All Forum Posts by: Mike R.

anyone have stories of purchases that had negative surprises (eg. Issues not found in the inspection, bad inherited tenants etc) that eventually became positive stories?  If so what did you do to turn it around?

hi,

we have a tenant that is lying about having a pet(s) and not sure how to proceed given we haven't actually seen the animal(s).  We know there is at least a dog and possibly a cat because a few months after she moved in, we were in the place and smelled a dog.  she claimed it wasn't hers but her boyfriend's (who is not on the lease and "doesn't" live there) and it is a service dog (yeah, right).  yesterday, the carpet person was there and essentially told us not to bother reparing a portion of the carpet because the overwhelming small of cat marking.  BTW, we inherited this tenant and she is still covered by the previous owners lease.   can we give a 3-day even though we havent seen the animal?  can we keep her deposite (to replace carpet and pad)?  thank you for your insight.

these are typical rental apartment bathrooms without Windows. There are fans but I think they are a bit small but that is a work in progress.  Even with the fan these units tend to get mildew on the walls above the shower so we're trying to figure out other options.  Any suggestions?

thank your for  your help!

we have a good tenant that wants to find a house for the growing family.  they have been good tenants and we generally try to be as accommodative as we can, but they have told us they are looking for a house and would like to break the lease assuming they find one (i suspect they already have one in mind).  How would handle this?  let the break?  if so do you have a fee for this?

what is aln mean

cpa we use is Eugene at www.soundadviceseattle.com

i have talked to a local company that can hook up a meter to the hot water line @ the water heater and run either wireless or wired to outside the building for monitoring.  i forget the price of the meters but i remember it being reasonable for the wired much less for the wireless.  i am considering it for a six unit building we own given that water is the biggest expense we have.  the monitoring is still a pain in the butt and it isn't perfect.  essentially, the water company still bills us for all the water, but the meter would tell us how much to bill back to each tenant.  not perfect but for existing construction, it is about as accurate as possible.  the other approach (RUBS??) is OK but the problem is that tenants always complain the other tenant has a lot of overnight guests, they washed their cars, etc.  

things to consider are: 1) is water heater on an outside wall so the monitored can be wired?  who is going to look at the meters each month if you go with wired?

sounds good to me. Two coats is nice

you are being reasonable, she is crazy.  I would send certified letter stating what she owes you and let her go.....she will be nothing but problems

We transferred one prop into the LLCs and have yet get a call from the bank.  Not much you can do to avoid the issue of a possible due on sale if the bank wants to do it .  I've been told by a cpa that LLCs is not necessary if you have good insurance (umbrella policy and high levels of liability coverage for each building). The reason is that many LLCs can be pierced in court so they are worthless for most small investors but you would need to talk to a lawyer on that.