All Forum Posts by: Michael Staiman

@Wayne Brooks @Jaron Walling yes that’s safe to say, thanks. So for the future do you allow people to send their application back by email? I guess just put a disclaimer that it’s suggested they return the application in person and if they email it back, it’s at their own risk?

I have a person who qualifies on paper that I gave a showing. They asked me to email them an application, which I did. It became more clear this person may be mentally unstable. They expect an immediate response but I have a day job and do not reply right away, usually just in the morning or evening. They emailed me saying they are concerned with sending their application by email and then sent it anyway a hour later before I could respond. When I responded I told them to drop it off or mail it if they are concerned about sending personal info over the internet but if they do, it’s at their own risk.

Now they are freaking out saying I should of told them that first but they didn’t even wait for my response and sent it any away. Now they are saying they are reporting identify fraud and want me to erase all emails and their application. Which I wouldn’t care about usually but you are supposed to save all communication and applications even when they are withdrawn just in case someone later try’s to sue you for discrimination and that’s your evidence. Any thoughts?

@Jim Hogan thank you, that’s a good idea. I’m in Springfield PA. They already painted 1 room without my written permission and I found out during an inspection. It’s old plaster walls that aren’t perfect and the walls ceiling and trim are all the same color, hard to mess that up. If it were new drywall and the ceiling, walls and trim were different colors, skill is needed to cut in properly. They didn’t do a bad job changing the color so I was very clear in writing that they need to put it back exactly the same color it was, painting the entire room and if it’s a poor paint job then it’s still damage and I will hire a painter to do it correctly at their expense.

@Theresa Harris thank you! Do you send the tenant a copy of the paid invoice from the contractor along with the security deposit disposition letter?

Tenant lease is up in 2 weeks, Pennsylvania, we are not renewing. We do a pre inspection one month before move out. The place is gross, crumbs and stains everywhere. Kids used crayon on the walls, doors and shower surround. They want to paint every wall that was damaged themselves.

They have been using a hand rag in the shower and then hanging it over the side of the bathroom sink vanity. Th water has been running down the side of the vanity, pooling at the bottom and the side of the vanity has been soaking up the water and now is warped and swollen from the water damage. It’s about 24 inches wide and 3 inches high.

Since this can’t be repaired and it was brand new. Do I hire a plumber to replace the whole vanity? For the vanity, plumbing and labor, might be around $800. Do I just get an estimate and charge that amount to the tenants security deposit? If the plumber can’t do the actual work for 2 months since everyone is back logged, I only have up to 30 to return the remaining security deposit with the letter showing deductions.

@David Pai without getting into too many details. They are very noisy, slam and bang everything all day. Don’t respect the noise ordinance times, break rules big/small constantly through the lease. Every time we gave a notice for them to fix the issue, they have been very argumentative on every subject. We are more strict since we live here but we went over every detail of the lease and rules on day one and we’d expect people to follow the lease and rules that we’ve already agreed on. It’s not that difficult.

2 year lease is more common for SFH but this is a multi an we live here so it's different. With what you said I wouldn't worry much since you did your due diligence.

We are house hacking a fourplex. I had a tenant that passed all my qualifications, no red flags, so we signed a one year lease. There have been lots of issues all year and we are not renewing the lease.

It’s hard to commit to a one year lease with a complete stranger, especially if you live in the same building with them. So I’m considering a different approach.

I would start leases with new tenants at M2M for the first year and at the end of the first year tenant may be offered to stay M2M or offered a lease term option at the landlord sole discretion. Also a security deposit, equal to 2 months rent, at move in and after 1 year, one month security will be returned. This is allowed in my state of PA.

What do you think of this approach? I understand most landlords like to be locked into a year lease but that’s no guarantee, if someone wants to move and break a lease, they will. I’d also add an early termination clause equal to one months rent if someone wanted to leave early.

@Michael Kinsella thanks for this information, it gives me hope haha and yes time to make some phone calls. 

@Darius Ogloza thank you that’s very interesting. My first flip I used my cash for the down payment and credit cards to do the renovation (at a much higher interest rate lol) and then paid it back when I sold.

Is your example, would you suggest opening cards in your personal name or business name to build credit? 

@Jonathan Frith I like the sound of that. Could you elaborate a bit further with how you mean to go 50/50 with the banks though?