All Forum Posts by: Nick Ferrari

I actually added this to my lease agreement and I have to say it works like a charm.  For anything that is broken or that needs inspection after the the first 30 days of moving in I charge the tenant for the first $100 of that expense to have it fixed, excluding major fixes such as Air Conditioning, Heater, etc.

The reality is that if no one was living in that home nothing would break so they are partially liable for it.  Now when you do this and explain this to them watch your complaints drop significantly, many people like to complain but a lot less people like to complain when they're the ones footing part of the bill.

The last thing I do is explain pretty bluntly that when you move into the property you take it "as is".  Now with that being said don't take advantage of that statement.  Treat your property even better than the one you live in, but make sure you draw a clear line in the sand in what the expectations are...I am not here to listen to you complain about nonsense.

@Terry Lao I think you need to take legal action against your former management company and then cut every non essential item on the docket. Which could work...a security guard removed from a budget can scratch 50-75k off annually. Get rid of the nice to haves and only pay for the need to haves until the situation stabilizes. Furthermore start sending out notices to the tenants that aren't paying their HOA on time and let them know if you don't begin paying on top this HOA will increase to $1,400. If they don't pay technically an HOA has it within it's rights to put a lien out on the property or remove them from the association. By cutting your costs and then increasing your HOA by 25% instead of 100% you could resolve your problem without ever having to go down the path of dissolving.

The problem with dissolving an HOA is I have never once seen it go alright. It's just too messy and the organizations you owe money to will not care what your status is they'll just want to get paid.

If it helps I would be happy to consult for you pro bono if you want to send the financials my way in a DM.  Sounds like you're in a tough spot right now.

What on earth would make you're monthly HOA fee increase 100% overnight? Furthermore why is your HOA fee so high?

A few things to consider, are these temporary costs or fixed over time? For example if you were to say we have an emergency foundation issue on a lot of combined townhomes that needs to be resolved immediately due to the safety of the members of our community then sure I can wrap my head around that. Your fee would go up but would stabilize after the issue would be resolved. But how on a monthly basis would you need to double your HOA overnight for an entire community of people?

A few things to consider: 

1.)  If you're dealing with a large fixed expense of some kind have you considered structuring it into a payment plan so you can amortize the monthly payment and it's not such a large jump?

2.)  Have you considered second opinions from other management companies or contractors doing the work?

3.)  Have you considered canceling some of the services of your community?  For example if you have a pool consider filling it in.  If theres a security guard at the gate perhaps switch to an automated system.  Reduce trash collection from twice a week to once a week.

I don't think the concern here is whether or not the legality of this is viable. I think you have an a serious expense issue on your hands that needs to be resolved by less spending (if at all possible). If I were living in that community I would feel cheated if my HOA cost $1400 and either take legal action or move.

@Ned J. Well said this is a business take the emotion out of it.

Here’s my philosophy on pets.

1.) Children can be just as damaging to your property if not worse then pets.

2.) You wouldn’t increase rent on a family for having extra kids.

Therefore isn’t having a pet in your rental really just an opportunity to increase the rent? I charge a $50 monthly fee for allowing a dog on the property and I have an increased security deposit for pets as well. That mitigates most of my risk and the truth is if you screen your tenant properly you should be fine. A person will live in filth regardless of an animal living with them if they’re a filthy person.

Also in my area I would say about half of the potential tenants all have a pet so no point in saying no to all of those potential great tenants.

There are also proactive steps you can take to protecting your home. Installing laminate flooring instead of carpets mitigates the pet concern significantly. No opportunity for them to pee and leave an odor on the carpet.

At the end of the day you want your tenant to live in your property for a prolonged period of time. Allowing their animal to live with them will only make them happier and charging them a fee I think only benefits you because your the landlord whose willing to work with them instead of just saying no.

@Raleigh Lewis I live outside of philly and have plenty of cash in reserve. If the deal is good enough I’ll jump in direct message me with details.

Yeah I don't know  seems like an unnecessary headache you'll create for yourself charging them anything but I agree $5 is a lot more reasonable than $200,000 hahaha.

@Gerardo Lewis I've looked at a few online, including these forums, they're okay but leave some potential holes for liability.  I would ask some of your realtor colleagues for one.  My realtor has every contract under the sun and the best part is his highlight the state specific clauses you need.  Difficult to find ones online specific to Florida.

@Gordon Barbay Sounds like you have a tenant who has an inconsistent income or they're just really bad at paying the bills.  Either way get out my friend.  That's not worth your time and stress there are plenty of good tenants out there from all walks of life.  This sounds like a Month to Month lease and if that's the case I would just not renew them and begin finding a new tenant.

If you really want to keep them one thing that I have seen work effectively is electronic payment systems.  I know if sounds crazy but when you put your payments into autopilot mode you see a sharp decline in missed payments and defaults.  Some people just lack the basic discipline of paying bills on time and don't care.  I use Cozy.co excellent website that helps keep managing my payments electronically for free. 

Hey welcome to the forums!  Wish you luck and if there's anything I can ever help you with direct message me.