All Forum Posts by: Nathan Brown

I like the creativity, but I see this as more of a liability than a benefit. Far too easy to inadvertently cross a fair housing line. Legally, it would be safest to keep all application questions uniform so there's an easy defense if and when the discrimination accusation rear its ugly head. There are more efficient ways to filter fraudulence and other high risk tenants.

Look, I'm not joking about a person receiving injury; that's seriously unfortunate. That said... it cracks me up whenever someone presents themself as "licensed". If he's so licensed, he should have performed the work at that reasonable level of skill and care. And if the work was performed under that level of scrutiny, his own insurance should cover the injury, and his bond should cover the water damage he caused in your unit. If you give them a "good will gift", be mindful it could be construed as an admission of guilt in court.

 1. consider how your life would be if he ceased to be your close friend. Don't take the bait if you can't live with this potential outcome.

2. see #1

3. Nothing about this deal is professional or "official". Not saying it's a bad situation, just that I as a property manager who occasionally hires new PMs wouldn't view this experience as a strength if I saw it on a resume. I like your willingness to learn though and would encourage you to try it anyway. 

4. I've managed well over 4,500 single family homes, and have seen a tenant actually go through with buying the house they rented exactly once.

5. please for all that is holy, put this "solid" deal in writing.

I can't speak for your market so I'll let the other pros have their say. However, in my experience tenants who are looking during the "slow season" tend to be more motivated. You could also consider offering the next tenant a 16+ month lease term to ensure the next renewal comes around at summer time again. 

Is this a situation you're currently dealing with, or just a hypothetical? The remedy will depend entirely on your local laws. Generally speaking though, acts of vandalism can be claimed on most insurance policies. You would definitely want to make a police report though. 

I love your pettiness, but I could see that going sideways against you. The trash being left behind by an outgoing tenant wasn't illegal, but your relocating it to someone else's property certainly was. You just made it another landlord's problem. Glad they never reached out to you! Let's hope it stays that way.

lol that reminds me of the show Arrested Development.

 They didn't mention hearing noises. I like to think they ditched their setup as soon as they knew someone moved in.

This was an older single family home in a rough part of northern Phoenix with high vagrant traffic. The home had sat empty for a couple months while we did some sewer line replacements. It was cleaned up and updated nicely, and passed the pre-move in inspection with no hint of trouble. A few days after move in, we got a complaint from the tenants because they weren't getting any A/C blowing out of the register in the main bedroom even though the rest of the house was working fine. The tech went out and found a makeshift living space complete with mattress, a urine jug and other personal belongings set up in the attic above. The person had detached the vent so it would blow directly on them! We don't know how long they've lived up there and we never caught anyone anyway. The best we could figure is they were gaining access by climbing a nearby tree and going through a gable vent.

Needless to say, we repaired the A/C, trimmed the tree and secured the attic! We also worked out a deal to transfer the tenants to another property. We did eventually re-lease the house and never had a problem since. 

I've tried several different apps for this. They're mostly all good for different reasons. Some let you and the tenants download the same app so you as the landlord can see the house from the tenant's perspective as well. Check out zInspector, Happy Co, and MyWalkThrough. Or, as others have stated, you don't need to spend money on it. A simple google pics account is free.