All Forum Posts by: Paul S.

Hi everyone. About 2 years ago, a tenant in a townhouse caught a few mice in the basement over a few weeks. The problem stopped, but he caught 2 more mice recently. I called an exterminator for a treatment. It will cost about $600.

I wonder if I have spent the money too soon.

I am not an expert in pest control.

What if the tenant left a door open or something, and a few rodents slipped in?

However, if there IS a nest in the house, I think it would be good to have it professionally treated soon.

What would my fellow landlords have done?

Cheers,

Paul

One type of "agency cost" is that the agent (i.e. property manager)'s interests are not fully aligned with the owner. To the owner, it is their property. To an agent, it's a job.

Plus, hiring a manager does not necessarily mean the owner can be hands-off. You still need to manage the manager.

Hi everyone.

A tenant keeps the furnace fan on 24/7. So the filter gets dirty quickly. I asked her to change it every 2 months and send me a photo of the change-out. She was fine with it. Then one day she got in a bad mood over an unrelated landlord-tenant issue, and said she can change the filter but no longer wants to send photos of the change-outs. Now I don't know if or when the filter gets changed.

Going there myself every 2 months is possible, but is probably undesirable for her and I. (I go every 6 months for routine inspections.)

Any advice on this situation?

How about asking her to simply text me a confirmation when furnace filters are changed?

Thank you in advance!

Paul

Financial numbers aside, one has to take into account that owning rental properties is not a passive investment. On-going effort is required for repairs/maintenance and tenant issues. Even if you hire a property management company, you still have to manage the manager. Property management companies can go up and down in service quality. You need to keep an eye on it.

Real estate properties are also less liquid than stocks. When you buy, sell or refinance, it will take time, and there will be legwork and various financial costs.

Not trying to sway you either way, just pointing out some characteristics of rental property investments.

For investing in stocks, I would use good diversification, and not put all my eggs in one basket.

Best of luck!

Paul

Hi everyone :)

The situation:

Good tenant. Underpaying due to rent control.

I noticed a dent in the aluminium downspout, restricting rain flow.

Tenant said he tried to bend it back, but was unsuccessful.

I didn't push for "who caused it", but I think we both know.

To hire a contractor to fix it would cost about $250. 

Should I simply have it fixed, or send him the bill? One side of me says tenants are responsible for damages. The other side says it is not a big expense, the tenant has been good, and I don't want him to hide problems in the future.

Any advice for this, or similar issues?

Thanks!

Paul

Hi everyone.

In the past few years, I have had to replace quite a few appliances in rental properties. I find them to be a big financial and time drain for me. I also don't like the time pressure from tenants when appliances stop working, especially the fridge.

Just wondering whether it is proper to make appliances tenants' responsibility, and how it can be done. On this forum, I have heard that some landlords sell existing appliances to tenants when they move in (or remove the appliances if they don't buy them), and write in the lease that the appliances are the tenants' to maintain/replace. Just wondering what everyone's experience is with this approach, or any other approach.

Kind Regards,

Paul

Thanks so much for your advice, everyone!

Hi everyone.

This is regarding a Canadian property and Canadian lender. The lender gave me 2 options:

1) Standard Charge: I pay it off over the years per usual

2) Collateral Charge: the registered amount does not reduce. As the mortgage is paid down, my available credit in a HELOC grows. In other words, I can borrow back up to the original amount via a line of credit, without a new loan application.

It seems that the collateral charge offers more flexibility. But the registered amount never reduces. Not sure if this will decrease my ability to borrow money from other lenders later.

What does everyone think of the pros and cons of each option?
Which one do fellow investors use?

Cheers!

Paul

If that feature did not come with the unit, then I would say it is not your responsibility to add it now. It depends on your jurisdiction, but I would be surprised to see any law or regulation that requires that feature. I would tell the tenant that I can install it, but they would foot the bill. I would not let the tenant install it themselves. Just my 2 cents.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi everyone.

Tenants reported that the fridge has stopped working (no cooling, no light), and that they did not tamper with it. The fridge still does not turn on when plugged into a different working electric outlet. So the issue is likely the unit, not the power source.

I have no proof that the tenants misused the fridge. The tenants have been here for 2 years. They are hard on appliances (big family), and I already had to replace a few appliances that are 10+ years old. Other than that, the tenants behave well.

A repair person will cost $150 just to show up. Not sure if he can tell that the tenant broke the unit.

Replacing the fridge with a new one will cost about $1000.

If the tenants caused the issue, I want to hold them accountable. But I feel I may not have enough information to conclude that.

Given the age of the fridge, I'm thinking maybe just replace it, and give the tenants some care instructions, like not overloading it and leaving some space between it and the wall.

Thoughts?

Cheers,

Paul