All Forum Posts by: Miho Y.

@Jonathan Taylor thank you for your kind offer. With historically low interest rate, we are thinking about refinancing 2 properties. Lender recommended to consolidate meaning pay off one with cash out from another property to get the lowest rate. We like the idea but What do you think is the tax implication for this transaction? Are there certain items that we could no longer write off by owning one property free and clear? Thank you!!

@Tasha McCray please send it to me, too. Thank you.

We've used Cozy, and it was great. I feel it is a sign that the prospect is more tech savvy than those who have no clue what Cozy is. As a result, the tenant was not only over qualified to our C/D class neighborhood apartment but also had he have any issue meeting our requirement for the rent payment method to be online direct deposit. However, depending on the demand, I feel you may miss out good tenants if you require only Cozy. For Zillow/Craigslist/HotPad/Trulia prospects, I personally like to call the former landlord knowingly they may lie to us. We request for bank balance, 2 pay stubs, and employment verification (us calling the tenant's supervisor/HR). Also we requested the prospects take pics of current rental state to submit. Toilet bowl, kitchen sink and under the sink and overall pictures to see how clean they can be. Also we posted every single bit of house rules on the ad so there will be no surprise. For example: "Tenant pays for plumber fee for clogged plumbing." The ad sounded like we are very demanding, which we are, but we have been blessed with tenants who've met our strict criteria while we maintain the equal housing opportunity operation.

@Chris Gawlik we do D class only because that’s all we can afford. Then metropolitan LA area is running out of develop-able lands so the value is climbing rapidly. It’s both good and bad. Cons: Yes, we can be in the slumlord category because we don’t improve unless absolutely necessary. Nothing fancy just bare minimum with the cheapest material. Next, with the rapid appreciation, the repair cost has nearly doubled. When we acquired this properly in 2015, we used to pay handyman 20-25 per hour. Now it’s minimum 45 and usually 60 and up. Thus, our funds must be preserved for the event any of the tenants leave so we can improve and charge market rent. Indeed, one of our tenants moved out because the crime rates became unbearable to them. After they left, we cleaned it up and posted on the Craigslist with 40% higher rent than previous tenant paid. We did one showing and the lease was signed 2 days later after we did all the background check. So I guess this should have been categorized in the pros section. Trash on the street is terrible. We have to file a report at least once in 2 months for illegal dumping in the alley. Pros: tenants are super grateful to have roof over their head. Even though it’s rent controlled, we don’t feel the level of tenant entitlement is as high as A or B areas. They pay on time and if not they pay 6% late fee with no complaint. Our tenants seem to understand the simple fact of no rent, no roof. Thus, none of our tent missed rent / late fee with or without covid19. There’s no entitled nonsense the state of California promotes. Best of all, it breaks even or cash flows positive while most of A and B class neighborhood in LA do not.

@Bill B. thanks. you are convincing us to abort rentals in California. We lived all over Southern California. And with a pool, it cannot be 35/mo around here. 

@Scott Mac we already called LADWP. Their response was ridiculous. “You know in Covid days people may extra family members staying with them so it’s normal water bill can go that high.” Now it’s back to normal After having them remove the washer. 250 per month for 3 units I think it is More tolerable than 750 per month.

@Ron H. that’s what they claimed. But if you see how clean they keep their place, I’m not surprised they do laundry twice a day.

Thank you all. We may consider pay or quit. we are convinced it was the washing machine because we made them remove the machines then the water bill came down to 500 again.they were pissed bc the plumber they hired kinda did a good job. The property is under rent control  so we are allowed only 4 % increase which didn’t happen this year thanks to covid. 

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. It is bimonthly so 250 per month for 3 units. But because they installed washer and dryer behind our back without consulting us we received a water bill that was 1500. We wanted to see how the other apartment owner would proceed to retrieve any of the loss. 

So our elderly couple (65-70 range) tenants who work as caregivers for a senior living facility installed washer and dryer in the unit without consulting us. They said they didn’t want to contract covid19 at a laundromat which we did feel. As a result we got 1500 water bill (usually 500) which we didn’t feel!! What would you do if you were in the situation? It is a rent controlled unit and the rent is a little less than 1050 and market rent is 1600-1900. They pay on time and keep the place clean. But it was a big deal breaker for us when cash is not flowing with this low rent.