All Forum Posts by: Drey S.

Thanks, Gerald!

Question - I was thinking that since it's a month-to-month lease (and the state of CA requires I give 60 day notice to terminate a lease that's been in place over a year), I might just try and work something out with a 60 day notice -- and that if he leaves and the unit is in good shape when he delivers it back, he gets his deposit - plus an additional $300 or something like that.  It would motivate him to leave without incident. I figure if I just serve the 60 day notice, he'd not pay rent and trash the place as well. Sigh.

Any one in California  (this unit is in the High Desert) have any experience in paying bad tenants OUT of your unit?

I bought a 7 unit apartment in June and so far, most of the inherited tenants are great. Having only managed SFRs up to this point, I've never had to deal with "bad" tenants, as I have always been the one screening.

Cut to: One tenant that has been paying rent late every month (or skipping a payment altogether). After I put a 3 day notice to Pay or Quit on his door last month for non-payment of rent, he called and verbally assaulted my assistant - saying we weren't communicating well and should have called to tell him he hadn't paid rent in 2 months. (We had called, but he hadn't answered the phone. ) We have decided to keep all communication with this tenant in writing moving forward. He is on a month to month lease - - but the previous owners only took a $200 deposit. 

This month, his rent was due on the 8th. No call, no check. I phoned him and emailed him explaining the rent was due. Here is the email exchange.

HA!

Wow! Thanks for all of the great input. With the single family units I've managed, I've always done the initial screening and so knew my tenants and their histories. I have leases for this property, but none of the original applications and this is a C area in the high desert of California. When doing the original walk-through, there were some things I'll need to handle (great dane puppy in 900 sf - not on lease, pit bull in different unit, not on lease) - but nothing I'm too worried about.

I think if you were to ask my current sfr tenants, they would say I'm professional and generally kind. I stick to the letter of the law here in California and try to be fair and honest. I'm not trying to jack up the rents immediately - as I'm cash flowing. I just want to know I'm starting things out professionally.

@Curtis Bidwell - Thanks for the door to door idea - I will definitely do this and since the owner is carrying back a note, I'm certain they will write a "transition" letter for the tenants. Great idea.

@Al Williamson - Is there a good speech you've used in the past when knocking?

@Account Closed - Yes! Thank you! I am actually forming an LLC today that will be handling the property management for all of my in-state units. I will have the landlords write a transition letter to hold tenants over - then I will send out on my letterhead once I'm finalized.

Thank you all for your VALUABLE time and ideas. You're the best.

Hi All,

Well, thanks to this blog, I decided it was time to dump the negative cash flow condo by the beach for a 7 unit multifamily that will cash flow about $100/ door with the under market current rents.  I just closed and now I'm trying to figure out how to handle the current tenants.

The place was run pretty casually by a doctor and his wife who were friends with the tenants. I want to write a letter of introduction to each of the units letting them know we run a tight, professional ship. I'd also like to have them all fill out new "Applications" (as I have no idea who has what background) and they are all on month to month leases. 

Anyone have any good advice about how to introduce myself and some of the first steps to take now that I'm a multi-unit landlady? :)

@JaimePenix - He went to USC - so the private education was sky high.  

Thought I'd post a follow-up and give an update.  We let them move in and so far, so good (knock on wood). They were VERY picky about repairs and updates once they moved in, so we had to set some landlord boundaries - but now, everything seems to have worked itself out.  I'll post if anything goes wrong :)

@Chris Martin  - Did you ever try Laminate w/metal nosings?

I have about 15 stairs from an attached garage to kitchen and I'm tired of replacing carpet due to pet smell!

Anyone had any luck?

@Cal C.  - HA!  California won't let you even look at your tenant in the wrong way or they'll give them the property :). We took the legal max in security and she offered to pay two months rent up front.

@James Wise - I think that is what we finally decided on.  I'd rather have two workers than some kid on dad's trust fund that doesn't care about responsibility.

Thank you so much for all of this great information!  Wow. A real forum of people who like to talk about this stuff! 

Cal - She's been selling time-shares for about a year for one of the big hotel firms. She's got 50 grand in her most recent bank statement (but I know that means nothing)

Bill - I will definitely put them as co-tentants.  I like being able to hold him responsible - he showed almost 20k in one month paystub (I'm in the wrong business) and you're right - his medical license and clean credit have to be important to him.

Albert - Thank you. After reading through this post a few times, we've decided to go for it.  Weighing pros and cons - they meet all the criteria and are more responsive than the other OC housewives that came to see the place. If we held out for another two weeks, I think we would have had some other great choices - but hopefully we won't be a bigger pockets horror story... 

Josh - A dear friend is the realtor who listed the place.  I'm not sure how we came up with that number - but I haven't had any blowback from potential tenants yet. I will definitely keep it in mind for craigslist ads in the future.

Joe - The rental market in the area is pretty good, but time isn't on our side.  The previous good tenant lost his job and his rent check bounced - so he agreed we could keep the deposit and he'd to move out. We are trying to get someone in place relatively quickly.  The unit is negative cash-flow (-300 a month), but in the last two years, we've gained about 120k in equity. One more year and we are trading into a cash flowing property elsewhere. No real plan laid out yet, thus, my new excursion to Bigger Pockets :)

Joel - That was my initial hesitation as well. When I look at their other bills, they seem to have plenty of cash flow to cover the bills after paying rent (looks about 15% of their monthly salaries combined). We are meeting them today to sign the one year lease.

Thank you again for your advice/suggestions

Hi there,

We are currently screening for a 2/2.5 condo in Newport Beach at $2795 and I'm wondering about the co-signer on the property. 

Is it normal for a young Orthodontist to pull 20k/month but have almost 700k in student debt?  The 8-10 student loans are Sallie Mae - and most are deferred with $0 monthly payments, so his credit is actually 780.  I've never seen this much debt on an application, but I'm not sure if I'm overreacting.  He's co-signing for his mom who makes 8/k a month selling time shares (which seems unstable to me - but what do I know?)

Any ideas or insight would be nice to have.  Thank you in advance!