All Forum Posts by: Ludmila M.

It looks like you might have drainage problem that you'd want to address if you want grass to grow. If the water pulls and puddles in that yard, seeding probably worn't help much. I'd also get rid of the tree that's so close to the house. 

Would you mind sharing how you do it? And do you inform the other party that they are being recorded? 

Apparently it was introduced in GA in 2019, also fairly new. Just surprises me to see it here, given GA is supposedly a landlord-friendly state.  

If anyone is interested, you can check your state landlord retaliation law on Nolo:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-enc...

@Ben Spader, thank you for this thread. It prompted me to research this for my state (GA) and discover that we have this too, only with a 3-months retaliation period. Crazy.  This will certainly be manipulated by some tenants.

 Thanks! Good point when talking about business perspective. Just trying to make sure my reporting is IRS compliant.

@Michael Plaks, thank you for your response, understood.

As to CPAs and expectations, perhaps you are right. The first CPA I hired to do my taxes was when I was green and just bought my first rental. I really didn't need a tax pro at that point, especially the one requiring a high retainer. My mistake.

With the second CPA I noticed the numbers were off on the tax return they prepared. After I mentioned this to the CPA, she checked and confirmed that the junior employee, who was delegated data entry, made multiple errors. They corrected everything but tried to bill me for the extra time it took them to identify and fix their own mistakes. I didn't want to use this team again. 

With the third CPA I simply couldn't see the value - all what happened was the CPA requiring me to fill in a Google Doc version of Schedule E for each property. I might as well plug the numbers directly in TurboTax. 

Regardless of these experiences, I do plan to work with a CPA again. I can get away with TurboTax at this level, but not as I add more properties to the portfolio. No illusions here.

I'm a small RE investor with a few self-managed rentals and about 1 flip per year. No W-2, and for tax purposes I qualify for the RE professional status.

In 2022 I bought what was supposed to be another rental. Half way through the renovations I was approached by a developer/builder who was purchasing a next door lot for new construction. He wanted to assemble it with my property and made me an offer that was hard to turn down. I ended up selling my property as-is, making substantial profit, and then investing it right away into another rental. Question: how do I report profit from this rental-turned-flip transaction - as ordinary income or capital gains? I do have plenty of written communication indicating my intention to use this house as a rental.

In case of suggestions to hire a CPA/tax strategist - I've done it three times in the past with disappointing results. Maybe when I have more rentals I'll try again.

Thanks!

I highly doubt drugs are involved. I suspect their safety obsession is at least partially related to the fact that they moved into my suburban SFH after living in an apartment in downtown Atlanta. Crime is high there. Second, they are just not the type to be involved with drugs. The guy works for a major (Big 4) consulting company. She is a NP and even was featured in media for her frontline efforts during Covid. They both make good money and their credit scores are near 800. Their parents live in the area, and I met both. This is just not the caliber that would make me think drugs are involved.

Always closed blinds are unusual, however. Not sure what that is about.

As I mentioned earlier, they've been great and very cooperative so far, but they did violate the lease. So, they do need a light slap on the hand to discourage any future violations, and a warning should do at this point.  In terms of not renewing their lease, they don't plan staying longer anyway as they want to buy a house in a year. 

@Greg Scott, thank you. My lease is fairly comprehensive and does cover installations in general.  I use addendums in situations when I approve a lease exception. In such a case the tenant signs an addendum where all conditions, responsibilities, and liabilities related to this approval are outlined.

Cameras can cause you liability, and security infringement is real. But I agree in general security cameras install is mostly harmless, and that's why in my case I'll let these tenants keep it. 

Looking for an addendum template addressing tenant-installed outdoor security cameras.

My new tenants, who moved into my SFH (in GA) a month ago, went ahead and installed several outdoor security cameras without approval. Mounted to downspouts on corners of the house. This is a young successful couple with high incomes/credit scores, no trouble, but for some reason obsessed with privacy and security - while living in a safe neighborhood. All of the window blinds are always closed, Simply Safe system installed inside (they did share the code), and now these cameras.

They know they are supposed to get cameras approved.  Since they've been good tenants so far,  I don't want to make a big deal out of this. I plan to let them keep the cameras but will issue a warning, as well as will have them sign an addendum protecting myself from potential liability related to audio/video recording without visitors' consent, or privacy intrusion liability if the cameras are capturing parts of the neighbors' properties. Perhaps other risks I haven't though about?

If anyone already has an addendum on this, would you mind sharing it? I figured this happens so often that someone by now has created one.  @Nathan Gesner  tagging you since you seem to have an addendum for everything :)

Thank you!