All Forum Posts by: Pam R.

Dean - have you talked to him personally? Do you have a gut feel for him?

He doesn't sound terribly high risk to me - he has had his own business for several years, money in the bank, no bad credit, no criminal issues, is willing to provide 2x deposit, and has family in the area that is willing to help support him, and take him in if things go awry. Nothing indicates he's missed his obligations. 

Ask for the tax returns...but what are you going to do if they are lower income than he says, because he doesn't report all of his tips?

We have a no pet policy, but have permitted guinea pigs and turtles. I'm ok with animals in a cage. We don't charge extra.

@Chris Stromdahl - are you looking for school districts, or individual schools within the school districts? If you are looking at specific properties, the Auditor's site lists the school district for every property. If you are looking for a breakdown by school building, that's trickier. If you are looking in Columbus public schools, the specific school will matter. There is a huge disparity between school quality. 

If you are looking for a list of good school districts in Central Ohio, Columbus public is by far considered the worst. 

@Chris Stromdahl 

They just did a new evaluation of property values in Columbus that will kick in next year.

Here's an article: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014...

And here's a link to where you can look up by address the old value and the new value: http://www.dispatch.com/content/pages/data/governm...

Here's the problem you'll have in an analysis: school tax levies. I don't know how it is where you live, but here the citizens get to vote on whether to give their schools more money, and those funds are added to property taxes (occasionally there is an income tax, but 90% of the time it is a property tax). As a result, there are levies in nearly EVERY election - May and November - because it will take 8 elections to get one to pass. 

It is worth your while to do some Googling on Columbus school levies. The 2013 Levy proposal would have cost homeowners an additional $300 per $100,000 of house value. That was soundly defeated at the polls. I don't think there is a levy proposal on the upcoming ballot. But there will be at some point. 

I live in a rural area. I know of 3 homes on my road alone that are rentals (out of 25 houses total on a 3.5 mile road). I don't know what they pay, but they are all long-term tenants - up to 10 years. One woman around the corner on a different road lived at her place 25 years, and only moved due to health issues. I know of several other rentals in the area as well. The one thing you should expect - they will want animals, whether it's dogs, cats, chickens, or pigs. It's part of rural living. In my neck of the woods, the other thing to consider is heat. Propane is expensive, and you'll have to make sure they don't let it run empty.

We have the smoking, pet, and quiet enjoyment items in the lease. Then we have a couple of addendums referenced by the lease: criminal activity addendum (which also references domestic disputes), and house rules. The house rules include items such as sharing the yard, parking rules, lawn furniture, etc. Any restrictions on the property should be covered the very first time they call to inquire: no smoking, absolutely no pets, loud music or parties that generate complaints are lease violations, they have to supply a lawnmower to cut the grass. Whatever is critical to their decision-making and yours. It's better that they filter themselves out before going through the application process if it's not a fit.

I agree with @Jeremy T.  -  the underlying reason for your dilemma is that you know he is cheating. We're all human, we all have sins to atone for - but if he's going to break his marriage vows, he should feel guilty enough that it remains private. Lack of discretion here is a huge red flag: it's pretty selfish to lay this type of  secret on a friend. His therapist, his spiritual adviser, or, frankly, his spouse should be hearing his confessions. Ignoring the moral aspect of his behavior, his over-sharing shows he's just not able to take care of his business properly right now.

From a purely business perspective, there is too much risk here to partner with him. Too much potential distraction.

I had a best friend once who entrusted me with knowledge about her extra-marital affair. I never betrayed her confidence, but I never trusted her again.

Our lease states that we can check smoke detectors monthly to ensure they are working. Same premise as @Udayabagya Halim - they are by (or in) the bedrooms, so they give you visibility to pretty much the whole property. However, we've never exercised this clause. For one reason or another, the hubby is usually inside each of our 4 units quarterly, and from spring to fall is mowing grass 3-4 times a month. So he's keeping an eye on things. 

Just tonight my husband was saying he's going to schedule an inspection for one of our units - it's probably been 5 months since he's been inside. In the last few weeks a towel has replaced the front curtains, and we've now asked the tenant has been twice to get rid of the trashy-looking towel and hang curtains or blinds (he says he has blinds, hasn't had time to hang them). So it's time to get inside and see if everything else is still in working order.

That being said, we encourage our tenants to call us about things that break, no matter whose fault. And they have. We're reasonable about what they have to pay for, and the time frame for paying us back (e.g - broken screens we'll fix today, you pay us within the next 2 months). I don't want them to be scared to call us. Our biggest surprise at move-outs has been drawer slides being broken, or a screen door not latching. 

@Account Closed - Just write into your lease a monthly maintenance review to check mechanicals/electrical/smoke alarms/safety items. However you want to word it. Then utilize it as frequently as you see fit. Very few people are going to balk at it. They know landlords can come into their apartment. Give 24-hour notice of the visit.

I have no personal experience with Home Warranties (I've always heard the same things everyone above is saying), but I do have a friend who had a great experience with them. In fact, she was in contract to sell her house, bought the warranty to provide to the buyer - and before the sale closed, the furnace died. The warranty replaced the furnace, even before the close happened. Everyone was happy. This was about 6 years ago - I was surprised as anyone that the warranty covered something that broke so quickly. I think she just had some crazy good luck, and it's an anomaly.

@Kimberly Land - All our city/county criminal records are online, and free. They even include PDFs and docket details. Of course, I see you're in Chicago - much bigger pond. I'm in a small town of 35,000 - pretty hard to hide here.