All Forum Posts by: Randy E.

@Nick Farrell, if you have any reason to think your father is  a difficult personality to work with, you should not partner with him.

If you have any reason to think your father does not make good decisions with finances, you should not partner with him.

If you have any reason to think your father does not honor his obligations (is often late, procrastinates, takes shortcuts that result in shoddy results, etc) you should not partner with him.

You are his child.  You were raised by him.  You know the answer to these questions.  

If you can say he does not have any of these traits, give it a try.  Write a contract that explicitly details who is responsible for how much money, who is responsible for what parts of the labor, who is responsible for "managing" the project, if either of you is to be paid during or after the project, and who is the sole owner or how the ownership/profits/etc will be divided.  Who is responsible for financial overruns, or deadlines not met.  Leave nothing to chance.  Discuss each and every possible topic.

Good luck.

 My take, as someone in the greater area around #5: Traditional residents of those neighborhoods think the new rents are sinfully high, while newly deposited residents think the new rents are a little lower than what they expected and/or are used to paying elsewhere.  Same price, but two different views from tenants potentially looking at the same rentals.

2 months is a long time.

Hopefully, the landlord will be reasonable and allow you to move early and return your deposit.  I would.

Acknowledging the perils of trusting anything on the web, here is the WikiHow mold page: How To Kill Black Mold

 No, definitely not for drywall.  However, If a piece of baseboard had a small amount of surface black mold, it wouldn't be unusual for a repairman to clean it, bleach it, and keep it.  Bleach is effective for a small amount of mold.  Larger clusters of long-term mold will probably require more aggressive mold remediation efforts.

You can search the internet for information on this.  Unfortunately, some people have a MOLD reaction to any signs of mold in a rental.  I've heard people discover mold in their owner-occupied homes, read about it and take the most cost-effective way to successfully handle the situation.  Most tenants will want to insist a landlord use the nuclear option with the slightest sign of mold, and spend "whatever it takes" to make them happy about it.  

It's the same with many situations.  If a homeowner sees ants in their house, they might go to the grocery store and buy some bug spray.  If a tenant sees ants, they call their landlord and demand the landlord call a pest control company and sign up for monthly service at 100 times the yearly cost of the bug spray from the store.  If a hot water heater stops working at an owner-occupied house, the homeowner might wait until the weekend to address the situation.  [It goes like this: Homeowner, "can you fix this today?".  Plumber, "today for $300 extra.  Saturday for my regular price."  Homeowner, "okay, Saturday."]  If a water heater stops working at a rental, the tenant always calls immediately and wants a new water heater installed by the end of the day.

It's just the way it is.

 It's investor mentality versus occupant (whether homeowner or tenant) mentality.

In most cases, the landlord's perspective is to treat an investment as an investment.  If there is an identified leak in the roof caused by something other than a roof-full of old inadequate, address the leak itself, don't replace the entire roof.  If there is water damage on one small area of the wall, repair that damage, don't pull out all the walls in the room, install all new drywall, new tile, and repaint the entire room.  It's an investment, not a beautification project.  If, during the repair, it is discovered that a cost-effective product can be used instead of a more expensive product (the baseboard issue you mentioned) a businessperson might decide to do what makes the most sense from a business perspective.

Of course there might be exceptions.  For instance, if the rental is in a very expensive part of town where all landlords are competing for tenants who are shopping and paying for high-end finishes.  But generally, smart investors watch the bottom line.

It sounds like you really miss the experience of being a homeowner who has complete control over his domicile.  This might be an uncomfortable period of renting for you.  :)

Hi Dustin,

I understand your frustration in going through a problem like this, but I don't think the landlord has done anything significantly wrong.  You said that after you notified her of the mushy wall, she acted quickly.  And after you notified her of a problem on the other side of the bathroom, she had that repaired as well.  

I'm not sure many landlords would make the decision to pull apart the entire bathroom because mold was discovered on a section of one wall. Most OO homeowners would also not do that.

But you're right that worse landlords are out there.  Good luck in your search for a new rental.

@Dustin Mercer,

At this point, it sounds like you aren't inclined to trust that landlord any more, and that you really don't want to continue to live in that house.

My suggestion is to write the landlord a polite email, mentioning the twice remediated mold problem, not blaming the landlord for the mold or the way the remediation was handled, and state that you would like to move as soon as you can find a new place to move to.  I would point out in the letter that you will leave the house clean and that you expect to receive your full deposit back because you are moving through no fault of your own.  And end the letter there, and wait for the landlord's response.  

No need to add anything else for now.  Some tenants feel that in a situation like this, they should pile on with every bad thing they think the landlord has done, but that's not necessary.  Doing that might create an immediately adversarial position with the landlord.  Just state simply that you want to move, will leave the house clean, and that you expect your full deposit back.  My guess is, at this point the landlord would be happy to refund you the deposit, let you move, and start over with a new tenant.  That way, everyone wins.

Good luck.

@Christa

A large river, The Cape Fear River, runs alongside east Fayetteville.  Fayetteville and the areas surrounding it experienced flooding in September 2018 as a result of Hurricane Florence.  Below is but one story about it.  Fayetteville also experienced flooding in 2016 after/during Hurricane Matthew.

46 Fayetteville Neighborhoods At Risk Of Flooding

Definitely check to see if this property is in a flood zone.

Here is an interactive flood zone map.  It opens with the center being on Raleigh, but Fayetteville is straight down a few inches.

 Baseboard heating is an acceptable heating source and I've used them in the past.  Yeah, you can get them for $40 but depending on the size of the room you might want to go up to $60 or $80 to get a longer unit.  Larger rooms require longer units to adequately heat the space.  Also, don't forget that baseboard heating should be installed on its own breaker, which will require running electrical wiring from the unit to the electrical panel.  If you have the skills to do that, great.  If not, that's another expense in hiring an electrician to do it for you.  Depending on how well you know the electrician, five units in five rooms might cost anywhere from $300 to $1500 in labor costs.

Good luck in your continued search.  You'll find the right one soon enough.