All Forum Posts by: Wesley W.

@Colleen F. and  @Peter Mckernan   give good advice above.  Here's my contribution.  If moving the date to the 15th were just for one month for her to get back on her feet, I would sign and addendum with her since you claim she is a stellar tenant.  But permanently moving the rent due date for one person would make my bookkeeping even more challenging.  If you have an exception to your system, you do not have a system.  Oftentimes moving the due date is a temporary fix to what usually amounts to a permanent problem.

Time is money.  Just replace it with a pre-hung door.  The replacement frame will never fit the slab correctly, or at least not the same as when those parts are made together.  You'll spend time and money trying to get back to zero, and you'll almost certainly be disappointed with the results.

@Colleen F. gives you good advice.

I think in practical terms, your goals (1) and (2) are mutually exclusive.  Are you going to be a philanthropist, or operate a profitable business?  That's a personal choice, but a choice nonetheless.  (There's a continuum, I get it - but hopefully the sentiment lands.)

Of your "questions" at the end of your post, I think your first outcome (1.) is probably the most likely and I would begin preparing for that eventuality (i.e. engage a L/T attorney, procuring cash reserves for non-payment during eviction, funds for extensive renovation). 

That being said, I would strongly recommend getting an attorney on board.  I've seen lots of new landlords try and save money by trying to do a DYI eviction, only to get schooled by a pro-bono laywer from any one of the numerous tenants' right groups willing to battle the evil capitalist landlord.  These folks are trained and intimately familiar with the state/local statutes and all the associated loopholes.  Having an attorney handle this for you is money well spent, especially in the tenant friendly jurisdictions.

Moving forward, I suggest offering only MTM leases to your tenants, so you are not placed in this situation again.  I've written about this strategy in detail here on BP so feel free to search it up.

There is a lot to know in this industry, and we've all made plenty of mistakes.  My rule has always been to, whenever possible, try and learn from others' mistakes in order to avoid them myself; give myself some grace when making a mistake I did not foresee, but to change my operations/process in order to make those mistakes only once.  The definition of insanity is expecting different results by doing the same thing.

Good luck!

Agreed. I read the OP's question as "threshold" and answered appropriately.  I'm not sure about steel doors, but the exterior grade fiberglass doors come pre-hung with a threshold.  This is what I have installed a bunch of times.  I've never actually seen a pre-hung door with lumber below the transition piece.  If you went without "anything", I think you'd have trouble with sealing the bottom of the door with the foyer if you were looking for something without a dedicated threshold.  Not to mention, during installation the door frame would rack without a bottom piece and be a pain to hang.  A door slab would be even worse.  I've tried that before, with abyssmal results.

I install them with the sill plate.

Bingo!

This is an example of a government that has gotten so desperate for revenue that it begins to become predatory on the populous.

The Vampire State is the Socialist Republic of New York.  So, you'd be going from the frying pan into the fire if you invested here, sir.  I think NY is just barely less restrictive than Seattle, but our legislators are hard at work at trying to fix that.  We don't have "good cause" eviction statewide - yet (each municipality has the choice to opt in, currently) but we do have "landlord retaliation", so the tenant need only make a complaint to the landlord about anything having to do with the property, and the landlord has to wait at least 12 months to terminate their lease, as the complaint to the landlord is an affirmative defense for termination of tenancy (even with MTM leases).  "Well, what if they make another complaint during those 12 months?" you ask?  Well, then we've got our own little slice of The Emerald City's restrictions right here in The Empire State!

And they wonder why there is no affordable housing here.  Good times.

This is one of those times where term leases limit your options.  I only offer MTM leases, so in this case I would just terminate the tenancy, then evict the tenant as a holdover if he doesn't move out.  I would also seek to gain a money judgement for back rent.

At the risk of hijacking this thread...

Despite a tenant carrying their own renter's insurance, there is a 101% chance that the property owner will be named in a personal injury lawsuit involving a dog bite on the property.  The plantiff attorney is going to look at the respective resources of each party, and there is not a graduate from any law school  in the States that would leave the landlord out of that litigation.

In America, you can sue anyone for anything.  And it takes time, money, and mental bandwidth to defend a lawsuit you'll eventually win.

Just sayin'.

I use units from each of those companies, and I've had one premature failure in the last 11 years (n=20 or so).  It was replaced for free as it was prior to the 10 year lifespan.

However, I have had multiple false alarms due to environmental conditions.  Namely, excess heat and humidity.  This has happened several times over the years.  The local fire department has shared with me that this is indeed "a thing."  Since the units are using a photoelectric eye, condensation caused by warm air can create a false alarm.  I even had one trigger just from heat (not humidity) in a vacant second floor unit in the middle of the summer.

My solution has been to ensure those conditions are not created in these spaces, whether than means opening a window in the basement and using a box fan in the summer, or cracking open leeward windows on the second floor (in a manner to prevent water intrusion during heavy rain) on opposite ends of the building to create a bit of airflow in the summer.

Lastly, I'll throw this out there in the category of "trust, but verify" - are you absolutely sure this is not tenant caused?  I routinely have alarms triggered by inept cooking or (more commonly) indoor smoking.  Relocating a unit a bit away from the stove (but in compliance with fire code) may help.

Regardless, I think it is very unlikely that your issues are caused by equipment malfunction as you have used two different companies.  You can always try yet another brand, but I am willing to bet your solution is elsewhere, above.

Good luck!