All Forum Posts by: Mahmuda L.

Sorry it's too big but I don't post often. And really need some advice.

I bought a big old 5b2b house couple years ago. I had a management company but saw them struggling to find tenant. It's a single family house. Not only that it's hard to find a single family who needs 5 bedrooms, but also it's hard to find group of 5 friends who want to live together. The potential rent would have been 3k/m but the company had to advertise for 2k because 3k is too high for that area for single family with mom, dad, couple kids.

Anyways, very quickly I switched to an individual manager who rents rooms to students or young professionals. Current rent is 3k/m. The business has been profiting but one caveat: she does not advertise. So I, as owner have to. It is a rent per room business, so it's hard to find advertising agent who would legally do that in Philadelphia given 5 strangers are not allowed to live together. Also, all 5 tenants share 1 kitchen which I do not have the money to remodel currently. It's too messy with that many people using common space. I bought shelves for now.

Few dilemas I have:

• I look for long term tenants but people are more interested in 3 to 4 month lease. So I have to constantly find ones who want 9 to 12m.
• Even if I settle for 3m lease, then I have to start advertising again in couple months.
• My manager has one girl who does ad on the side who charges $50 to find tenant per room. What’s frustrating is, I have to give her $50 if she find 12m AND $50 if she finds 3m. And it’s mostly those 3m ones. And she isn’t that regular either. I have to constantly be on the lookout.
• I look for prospective tenants for 12m lease but my manager shows them her other houses too when they don’t like mine. Note, her other houses are brand new. So basically I am transferring tenants to her other landlords without getting paid for it. And I don’t wanna cause any friction so I stay quiet about it even though it does not seem fair to me.
• I really tried to find individuals to advertise on the side but haven't had luck. Even my family members are too busy for this.

If you are still reading, I am contemplating to switch to airbnb and hand it over to an airbnb management company who does full service. But usually companies charge 20% fee and I would have no clue who stays because they will handle advertising and booking. I see they might take advantage of that. And the high fee will cause a huge drop in my net income.

I am sharing this here to see what your thoughts are. I am a frustrating OUT OF STATE landlord with a full time engineering job and it brothers me to do my own advertisement. But I have been very close to my property manager and found her to be reliable (except transferring prospective tenants to other landlords). I worry, with new airbnb company, I will have these situations (in no order):

• Lose (trust in) my current manager and cause friction in our business relation
• Not sure how much transparent an airbnb company will be with bookings and net profit
• Much much higher management fee. Currently I pay 8%. It will become 20% and I won't have constant stays like rental
• Switching management while I can not be in that place physically adds more communication risk
• Also, my place is furnished. But I might need additional cost to make it airbnb ready
• Not only there will be less money coming in due to short sporadic stays, there will be more money going out

I’ve been contemplating on this for about a year. Please give some advice. I wanted to sell too but with capital gain tax and losing a source of passive income stopped me. I just wanna avoid handling advertisement myself and not pay fortune to have someone do it. And this kind of patching FIVE rooms between tenants for 3m to 4m honestly terrifies me when I have to handle the advertising for that myself. It's simply not sustainable that way. I would really appreciate your advice on this.

Thank you so much for the feedback. This certainly helps. I want to keep a good relationship with my contractors so it's important not to burn the bridges. This is certainly a relief and I will just share my concern with them for the rest of the work.

@JD Martin I installed roof ventilation. Would that help in letting the vapor out of the wood/sheathing?

There was some light rain for 5 to 15 minutes max. I wasn't on the site. I am not sure if my roof contractor is lying or not at this point. Today he took out the old 14 by 14 feet small roof and put torch down rubber roof with flashing cement. I am not sure if I should ask him to redo the whole thing with no additional cost. I told him not to work if weather shows sign of rain and am pissed that he rushed to get the work done. What should I do? I am not sure if I can trust if he says the water didn't get in the wood or that the sheets were covered when it rained. I went there few hours after rain and saw the roof surface wet. I am not sure if torch down or placing cement can wet the surface. He might just clean the surface with water after work. Best case it would be rain and rain did not get in the wood. Worst case, water actually got in the wood. What can I tell, confront or ask him at this point?

Thank you for your feedback! Yes, tenants have been paying rent on time. I got one quote for $300 but may get one more. Given I covered a clog on that same bathtub few months back, and now this, it becomes frustrating. But I see how this can easily be said as wear and tear, just wanted to verify!

Is a malfunctioning bathtub drain stopper switch normal wear and tear or property damage under broken fixture?

It's a shared bath so harder to point fingure at one tenant. It's also an old house I purchased a year ago and I don't have records as to when that drain stopper switch was replaced.

One thing, with old tenants, I had to cover fee to unclog drain when it was clearly one of the tenants who dropped a big piece of plastic in the drain hole. I should've charged each equal portion back then. But how should I proceed with this drain stopper situation? Should I charge them or bite the bullet?

This is what the lease says:

MAINTENANCE OF PREMISES, TENANT: The Tenants shall be liable for repairs to the premises, fixtures and appliances that are damaged as the result of Tenant’s (or Tenant’s guests and invitees) carelessness, misuse, or neglect. For example: clogged drains, broken doors and windows, screens, disabled or detached smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, frozen pipes resulting from keeping the heat in the Premises too low during cold weather, overloaded circuits, damaged greenery and foliage, and other damages to the Premises that are caused by the Tenants or their guests/permitees/invitees shall be charged to the Tenant. Tenants shall not be liable for any repairs or replacements of damaged items that are due to REASONABLE WEAR AND TEAR. Factors considered to establish reasonable wear and tear shall include: the age of the item in need of repair or replacement, the extent or cost of the damage in relation to the original cost of the item, the number of users (total) of the item, depreciation of the item, and any other relevant factors. In the event that Landlord must make repairs for damages that are beyond reasonable wear and tear, Tenants shall be liable for and agrees to pay the cost of said repairs upon the presentation of a written, itemized bill. In the event Tenants fail to pay the bill within fifteen (15) days of his receipt of the bill said cost of repairs may be deducted from the security deposit of the Tenants after that time. Tenants agree to move trash and recycling bins to the curbside in time for the weekly trash removal and return said bins to the Premises once the trash has been removed.