All Forum Posts by: Natalie Cloutier

@Theresa Harris exactly!!! We’re trying not to let it frustrate us out but by the email we just got from a neighbor it’s hard not to be mad because now we’re the ones getting harassed. They’re basically telling us how to handle our tenants but our tenants are not doing anything wrong!

We built a 4plex last year on a country road where several houses have been there for 20+ years. The entire time of the construction we got dirty looks from the neighbors and even 1 woman stormed into the building one day angry at us for choosing the same color siding than her and for building apartments near her house....

Now that the building is fully occupied, 4 houses around have formed a click and are harassing our very carefully screened and chosen tenants. They started a verbal fight with one of our tenants for using his pressure washer for over 30 minutes at 2pm on a weekday... Then they started calling and emailing us saying we needed to do something about our building because there were too many cars in the driveway and because on garbage day there’s too many garbage cans lined up on the road and because their snowmobiles are noisy...

Look I get that they’re mad that there’s a 4 plex next to their house now but they’re not doing anything illegal! we spoke to all our tenants and we visit the property regularly and nothing is out of place and our tenants are good people. All 4 units get along great with each other but they all feel harassed by the neighbours and now so do we.

What’s the best way to deal with this??

@Kirk R. Lol I believe you made a similar comment on my last post and my tenants ended up reacting the exact opposite way :) They were grateful and we collected every single one of our rents. We have B and A class tenants, we keep it professional and respectful and we never have issues like this. We definitely considered this but we’re not too worried :) thanks for your input though  

@Chris London thanks Chris! ya taking it case by case might be better. I just feel awkward sending them the bill right now.

Hey guys!

We have 12 units and the quarterly water/sewer bill is due this month. The tenants are responsible for that but the city only sends the bill to the owner so we usually send them a copy by email and the tenants send e-transfers. We’re debating offering to pay it for this one time due to the circumstances (obviously we would make this clear in an email). We’re hoping they’ll be grateful and it’ll help us collect 100% of the rents for May. We would use our stimulus check to cover the expense. What are some of your thoughts on this?

Kindly share your opinions :)

Thanks

Not rated to Real Estate but we are beginners in the stock market and figured this might be a good place to ask for book recommendations!

Thanks everyone :)

Just thought I’d follow up on this original post: We got each one of our rents yesterday! Most we even got several days early. Every time we got a rent from someone we contacted them individually asking how they were and everyone said they appreciated that we reached out initially and again just now. I still think we did the right thing and I’m happy we sent the original letter and kept communication open. May will be the ultimate test for sure but we’re on the right track at least! Cheers 

@Michael Lenahan 0 actually! But they didn’t all reply because we often send general emails like this to all our tenants and they know they don’t have to reply. Those that did reply were the ones we were most worried about and they said they appreciated our email and that they will be fine for April :)

@Heather Frusco I strongly believe reaching out is good business, but at the same time I also think that everyone has the right to do business any way they see fit and a lot can depend on your market, your class of tenants and your own financial situation.

To everyone reading: This is all unprecedented so we all just have to go with our own gut on this and see what happens. You do what you think is best!

I just wanted to share what we did in case it helped anyone. You can take pieces of my letter and then formulate your own or you can do nothing if you feel that’s the best strategy.

Cheers :)

@Christen G. Hi Christen, that’s tough! Ask them how much they can pay on April 1st (half maybe?) and then tell them the balance would be due in May or maybe do a bi weekly payment plan with them? It might take a bit of creativity and discussion but I would definitely have all of this in writing (we do all our communication via email unless of an emergency and our tenants are ok with this). Im assuming you also took a deposit equal to the last month’s rent when they moved in? If so then it’s not bad if they just pay April’s rent in May and they won’t also have to owe May’s rent you know? Depends of the procedures and laws are in your area.