All Forum Posts by: Ralph Noack

I agree with Bruce Woodruff. As for us, we only offer pet-free units in our portfolio.  Now, nothing in my jurisdiction (Ontario, Canada) stops a tenant from acquiring a pet or 5 after they have moved in. But if they are a nuisance to me or anyone else I have to deal with it. But as we only offer Pet-free units, we have had loads of potential tenants tell us that their pets are emotional support animals. Personally, I don't believe a single one of them. They are basically starting off our relationship with a lie. That's a hard pass. I'll wait 6 months for an honest applicant before I take on a full-on liar. What's to trust in a relationship if this is how it starts? You have all the power before your tenant moves in by picking your tenants wisely. Depending on how tenant-friendly your jurisdiction is this is your only hope.  For me, I lose a lot of power once my tenants are in so I use all my power before they move in. My tenants are trained from day one to operate under my conditions. I'm not a landlord under their conditions. These people will be trouble forever. Once they know you're a pushover, it won't stop.

**This is important** You don't need to lie to them about it. You don't need to be the same as them, stooping to their level. Hold your head up. You expect honesty from them, be honest in your dealings with them. Does it make sense to lie to them if you are upset about them lying to you?

Figure out what you want in your business. Just move on to other applicants. If they inquire or ask for an update, you can simply & honestly say that you haven't chosen a tenant yet (if that's true), and if you have no intention of taking them on as a tenant, you are free to say that they haven't met your requirements for successful tenancy. You don't need to go into it. But if you do, be kind & professional, not judgmental or accusing. And if they pressure you, that's a great indicator that you need to move on.

Don't take it personally either. That's an easy trap. This is business. You're not in this to make friends. You're here to make money, but in a professional manner. And we know that's the case, because you came to Bigger Pockets Forums to resolve a professional question. Dirtbag landlords don't care about this stuff. People of integrity do. Congratulations on being a person of integrity. Hold your head up high. Conduct yourself in manner worthy.

Don't take it as a shoulder shrug. We're genuinely stuck.

I agree with your points. However, I chose to be an investor in a highly tenant-friendly jurisdiction. Thus far I have had no grounds to evict her. Legally! She gets to stay as long as she likes if there are no violations.

As this is an inherited tenant, she has not signed a lease. Certainly not with us. She's been there for 13 years & I'm sure it was all verbal. It's kind of the wild west at her place. That's the unfortunate part. I knew I'd have some headache as a result. Admittedly, we could have handled it better from the day of purchase. We could have/should have done all sorts of things better with the inherited tenant.

Rookie mistake.

2nd footnote to the above post...
This is an inherited tenant, not one that we placed.
And otherwise, although she pays 1/2 of the current market rent, she has been no problem for us for the 2+ years that we've had the house. No issues. Nice lady.

As a footnote to the above post, I don't for a minute believe that a passerby would have broken the window. I'm just giving her the benefit of the doubt for the sake of this argument. 
As for the dog waste, I know that someone in the neighbourhood  (not necessarily the guy next door) is regularly leaving messes on our property, so I don't think it's her dog. But it is the house that she's entrusted with.

Hello BP.

I have a tenant with 2 unfortunate situations that I need to deal with. This is a corner lot house. In a residential area. Not terribly busy but gets enough foot traffic. Lots of people walking their dogs.

Situation #1:

Recently, I noticed a broken window on the main floor. 1 of 3 panes of glass on a larger window. The storm window was broken but the inside (real window) was not broken. Right in front of the window was a hockey net  & a bunch of hockey pucks (10 or so) & sticks. A week or 2 later the window next to it was broken. Also with the hockey net out front.  This window is perhaps 15' from the sidewalk. The lady tenant has a teenage boy that likes to take shots against the brick wall I guess? Don't know really. I sent her an email to address the 2 broken windows: A) what happened & B) why didn't you tell me (it's been a while)? To my amazement, her response was, "Oh, I thought I told you about that. I don't know how that happened. It wasn't my son, I know that much. I came home one day & saw that there was a ball/puck inside the window. I figured someone walking down the street threw it at the house."

Q1. Who is supposed to pay for the windows?

