All Forum Posts by: Mike Gordon

@Chris Kersey does your agent handle insurance in multiple states? Are you able to get all of your policies on one bill?

@Marco Cruzatt is this in Tucson or CA? It’s not feasible for me to do the work myself so I would have to get a contractor to build or install it.

I own a property in Tucson AZ that's on a large lot with plenty of room to build an ADU. The city passed an ordinance a few years ago to allow ADUs without zoning laws, so I think it's easy to get ADU construction approved.

My question is about cost. What's a cost effective way to build an ADU so that the return on the rent will make sense? I've seen prices between $100k-$250k as I've researched it. At the low end it makes sense. At the high end it doesn't.

How do you go about this? Does pre-fab work? Buy plans and hire a construction company? How much are utility hookups? Anyone with advice or experience with building an ADU and renting it for STR/LTR?

I have a tenant who has been steadily putting in requests for maintenance for issues that don't affect the overall condition of the home. Some examples are a slow drip from a shower, a closet door that lost some trim, a refrigerator where the gasket is peeling off a bit and could be glued back on, blinds where the rotation stick came off (but could still be opened and closed), etc.

I normally fix requests, but it's usually at least $150 to get someone out to fix them. I'd like to encourage the tenant to not file requests unless something is broken but still want to fix issues.

I'm considering writing in an excess repair fee of $50 if there's more than 1 repair request in a month. I don't know if this is even possible, but what have all of you done to cut down on minor repairs or get tenants to batch them together?

@Mark Weins if you’re seriously thinking about getting into the business as a professional it would help to fill out your profile. Tell us where you’re located. Where are you looking? What are you looking to do. Put a professional picture up.

@Wilson Lau I’m also in San Jose and one of the places I invest in is Louisville which isn’t that far from Cincinnati.

I do LTR but thinking about MTR now. Happy to chat or share ideas.

It would be good to have a San Jose or South Bay meetup sometime. I know a few other investors in the area.

I manage one unit myself and I only charge a $600 refundable pet deposit on that one. I remember how hard it was to find a place that takes pets as a renter and it felt like a slap in the face to also charge rent for the pet. I've never had a problem in that unit related to a pet and have rented it out for 12 years.

However, different areas bring different kind of pet owners. On my other rentals I let my property manager dictate what to do and they mostly charge the refundable deposit + $25 or $50 pet rent. One property manager also charges a non-refundable fee. In that area tenants are less careful, so it makes sense.

In one of my rentals I have a tenant who's often picky about minor issues. The tenant is mostly a good tenant and I make an effort to fix major issues quickly. However the tenant will often bring up minor issues or issues beyond my control, almost one a month.

Here's an example. The master bathroom shower handle broke and the shower was unusable for a short period of time due to my normal plumber being unable to fix it. I found a plumber who fixed it. About a month later, the tenant complained that there's a slow drip from the shower every 3 seconds and his wife was having trouble sleeping because of it.

A fix to a shower can end up being a major repair, especially if the wall needs to be ripped open to replace the valve. I'd rather not touch it because it's working perfectly well otherwise.

There have been other issues which I've sometimes fixed. As a landlord, where is your "line" between essential maintenance and the tenant being unreasonable?

@Jason Marino - I've been reading about the tax implications of an LLC while living in CA. It looks like you can file CA taxes on your personal income taxes with an LLC as a general partnership, especially if you own it with a spouse and are both equal decision makers: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/bu.... What am I missing here?

I believe that the taxes and the company structure (and liability) are completely separate things with separate rules.

I do know that the LLC has to register to do business in the state where the properties are located. It seems simpler to start out with one LLC and file to do business in the states where the properties are located than to register multiple LLCs, at least until there are enough units to justify that.

I also found this video to be a good explanation as to why an LLC is beneficial (and what it won't do for you): https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u...

Do you put curtain rods or blinds in a new rental? I have another LTR coming on line soon and I think I’m going to install curtain rods and let the tenant buy or choose curtains.

I have blinds in other rentals and they get dirty and break often enough that they can be a headache.

Do you also add the curtains?