All Forum Posts by: Bill Bell

I had similar experience with a moldy shower door for which tenant wanted resolved.  Given all the channels and hard to reach spots to clean out mold (plus it was old), I simply removed and replaced with a rod and curtain.  Rod and curtain is much easier maintenance.

The property is in a resort as compared to a metro market, thus we do not see much CEO/corporate traffic in the area.  

As for the standard rental pool in this area, it appears to comprise standard small/chain retail business, local gov/schools, medical, construction, and special projects efforts.  Additionally, may find people who wish to relocate to "the beach" as early retirees.

There is also a robust season "weekly" rental market, though the properties specific to this arena tend to be large multi-million dollar properties hosting large groups of people on vacation for a week at a time.  High weekly income, though high maintenance, property mgmt costs and short season rental window (less than 6 months annually).  Supply is also high for this market, relative to demand.

All in all, I can find fits for this particular property within the tenant prospect pool, though as compared my other "basic" properties, this one requires a bit more selective screening which is both a positive and negative. 

I converted a house I previously lived in (my previously single batchelor pad) to an annual lease term rental.  The property is higher end with bamboo floors, stainless kitchen, butcher block/steel covered bar, separate studio office/building, and a 7 person sunken hot tub.  All in all, its an "attractive" rental, but could be a liability nightmare, given the sunken hot tub and higher end appliances.  

I have to be quite selective with tenant screening and though I have a large pool of prospects, it still remains a challenge to find the right fit for a property such as this with considerations ranging small children (liability concerns only) to pets.  

I have considered removing the hot tub and its supporting sunken deck, though it is quite an attractive feature both from a rental as well as sales perspective.  Of all my properties this one generates the highest CF return when all is running smooth.

All in all, I wanted to gauge thoughts on higher end SFH long term (annual lease) rentals and properties with these types of amenities. Are they worth it?

$10 to 20 dollar "pet rent" added to monthly rental bill.  Tenants never have issue with "pet rent" and I set a 2x deposit (max in my state) anyway to cover any issues via pets or tenants.

Regarding fish, this can be risky especially if in a tank (10 gal or greater).  Risk of leakage, breakage, humidity, etc...  Unless its a ground floor space and over hardened flooring (tile or related), fish tanks can be risky.

I have a ductless in one of my units supporting about 450 sqf living space.  The system works well for heating and cooling; however, fails for dehumidification, especially during hot muggy summer months.  Not sure where property is located; but if you go ductless you may have to consider separate humidity control.

Once I supplemented my ductless system with a separate dehumidifier system, it actually helped with a drying cooling and brought down the load on the ductless system.  

Frankly, given the nature of the internet, a person's activity online is basically documented, searchable, and available regardless of whether they like it or not.  As noted in this thread, a tenant prospect has just as much capability to "google" a landlord as a landlord has to "google" a tenant.  If a first and last name is provided, its basically all that is needed unless the person has a very generic name.  Though in that case, a residence location usually is all that is needed to zero in on someone.

Heck, even all the posts here in this forum are technically available, as well as plenty of public tax record which identifies all property a given landlord personally owns.  

Bottom line, if an individual has a track record online via Facebook, web forums, public records, etc which include their name or email address as metadata reference, Google will find those links.

I currently have a small piece of the RM pie with 2 properties supporting 4 rental spaces.  Nice positive CF when all running/rented smoothly, but given today's financing market, what are the best strategies to move beyond two? I originally acquired my properties in the early days just before the housing market bubble when no doc loans and easy financing existed.  However, today it seems you need to complete a background similar to obtaining a Fed Gov top secret clearance to obtain lender funding.

Perhaps there is a post/thread somewhere on this site detailing some strategies?  

Oh boy, this is great!  

Ok here we go.... as noted in my location badge, I live/own property in a summer beach resort area.  Each summer an influx of eastern European students descend on the OBX for work opportunities and the local businesses enjoy the "work ethic" of the Euro students.  Thus, there are programs in place which match euro students with local businesses for employment as well as summer housing.  

One summer a number of years back, I offered one of my rental houses for one of the programs, given the high income potential for summer premium rental rates.  From the start it seem sketchy.  I was in contact with a mid-20s age eastern euro guy who spoke English well but seem/acted as in a classic TV/movie "Russian mafia" style.  His group coordinated students (who often did not speak English) with housing.  He set my place up with 6 female students (2 in each bedroom) where I provided all furnishings including bunk beds, and twins.  Of the 6 girls only one spoke English, and once they were in, I could only dialog with her regarding rent/activity in the property.  Rent was paid weekly and in the first month all went well (though I could only collect rent at 11:00pm when they were all home from work).  As the summer rolled though, things started to slide downhill.  

The original 6 girls changed, and at times it appeared 6 became 8 or more.  I could not really know who was living there or not and though the one girl who did speak English remained and was my main liaison, it was becoming difficult to collect weekly rent.  Also, all females there were quite attractive, and many males were always hanging around.  At one point when I was there to collect rent, I witnessed a 50-something year old guy coming out of the back bedroom area, and when I confronted him asking "What the hell are you doing here?" he said he was dating one of the girls.  Note, none of the girls were over 20 yrs old!

As it simply became too much to handle, we had to threaten eviction (which my wife successfully handled in person, as it was tough for me interacting with young attractive females casually prancing around the house wearing nearly nothing!).

All in all, when my wife threatened eviction due to all conditions, within two days the house was vacated.  The place was completely trashed from a cleanliness standard and I was actually surprised that attractive females could live like animals (it was not simply trashed during the two day window from the evict notice, but rather longer term disgust with rotting trash, food, etc... nasty!).

From that experience, I have never rented to summer students again and especially  involvement with the "eastern euro programs."

One silver lining for the 80-something next door neighbor.  A few months after the euro girls moved out, I heard that the girls would often sunbathe nude on the main deck in clear sight of the 80 yr old neighbor.  Apparently he quite enjoyed the view, however, his wife did not!

All in all, the "summer russian girls" rental was my most memorable and crazy rental experience!

not very concise, but it is quite a tale!

I see reference to Class A, B, C in this thread.  I can extrapolate the references to understand the designations; however, I was wondering if there is a more formalized outline somewhere which highlights specifically the qualities/characteristics which categorize class A - C?

In NC with DOM Power, we have an account designation titled "Revert to Owner" for rental properties.  Basically, it allows for easy transition of the account from owner to renter and back, however, ultimately the owner is responsible for any unpaid bills.  Though hopefully the security deposit should handle any outstanding/unpaid bills.  

Note, regarding SD, in NC, 2x rent is the maximum SD draw allowed.  I have starting requiring that amount rather than 1x rent.  Additionally, the SD may be held for a total of 30 days per state code, or longer based on the lease.  This will allow time following tenant exit to receive all outstanding utility bills and/or address any other issues associated with the property following tenant exit.  It also allows continued contact with the vacated tenant for a period of time in case any other issues arise which requires their attention, or your ability to find them.