All Forum Posts by: Christina Banker

Hi,

A landscaping company agreed to help us remove mulch and put rocks in the flower bed.

On the first day, he showed up, did some work, and laid down edging material in the front yard. He said he would come back the next day to finish the job. On the second day, the rock was delivered by a third party, but he did not show up. On the third day, we finally got a hold of him on the phone. He said he would call us the next day to let us know if he wanted to finish the job. But he never called again.

It is obvious that he wants to abandon the project. He has not sent us a bill for the part he has done. We don't know how to proceed in this situation. We want to hire a different contractor to finish the job, but we are afraid that he will put a lien on the house even though he did not ask for any payment. We will happily pay him for the work he has done. We want to be done with him.

To give you more context, we did not sign any contract. All we have is an estimate quote for the whole project through email.

Any advice on how to proceed?  Thank you!

Hi All,

I have a tenant who submitted an ESA letter. The letterhead has the LCSW's personal email and a personal phone number. I asked them to provide a work email/phone or organizational email/phone but they said this LCSW is a private practice, so that is the email they use. I checked the license on the letter, and it seems legit.

My question is, can an LCSW without a Practice prescribe an ESA letter? My confusion is if they do not have an actual practice, how do patients make appointments and receive the ESA letter? I get that sometimes the LCSW can just be the tenant's friend or family. If that is the case, does the ESA letter still legit?

Thanks.

Hi All,

Four prospective tenants showed up today, two males and two females. They claimed the males were step-brothers (which I highly doubted, they sounded unsure on the phone about their relationship). I think they might be just friends. One of the "step-brothers" has a wife, and the other has a girlfriend. They are looking to move to this four-bedroom unit together because they want to save money to buy houses. 

In this situation, what do I need to look out for? Most of the time,  the whole family rents the unit together. In this case, it seems that there are two families. Their income combined is pretty high. Credit score fluctuates among the 4 of them. The avg score is 620. I will make sure they all sign the lease. How do you usually handle when the credit scores fluctuate among them? 

This property is in a good high-end neighborhood. We prefer high-income, high-credit-score people to move in. Please let me know your experience and thoughts?

Thank you

Christina

Hi All,

Thank you for all the replies! She submitted her bank statements. I found out they are fake!! There are typos; the number does not add up. dodged a bullet!!

Hi All,

A prospective tenant submitted the last three-month pay stub through the Zillow application. I tried to verify whether the company was legit. I searched for it in the Florida division of the corporation. The business has been Inactive since Sep 2022, and the owner's name is not the same as the employer on the phone I talked to (who stated that he is the shop owner). This shop only has a Facebook page; The phone number on the Facebook page no one answered. 

It seems that the employer's answer matched the application (though I can hear that he muted the phone a couple of times before he could answer. I think the applicant was right by his side when I called). On the phone, the employer stated that he was the shop owner. However, on the Florida division of the corporation website, this person's name is under a different LLC, which is active. The inactive LLC shares the same registered address as the active LLC.

My question is, can an inactive LLC issue a pay stub? I don't want to shoot her down because I don't have the background knowledge. What else can I do to verify her income? I asked for W2, tax return and bank statement. She seems reluctant to submit any of the documents stating that these are too private to share.

Thank you!

I just got the claim result that handy.com refused to pay anything. The excuse they used was the accident happened 1 year later of the  installation, so there was no way to prove it was their fault. 

Hi there,

I purchased a floating TV stand from Wayfair and hired the Wayfair partner handy.com to install it. Unfortunately, the TV stand fell off the wall, damaging the whole TV stand, PS4 Pro, and drywall. It was apparent that the handy person did not correctly install the TV stand. It should have been installed on a wood stud, but instead, he just put it on the drywall. I submitted a claim asking for a reimbursement of the value of the TV stand, the PS4 Pro, and the repair of the drywall, which in total is $1300. The handy.com claim team apologized for the accident and requested me to go through my home insurance first and show them my home insurance deductible and coverage before they could approve the final claim. 

My question is, do I have to go through my home insurance first for this situation? I don't want to go through my insurance because it will increase my future premium, and I don't think I should be the one who is "punished" by this wrong installation. In addition, my home insurance deductible is $1500, which is higher than the claimed reimbursed amount. 

What is my standing ground here in refusing to go through the home insurance first? Thank you!

I'm about to lease my first rental property. I want to manage it myself to gain experience. As a new landlord, I feel uncomfortable putting my name and address on the lease/receipt/letters. I'm afraid of potential crazy tenants since I just live 10 mins away. However, I purchased the property under my own name instead of under an LLC. Are there any other way to prevent tenants knowing that I am the landlord? I'm thinking about maybe set up a property management company to manage this property. In this case, I can put the property management company name on the lease. Is this a good idea? Many thanks for the inputs!