All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

 I actually do have a neighbor park there for 3 months now because he needed an extra space, and I thought at the time it would be neighborly to have a car there (and not look like a vacant property).  However that doesn't work to deter the trespassing because my house it at the corner of a block and I have a semi circular driveway on one side, and a 20' wide driveway on the other side in front of a 2 door garage.  So even with my neighbor's car there it doesn't completely block off others from parking.

As a matter of fact, the fact that my neighbor parking there makes it more complicated in that I cannot tell the police there should be no car parked on the driveway.

 Thank you,  I will call the PD and explain the situation and see what they suggest.  See if they can send a patrol to investigate.  May be I will get some cameras installed so I can see them there then call to alert them.

OK may be I do not understand how calling the police works.  I was under the impression that when you call the police to report a situation (burglary, trespassing, theft whatever), you need to be physically present to meet them when they come by later to show them the problem and they will take down your information in the police report.  I cannot just call and say there is a car parked in my driveway please go check it out right?  Or can I?  Note that I am overseas so I will be calling them long distance and they most likely won't be able to call me back.

I have given the neighbors a green light to call the police but they are reluctant to do so because they do not want to get involved because they do not want the occupants of the car to know who tipped the police off for fear that they may come back later to retaliate.  Again, I am assuming if as a neighbor if you call and said someone is parked in a driveway at a house across from me, the police will ask you for your information, and when they come out to check on it, they may go to up to the neighbors house, knock and ask "mam are you so and so and did you call us to report on a car parked across there and can you point out to me which car it is before we approach?"

I have a unique situation where I have a property (SFR) that I am in the middle of rehabbing, and got called away on a family emergency overseas and need to be away for a while (probably till May 2023) before I can get back to working on it. Meanwhile the property is locked up.

The property has been vacant for a bit after the bank foreclosed on it, so the neighbors all know it's vacant.

While rehabbing I started talking to the neighbors and had their contact information to contact me in case of emergency.

I was told that for over a week now a vehicle would come and park on my driveway.  This is not a case of someone parked there and leave the car.  There are several people in the car, they come and stay inside the car and sleep in the car overnight, then drive away in the morning.  So far one neighbor told me they did that 5 nights in a row.  They always throw trash out and leave a mess and another neighbor would go over and clean up the trash.  The neighbors are not comfortable with going over to ask them to leave because there are multiple adults in the car.

What would be the best way to navigate this issue to stop it from getting worse...they may try breaking in and turn into squatters next.

If I was there I could call the police...but I am not.  My guess is even if the police get involved it is not a one off thing, they may leave and come back two days later.

Would appreciate ideas...are there security patrol I can pay for that can say make ten trips over ten evenings to get rid of them, if they get told to leave multiple times it may deter them from coming back?

I already have signs at the property - NO PARKING signs, THIS PROPERTY IS UNDER 24 HOUR SURVEILLANCE signs, BEWARE OF BAD DOGS signs, so those are not doing anything.

Do you have a rule in your lease to allow/disallow certain things to be hung outside your rental properties?

I know this is a vague question, so here are some specific examples:

(1) After washing clothes, tenant hangs clothes out to dry, so you have towels, panties, colored bras flapping in the wind.  Would you allow this in the front yard where people walking by or driving by can see?  If not would you allow it to in a fenced back yard?

(2) What about meat?  Yes I have a friend who rented to someone who has a rack outside on a sunny day hanging meat, apparently to make jerky.  He said it smell "funky", and had flies buzzing around the meat.  I have heard of folks doing the same to make preserved fish.

(3) How about a string light?  You know the ones with a cord  and a bulb every 12" or so.  If tenants were to hang one in the yard from one side of the house to a fence, and during a storm or hurricane can easily get shattered glass when these bulbs are slammed against the structures.

Does this depend on property's class?  That this is more common in a class D than a class A?

Do you have any language in your lease agreement or tenant rule book to address this?  If so please do share.

I am probably going against the grain by posting in this forum but I am losing my patience in getting cold calls and texts "are you interested in selling your property at this address?"

I have always gotten post cards and yellow letters, no big deal, I removed them from the mail box and put them into the recycle cart directly.  Sometimes I'll get half a dozen cards a day, from the same person, but one for each address.  Then it comes around in two weeks.

But recently I started to get cold calls and texts.  Today alone, I received five calls and three texts asking if I am interested in selling or "free evaluation".  I can't just ignore unknown callers because sometimes I work with rental applicants and contractors that are not in my address book.

I also have no idea how they got my phone number because it's not listed.  I do not even list phone numbers on my rental ads all I provide is email and messaging services and my number is hidden on rental listings, so I am still trying to figure out how my number was harvested.  I asked one of the callers how she got my number, she said it is in the public records...I asked another, he told me he is calling everyone who owns more than one property.

I don't mind the yellow letters and post cards much, but 8 cold calls and texts a day is really over the top, in my opinion.  I understand this is how some find deals, but there has to be a happy medium.  I remember back in the days when people still fax I used to get fax ads, and before you know it the paper or ink is out because it's been busy printing ads.

I guess I am not getting the picture here.  The seller does not typically have contact with the buyer unless through their agent, so this will be like the seller's agent, with the blessing of the seller, goes to the buyer and say hey can you pay more to cover my fees?  Why would the buyer agree to that if there is already an executed contract?

Or are we saying there is a contract signed by the buyer but the seller has not agreed due to a price gap, and that price gap happens to be the amount of the commission, and in order to save the deal, the seller's agent is trying to get the buyer to cover his/her fees instead?  But if that's the case what is the difference between getting the buyer to pay his fees instead of getting the buyer to increase his bid?

In my experiences, dogs caused much more damages to cats.  So for my rentals I allow cats but not dogs.

The issues with cats I have personally experienced are door seals ripped up, window blinds torn up.  I don't really have urine issues as all the flooring are hard porcelain or ceramic tiles, not carpet or wood.

The issues with dogs that I have personally experienced are ripped up sprinkler wires and valves in the yard, craters in the yard, ripped down window blinds and draperies, kitchen cabinet doors with hinges pulled off, interior doors or cabinet doors with corners chewed off, claw marks on baseboards and door trims, neighbors complaining about excessive barking, property maintenance or appliance repair or others trying to service the property hesitate to enter property due to hissing and barking aggressively, property insurance carrier's unannounced inspection requiring dog breed/vaccination/wellness records etc etc etc...

So all things considered I have disallowed dogs but not cats.  As eliminating both really restrict my tenant pool.

One side effect that I noticed when I restricted my apartments to cats only but not dogs, my tenants have been exclusively female.  I guess not too many male with cats as pets?