Situation #2:

We did our inspections of the place last week & were found a lot of dog turds. Side yard, on the sidewalk, on the driveway, in the rear yard. She recently acquired a dog (maybe 6 months ago). I have passed by before & noticed messes in the yard & asked her to look after it; she was happy to comply. The neighbour there is a dog trainer. He's got a bunch of dogs there all the time. He's constantly walking dogs. Whenever I have seen his dog 'using' our property, he cleans up. However, he is a bit of a nuisance in the community and many people have said bad things about him & his dogs to me (i.e. he doesn't clean up after his dogs). I've had the place for 2+ years and every time I go there, it doesn't take long to find dog mess on the sidewalk or in our yard or in our driveway (which happens to be right next to his house). So there's a mess there all the time. When we asked the tenant to clean it up (cuz we thought it was from her dog),  she responded, "My dog only goes in the rear yard. I'll clean it up tomorrow. The other mess is from the neighbour. He never cleans up after his dogs."

Q2. Who is supposed to clean up the dog waste?

My thoughts:

To me, it seems that if you leave a hockey net & pucks/balls out front (within 15' of the sidewalk) & someone else touches it & wrecks the house, then you are responsible for what happened with your hockey gear to the house that you are renting. Don't want to be responsible for someone else damaging the house that you are renting? Then move your stuff out of eyesight to the backyard.

To me, it seems that if you are renting a house, you look after the place. Neighbour decides not to clean up after his dog, you have the option of talking with your neighbor about resolving the matter, you could set up a camera or 2 to monitor who isn't cleaning up after their dog, and confront him/her or even go to the bylaw enforcement officer or police if you like or you could just humbly clean it up & say "Oh well. I don't want my property to look like a mess so, I'll clean it up, because I'm a good citizen." If it was your hose you would likely do the same. As my tenant, I expect you to treat my property well. Garbage floating around? Clean it up. Even if its not mine.

I can't help that my neighbour is a wiener & doesn't clean up after his dog. But that doesn't make it my issue to deal with.  I don't live there.

I say, "Too easy to absolve yourself of responsibility!"

Thoughts please?

Thanks.

Ralph

Does someone have a spreadsheet that they would be willing to share to help me price out a project? Or know where I can get one on the internet?

Project starts with a gutted basement, then gets the full treatment: framed walls, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, Insulation, drywall & taper, flooring, interior doors, baseboards & window/door casings, kitchen install, bathroom, tiles., appliances, etc.

Also, if it had allowances for employees, Overhead, mark up, management fees etc, etc.

Thanks

Hello,
I'd be interested in hearing from anyone that has built an ADU from scratch in  Canada, even better if in Southern Ontario. I am researching for a new build ADU and was hoping to speak with someone that has done one.

Cheers

Greetings BP

A month ago I bought a property that had a legal duplex on it for a reasonable price (whatever that is these days). We originally had in mind to fix it up & rent it out to add to our portfolio of rentals. Now that a few weeks have passed, we have decided to knock the house down, sever the lots into 3 & build townhouses, then sell them. It's all going to work according to local Zoning & it's a beautiful property: 66'x124', mature neighbourhood, lots of large trees. There's a good chance that we can obtain another 12-25' in width from the city (an old rail line that runs adjacent to the property).

So the property is ideal for it. Our market is great for this type of thing. Profits should be quite nice. Admittedly, this is a new aspect of investing that I am unfamiliar with. We have done a handful of BRRRRs with construction costs of up to $120,000 on a single house, where I acted as the GC. But this is another level altogether. I'm told to expect $350K-$400K/unit construction costs with city fees. Tarion warranty for new builds (we are in Brantford, Southern Ontario, Canada).

Big money. Large risk. Long, drawn-out project. Likely to hire a builder to look after it.

I have no experience in this. Anyone able to point me in the direction of what type of people I should be speaking with first? City? Lawyers? Developer? Architect?

I know a few builders & designers that I could contact.

I'm not sure if I should tender out the build and hand the entire thing over or get a JV partner or a few partners. We had in mind to raise private money for the project. But if someone has a better way to deal with the financing, I'm all ears.

If anyone has had experience with this kind of thing I'd love to hear from you.