All Forum Posts by: Paul Shepherd

Hi All! Looking to tap into the wisdom and guidance of this tremendous community.

My wife and I have a small rental house that we are moving into and have already sold our house we were living in. We decided to do some renovations to the place prior to moving in. We have a limited timeframe so we started digging into some demo and framing and have decided we would like to add a second bathroom. We originally weren’t going to get permits for the work, but now we’re thinking we should.

My question really is if we don’t pull permits and move forward with completing the renovations, are we going to be screwed when we try to refinance the house if that second bathroom isn’t permitted? Or, will the appraiser and lender just see a renovated two bed and two bath and appraise/lend accordingly? The county auditor’s site will still say 2 bed 1 bath instead of 2 bath. Also will we be sorry when we go to sell?

Is there a way to get the auditor’s site updated to reflect the 2 baths without it being permitted?

We aren’t adding to the structure, just changing some things within the existing structure.

I know pulling the permits is best practice, but with Covid, I’ve heard it’s very slow going through that process and that’s time we felt we didn’t have.

Thank you in advance for your guidance!

Thanks, all.  It looks like I can't file eviction right now for any reason, even if not COVID related.  it would be different if this was a covid related hardship for them, but this has nothing to do with them not being able to pay rent.  This has everything to do with them signing an agreement to leave with tons of notice and time to find another place and vacate.  They haven't held up their end of the agreement and now act like they have a right to just stay as long as they want. It's BS.  I will give them one month extension and hopefully they don't need the full amount of time.  My wife and I are to move into that rental house, but we need to do some work to it prior to moving in. If this weren't disrupting those plans and it wasn't a problem to just sit back and collect rent for a few more months, then sure, I'd just do that. That's not the case however. 

Anyway, thanks for the guidance. Hopefully this does not drag on past April and we can all move forward. If that doesn't happen, I guess I'll get some early experience with the eviction process.  I truly hope it doesn't come to that. 

I need some guidance.  I'm a new landlord as of last summer and the adventures have already begun.  I have a single family rental house and the tenants are a couple with a daughter and a couple of dogs. When I bought the place I told them that I would probably be asking them to leave sometime early this year and had them on a month to month.  I gave them a written 2-month notice on Jan 15th to vacate by March 15th which they both signed.  Well, March 15th has come and gone and they still haven't found a new place to live and aren't out.  They claim they have put in 25+ applications and paid all of those application fees and they haven't gotten one acceptance and haven't heard back from most/all of the places they applied for. Since I inherited these tenants, I didn't have any info on their backgrounds. They had lived in the house for 8yrs and wanted to stay, even for the short-term, so I kept them in pace and let them know this was coming back when I bought the place. He says they have no prior evictions or criminal record. I think they are just being lazy or too picky.  I've never heard of anyone having so much trouble finding a new place.   He says that every unit they look at there are 10 other people looking at them as well.  Them leaving was not contingent on them finding a perfect new place to live. 

I guess I'm looking for advice on how to approach this and how to proceed.  They are paid up through the end of March, which is in 4 days.    This has nothing to do with COVID 19 as they signed a document and agreed to be out by March 15th back in mid Jan.  Should I start the eviction process right away. If I do, should I not take any further rent from them? I'm guessing they won't be moved out by April 1. I'd love to avoid the headache, delay and cost of an eviction process if possible, but I'm not sure how to approach this. 

Nothing like taking some lumps early in the land lording game. 

Thank you in advance!!  

Alright BPers. Clearly it may be an attractive time to refi. I’m looking to cash out refi a small single fam rental I own in Ohio City that is to soon become my primary residence. I m looking to use the cash to spruce the place up a bit. I’m going to need a fairly aggressive appraiser in order to get the spread I need to make worthwhile. Any tips on who to go to or how to get the best appraisal possible?

I appreciate any help you can offer.

Thanks!

Thank you all for your input.  Much appreciated! It doesn't seem that I am required to hook the electrical back up to the garage for them.  Being that they are only going to be there another 2 months, I am going to wait until they have moved out, and will run a proper underground line in a few months when we do some remodeling/updating. 

My wife and I will be listing our current home in the spring and we will be moving into this rental house, at least temporarily, after we do a little work to it.  I'll run the electrical then. 

@James Wise We'll have the electrical hooked back up and the house in market competitive order by the time we are ready to move out and get it back on the rental market. It's in Ohio City. We were charging $800 (below market) on a month to month lease to the existing tenants, knowing we would be asking them to leave early this year. They were paying a lot less when we acquired the house.  When we put it back up for rent, I think it could be in the $1250/mo range, possibly more.  

@Wesley W. I'm sure there are several things that could work, however, if I'm not interested in paying money for a quick fix for them, only to turn around and spend more money to do it correctly in a couple of months. Like I said, if they really need lights in the garage when they are using it, I'm happy to provide an extension cord and a couple of plug-in shop lights for the next two months so they can do their work.  I just wasn't sure if I HAD to provide proper electrical to the garage or not because there was something rigged up prior to them moving in and years prior to me purchasing the property. If it's something I don't have to provide, I won;t worry about it.  I would do it for them if I was going to renew their lease beyond next month.  

Thanks for the help!

@Wesley W. The previous wire running to the garage was attached to wiring in the attic of the house where they removed some of the wire's insulation and wrapped the romex around it and electrical taped it. Simply using an outdoor grade wire in place of the indoor romex does not remedy the issue. 

@Anna Sagatelova They manually open the doors and still have use of the garage, just no lights. Nothing in the lease about power to the garage. 

@Wesley W. Thanks! I'll have to look into the outdoor wiring.  The problem with that is if I hooked it up like the romex was it would still be a fire hazard and the line would not be properly supported.  But maybe as a 2 month band aid...

To add to the story, we will be asking the tenants to leave at end of Feb so we can start some renovations to the house. 

Happy New Year BPers! I'm looking for best practices advise/help. I recently purchased my first rental units back in May and all has been good. I have a single fam and a duplex. The tenants in the SFH called me the other day after a wind storm and said the electrical wire running to the detached garage was hanging really low. I went to check it out and was quickly reminded that the electrical line powering the garage was simply an interior romex line that was rigged up years ago and run from wiring in the attic to the garage. The years had not been good to this wire and the insulation and protective sheathing was shredded in some spots and the wire was resting on the house. I immediately said this is a major fire hazard and disconnected the rigged up wire. My question is do I have to provide power to the garage for them and if so, how quickly do I have to do it? I'm in Cleveland and it is winter now. To run proper electrical out there would require trenching and running the line below ground. The tenants use the garage regularly to do side gigs. I offered to provide extension chords, but I do not intend to get a proper electrical line hooked up, at least in the next couple of months. Do I have to provide them with power to the garage since they had it prior, even though it was a rigged up not to code line? Or am I not obligated to provide power to the garage?

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Paul