All Forum Posts by: Paul Kubin

Hi, all - 

I have a good tenant who has had some medical issues and called me asking if she and her husband could install a handrail to get up/down the 3 stairs in front of the house.  She is 50's, and "learning to walk again" after some major disability a year or two ago.  

I told her, "Sure, in fact, I'll pay for that - I'd hate to see you fall and get hurt."  I had my handyman go out and he said that they have created a makeshift ramp going up the steps and it is too steep and unsafe (I never approved it).  He estimates  $800 to build one that is safe and to code.  

They're good tenants, but I don't want to pay for that, particularly if she's getting better, not worse.  I thought about telling them I would contribute some money - say, $300 toward construction of a proper ramp and handrail, but I can't pay for a handrail for an unsafe ramp or it seems to me that I risk liability of something happens.  Does this seem like a reasonable solution?    Other ideas?

I own a small house in Arkansas that I rent out primarily to nurses (intermediate-term rental) and have a construction company that is doing a local project and wants to house one of their crews in the house for 3 months.  The lease is in the foreman's/VP's name (solid guy, good credit check, etc.).  Based on the terms of the lease, the company took out a commercial rental insurance policy for their time while there.  The insurance company wants the lease in the businesses name.  How exactly do I do that?  Should I put the company name in the lease as "Lessee" and the president of the company as a cosigner (after running his credit/background)?  I've never rented to a business.  

I have researched the company and are legit.  I'm using Avail, so this would be an amendment to the existing lease (once signed, you can't edit the lease, only amend it).

Thanks, everyone!

Dear Sam - you seem like a standup guy, so I have some critique for you.  I attended one of your webinars (and enjoyed it) and was invited to book a call to learn about your mentorship program.  Okay, cool, I thought.

There were multiple attempts to collect information about me before the calls, and when I asked the person on the call to tell me about the program from the start (Hey, that's why you said to book it), I was told "That's not how this works -- you tell us about yourself for the first 1/2 hour, and then we talk about the program."  He (Daniel) interrupted me several times in an effort to control the call.  It was disappointing and it didn't help me trust your brand. 

Had he been transparent and believed in what he was selling, he would have responded with "Sure, no problem," and we would have been off to the races.  I assume you hired a corporate sale team when you decided to scale.  But this need to collect intelligence on your customer and control the narrative isn't, I think, here you want to be. In the end, your sales team needs to represent who you are. If this guy represents you, I'd say you're in some trouble.

Ryan is correct.  I'm talking about refinancing with better terms after putting a significant sum toward the principal.  

I was just daydreaming about refinancing (aren't we all?) and I wondered if there was a "buy equity" instead of "cash out" option during a refinance.  If not, I suppose you could cash out and then use the cash to pay down your principal by that amount. 

But when might it make sense to do that?  

Assume: 

- long term, single-family rental 

- market rate for rent with modest cash flow

- Refinancing makes $ sense (such as rates have dropped 2% or more since you mortgaged the property with 20% down)

Thanks, Danielle!  I have had some luck with a company called Serene Clean.  They have needed guidance about my priorities related to short term rentals, but they've been attentive and seem to do a good job.  

Asking for a friend.  His wife is interested in notary work.  They are wondering if she could be considered a real estate professional for tax purposes if she worked as a self-employed mobile notary.  

In case anyone was interested, we went through the eviction process.  We assumed that my deadbeat sister probably didn't have the money or composure to hire an attorney to fight it, and she didn't.  She moved out on the night of the 60th day.  Changed the locks, eh voila, it's taken care of.

Thanks all for your help!

Hi, all - 

I have a 3BR/1BA short term rental property on the west side of town and need a cleaning service that will do a good job for a fair price and can cope with turnarounds.  I'd appreciate any recommendations you might have.  Thanks!

Short version of the story:  

-My mom has dementia, is out of money, and has been moved to an independent facility.  The house is owned outright, but she is otherwise broke.  We are loaning her estate 5K/mo to pay for her stay a the facility.

-We served my deadbeat sister who has mooched off mom for years, rent-free, with eviction papers.  Except for the deadbeat sister, the house is empty. No furniture, utensils, food, carpet, etc.  Utilities are on, but otherwise, it's a bare house. 

-We notified the deadbeat sister, in writing as required, (72 and) 24 hours in advance that the carpet installers were coming today.

-When the installers arrived (they had the door code), she fled to her bedroom and screamed at them until they left (without carpeting any of the house).

Is this grounds to terminate her tenancy immediately?  It's going to cost us a minimum of $500 more to have the installers come back another day.  I'd make her pay for it, but she has no money.

What else can we do?

***Before you criticize me/us for evicting my sister, it's not something my other sisters and I ever wanted.  We gave her plenty over a year of warning about the situation, and have tried to work with her, but she will not communicate with us in any way.  We offered cash for keys, which she didn't respond to.  At this rate, we'll be selling the house in winter, and that's gonna hurt my mom's finances huge.

Any community thoughts / advice would be greatly appreciated.