All Forum Posts by: Natalia Collini

I appreciate all your responses. And @Andrey Y. I realize this. I'm a newbie investor myself which was why I was interested in hearing the landlord perspective on the situation rather than the tenants. 

Thank you all VERY much for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. I am now armed with information and ideas that I can take action on. 

Then are you saying that I can break my lease without having to pay 2 months rent? 

Two weeks ago my ground level apartment flooded due to heavy rainfall. I figured this was coming. Every time it rains hard the water does not drain properly into the two drains off my porch and my porch disappears under water, then the water starts coming in under the sliding door. Then two weeks ago it more than came in. It was halfway into the living room and it seeped in to the bedroom under through the outer walls as well. Our king size foam mattress soaked up all that water and got ruined. We contacted the property managers, they sent someone out to clean the carpets and we got an industrial fan for two days to dry out the carpet. They told us they would call a contractor to figure out the problem, but warned us that it would take time because they have to get bids in. They gave us a couple sandbags to set outside our door. We bought ourselves a new mattress (and a waterproof mattress cover to put on like a boat for future protection.)

On Sunday it rained and flooded again. Both bedroom and living room wet. The sandbags did absolutely nothing. The next day was Memorial Day so the best the maintenance staff could do was bring in a little shop vac to try and get out some of the water and there was a discussion of trying to shore up the outside to keep this from happening again. Last night, it rained again and even more water came in than did on Sunday. It hadn't even finished drying yet! My apartment is starting to smell like mildew and my kids are playing in this damp living room space. The property management team is starting to get really aggravated with us for coming in with every new rainfall and my understanding is that the worst of the rain season hasn't even hit yet! 

I've been looking to see what rights I have as a tenant in this situation and I'm slightly confused. I plan on calling my community legal services to get some assistance in the next step, but I had wanted to post on here and see what others have to say. What can and should I do? I've been reading about withholding rent and using it to potentially pay for the repairs to the structure but I'm a little confused about when that part happens. Our rent is due today so would that mean I have to pay today and then wait another 30 days (and who knows how many rainfalls) before I can actually do something about this?

The last conversation I had with maintenance about the flooding was more along the lines of "we are getting ready to tear this building down" rather than "we've heard back from a couple contractors and are getting ready to remediate the issue" so it doesn't sound like there are any solutions looming on the horizon. 

Help, what can we do? I don't like living this way! This is actually worse than the substandard housing that I had grown accustomed to while living in Alaska!

I have mixed thoughts on the idea. On the one hand I love the idea of the stable income that Section 8 would bring in. On the other hand, the class of tenants that {usually} accompany the Section 8 vouchers is worrisome to me. On the OTHER hand (lol) I myself have applied for housing assistance in the past, so I am sure there are many other people like myself out there looking for good housing. Properly vetting any potential tenants would reduce the risk of course, but it's still something to think about.

I think what we will end up doing is advertising our properties "section 8 welcome to apply" and see how it goes. We certainly won't know until we try. :-)

Hi @Caroline Apostolos! Where in Alaska? My family just moved to Orlando from Nome and we're also new to the REI game. So far I've found Bigger Pockets to be very helpful both in the learning department and with networking. So welcome, and I hope it helps you find everything you need.

It'd be great to connect. I'm sure there are lots of things we could relate to, both having lived in Alaska. Hope you have an awesome week!

~Natalia

Congrats on #27! How exciting for you. :-)

Thanks for sharing your story! I will remember to always expect the worst case scenario when I start putting in offers oh houses thanks to what I just read right here. :-)

Hello and welcome. I'm a stay at home mom like your wife and have similar aspirations. I'm currently working on getting my real estate license mainly so that I can have access to the MLS. With 5 young kids and a crazy work schedule my husband and I just figure that it would be easier to have insider access to MLS and the properties themselves, rather than having to work with an agent and working around someone else's busy schedule.

Good to meet ya, and see you around!

~Natalia

@Paul Timmins Thanks for your response! I certainly feel like I'm on the right track after reading your comment. I've read the beginner's guide, I'm a regular listener of the podcast, I've attended one local meeting and am planning on attending another this week, and I just recently finished both of J Scott's books. AND I've already gone through the experience of trying to purchase a HUD home. The deal fell through because ultimately the home was in too much disrepair to qualify for an FHA loan, but I got the experience of going through the process!

Now I need to go and download this latest book. 

Thanks for the encouragement! Have a fantastic week. :-)

@Thomas Franklin Thank you for the wealth of information! It never ceases to amaze me how much more I can learn just from reading comments here in the forums. I appreciate the time you gave to offer me this info. 

I would love to collaborate with you. I will send you a private message. :-)