All Forum Posts by: Marcia Maynard

ME: Have you ever been evicted? HE: Yeah, gobs of times. [The county unlawful detainer book lists 7 evictions in the past 5 years.] ME: Thank you for your honesty, but you don't meet our minimum criteria. HE: Okay! [Cheerfully said.]

ME: Do you have any pets or animals? [We have a no pet policy and her email address is junglebus@..... and internet social media mentions her living in bus with various exotic animals] SHE: Yes. Two dogs, but they are service animals. ME: We welcome bonafide service animals for people with qualified disabilities. We have a verification process. SHE: Well, one of them is too old now and I won't be keeping it, but I think I can probably get the other one certified. Oh, and would you accept a service snake? [We finish the screening interview and she gets annoyed by our criteria and ends with...] SHE: You are missing out on a really good tenant!

Sounds like she has some attitude. What's up with that? Speaks to her lack of integrity that she stopped paying rent that she was obligated to pay. Not good. She might pays your bills for now and it's good you got your last month rent ahead of time, but she may give you some grief. Be prepared. Would be good to know her side of the story, would give you some insight about her mentality.

I once rented to a person who seemed great, until two days before move-in when some red flags popped up. My intuition told me to stop the deal, but I felt I was too far into it to back out, as I had offered to rent and he was already packed for the move. I hadn't taken rent or signed a contract at that point, only a holding deposit. I went forward with it and that tenancy lasted only four months, he didn't pay last month rent and didn't pay any of his utility bills. He got cocky, uncooperative and disrespectful at the end. We lost a bundle and were faced with another vacancy to fill. But you never know, hard call.

Also ask these open ended questions...

What kind of place are you looking for?

What features are important to you?

These two questions help me understand my local market better. I can easily identify which prospective tenants have given careful thought about their future home. If they have, they are more likely to take pride in where they live and take care of my property. They are also more likely to stay longer if it is a good match for their needs and wants. I gain insight into tenant mentality. I also gain ideas as to what upgrades I may want to consider to make my places more marketable and to improve tenant retention.

Yep. Regular inspections. Additional inspections at first sign of any trouble (late rent, excessive number of visitors, unusual noise, etc.) Monitor utility usage. Strong rental agreement and enforcement of such.

With one of the two units vacant, it seems a good time to do it. Also you want to do it now to be able to turn that other unit.

You could ask her if she is planning to go on vacation anytime soon and coordinate it with that. We do our upgrades and major repairs by coordinating with the tenant in that way.

A per day payment is the best way to do it. You are compensating her for non-use of premises and inconvenience, not for her choice of hotel.

Tell her to remove all food and medicines from the premises if it is a real or perceived risk for those items to be affected. If there are other cautions she needs to know about, full disclosure is important. Pass on the prep information provided by the pest control professionals as pertains to an occupant.

Fiduciary is not synonymous with executor.

A fiduciary may be an accountant, attorney, banker, business advisor, financial advisor, mortgage broker, real estate agent, personal representative, executor, trustee, asset manager, health care agent, attorney in fact, guardian, etc.

A fiduciary has a legal or ethical relationship of duty between two or more parties. The fiduciary is entrusted to manage funds and assets of another for safe keeping and investment. A fiduciary must adhere to the highest standards of either equity or law.

Verifiable income (or income equivalents) 3x the rent or 2.5x with extra security deposit.

A rental association colleague of mine in Vancouver who owns 4 SFHs and manages his own property is notorious for bird dogging previous tenants who owe him money and he is quite successful in his recovery efforts. He is retired and has all the time in the world. First, he files his own evictions and gets a judgement. Or, if there is no eviction, he files his own cases in small claims court and has never lost a case. Then he pursues every method available for finding the person. He keeps track of their whereabouts. One of his methods is to send a Christmas Card or Birthday Card every year with "Address Service Requested" on the envelope. If the tenant has moved, for a small fee, the post office then notifies him of the former tenant's new address. When he has a good address, he sends another demand letter. One guy he was after finally called him exasperated and sent the amount owed in full with a note... "I've moved so many times in the last seven years and you always find me! I've had enough! Here's your money!"

Require the tenant to get renter's insurance. You'll be partially covered if the tenant does something that destroys your property.

As others have said, liability insurance is essential. Don't rent a home without it! Get an umbrella policy for at least 1 million.