All Forum Posts by: Pete Barrow

I think a lawyer will tell you that often, very often, problems come from not having a clear and complete contract. In this case, you say yourself that the contract sets a finish date but no penalty for missing the date. That's a little like saying, "murder is illegal", but not setting any penalty for it...and it makes me wonder who wrote this contract. Saying that a person shall or must do something, is meaningless unless you say what will happen if he doesn't. You could specify a money penalty of so much per day late, and that rate could rise as time goes by. 

Of course the other thing is to be very clear about the scope of work, about what happens when hidden conditions pop up (they always will), about the schedule of payments, control of the jobsite, etc etc etc. And you might look into what the law says in your jurisdiction about resolving contractual disputes. If your contractor says you need to pay for X because it's unanticipated, and you say he should have anticipated it, how do you resolve that without a lawsuit? Is it possible to include a third party abitrator, maybe an inspector or architect, in the agreement, to resolve these things quickly? If you're going to do this again, ask your lawyer if he has a boilerplate construction contract you can use, that addresses all these issues.

Might start trying to develop relationships with other contractors while you're at it. The sky is the limit as to what can go wrong on any construction project. One part of controlling that is a good contract. The other part is a good contractor. 

BTW: By construction standards, I wouldn't say you are "well past" your due date. Stuff happens...plus the holidays.  

>I have one tenant that mows her own, but I often have to remind her...

Sometimes I have to remind myself how little I cared about those things, in the days when I was a renter.  

>I also used it to line the bottom of the kitchen and bath cabinets, and came up the sides about 4 inches, so if there's a leak it won't ruin the cabinet.

I've been lining our cheap big-box cabinet bottoms with lauan with a tough varnish proactively. This sounds far superior. 

You can put FRP on your bathroom ceiling too. Easy to clean off the mold, if it even forms. 

I wish this stuff was a little better looking, because it sure does solve a lot of problems. 

It really depends on the situation, doesn't it? 

Tile can be much better looking, and should last a lifetime, done properly. 

It's very hard to find someone to do tile properly, and those people aren't cheap. 

You can buy very nice tile inexpensively, and learn to do it yourself. But it's a difficult and time-consuming skill, and you'll have to invest in some tools. 

If you tile around a tub, and the tub becomes badly damaged, it's tough to have to tear out a lot of tile to replace it. And, you had better have saved a few cases of that tile to match.

A surround doesn't look like much, but it goes in (and comes back out) a lot faster. 

Tile for places you want to sell or rent to people who will appreciate it, surrounds elsewhere. 

FRP is another good option for places where you want low expense / high durability.  If you don't know what FRP is, Google it. You will recognize it from gas station bathrooms. Beautiful it ain't. But it goes in fast, and gives you the cheapness of a surround, high durability, and like tile it can be cut and installed around a window where a surround often can't be. 

Maybe the law in your area will allow you to require all tenants to maintain the premises free of vermin at their expense. Then you'd have the right to kick a tenant C who brings a plague of fleas and doesn't exterminate them, but if they spread to tenant D's unit, that's his responsibility and not yours.    

There may not be a simple and completely fair solution to this problem, except of course: no pets. 

We have occasionally had bug troubles and usually just ate the cost of treatment ourselves, although our leases say tenants are responsible. We have a guy who is cheap and effective, and it's worth a few bucks (not 700 of them) just to be sure the problem is solved.

This is a problem with multi-family. Pests can wander from one unit to another. Fleas, mice, children...

If this guy pulled a fast one on you, it's a safe bet that he has done it before, and will do it again. Being sleazy is not really as smart a business strategy as people think. Word will get around, and it will get harder and harder for him to do business. 

Eventually he'll suffer a terrible fate: he'll have to get a job. 

Yes, I've heard nightmare stories from Chicago landlords. In the absence of a deposit, I would be leery of having any kind of pet on the premises...maybe a cat or some goldfish. Is it not possible to attract tenants without pets? Might even be worth knocking the rent down a bit to increase the tenant pool, to avoid the whole situation.

I guess it also depends on where you are and what kind of tenants you can attract. If they are mostly responsible people who can be tracked down and sued for damages after they leave, that's one thing. If they are people who come and go and can't be traced, that's another. 

In general, I think lowering the rent a bit is a better way to fill a vacancy, than accepting policies and tenants you'd rather not have.   

Off topic, I know, but...amazing how these laws to "protect tenants" probably serve to drive landlords out of the business, reduce the choice of housing, drive up rents, etc etc etc. I know nothing I hear is making me eager to move to Chicago and invest my life savings in rental properties.  

We had one tenant with pit bulls. Never again. Scared hell out of the neighbors and chewed hunks out of the basement staircase treads. And it was a struggle getting them (the dogs) out. 

I guess you'd say these dogs were also "aggressive but ultimately friendly." Well, what if one day they start out aggressive and don't feel like being friendly in the end? 

These fierce breeds can be very sweet dogs, and I have known a lot of German Shepherds and Dobermans that were. But you never really know a dog unless you own it, so the safe answer is , "No." 

If you're going to be in the property business, you have to make a lot of decisions based on, "What's in it for me?" I don't see what's in it for you, ever, to rent to a guy with a pit bull.

You owe it to tenants to provide a clean, functional, well-maintained living space. You don't owe it to them to accommodate their potentially unpredictably murderous beasts.  

You have a tenant already there with a pit, so perhaps you're stuck with that dog by the terms of the lease. I'd say don't renew that lease. 

I know one very successful OOS  guy who spends so much time here that he is on a first-name-basis in more pubs and restaurants than I am. Knows the neighborhoods block by block. The guy flies in from 1100 miles away, keeps a pickup in storage here; spends months here every year, working on his properties, driving around, going to meetups, getting to know wholesalers... 

He's still at a disadvantage compared to a local, but not by much, because of the way he has educated himself. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that the city has experienced rapid change over the last few years. This is from a 2-year-old post: "I tend to have stay-away zones for example North: between 30th and 38th, east/west between Crown Hill and Fall Creek." (note: Crown Hill to Fall Creek is actually west-east). 

Some of that still applies, but the easternmost part of that zone comprises Mapleton-Fall Creek and East Fall Creek. Mapleton Fall Creek has been rehabbed and gentrified at a stunning pace over the last few years, and East Fall Creek was in better shape to start with, I think, and has also come up. 

We bought a lot of stuff in both areas at good prices a few years back, but those deals are just not there anymore. The area is still mixed, but it has made amazing progress, and my feeling is that it is past the tipping point and will continue to improve. Now it might still be considered a "stay-away zone"...because it is priced out. 

We have one nice house on a charming block right in the heart of what ten years ago was called "The Murder Triangle," which gives you sort of a feel for the change that has occurred. 

The westernmost part of the zone described above is still probably not a place you want to invest in or spend your vacation.