling here, maybe approach said individuals politely and work out an affordable repayment plan with the again polite caveat that you would not want this to move into a full fledged collection action and you wouldn't want to be forced to not renew their lease. Assuming these are people who for the most part are paying as expected you can probably just work with them individually. 

So, at the risk of getting hard core flamed, I don't know of any brokerage that has training worth a damn. The only thing that will give you good training is being teamed up with a mentor in a shadowing daily way, not just a "hey I am available for questions" way.

In my experience unless you are very lucky you will mostly have to figure things out for yourself. If I had any advice for you, it would be that I would steer clear of brokerages that want you to make a sizable financial commitment to them for the to take you on board. Trust me, the bells and whistles they are offering for your investment are not worth what they want from you. It is pretty standard that they will expect you to pay your own E and O, but don't let them charge you for their substandard training and for "technology" fees.