All Forum Posts by: Rebecca Shine

Thank you for all of the advice!  I like the square footage approach and be more conservative than the 50/50.  I'll double check with a CPA.

Thanks!

Becca

Hi Everyone!

I purchased my first property 3 months ago, so there is a month and a half of home ownership expenses that will be included in my 2016 taxes.  This house is a duplex - I'm house hacking.  I know that I can write-off all expenses incurred for business purposes, and since it's a duplex, most of my research has said that I can write off 50% of expenses I pay towards the entire house.  For example, I pay for water for the entire house, through only one account, so I'd be able to write off 50% of that bill. Same goes for my home insurance.  However, the house is three floors, and my unit spans 2 of the 3 floors while my tenant's unit spans 1 floor.  My question is, do I deduct 50% of the water or home insurance bill because it's a duplex, or do I deduct only 1/3rd of the bills because my tenant's unit only spans one floor?  I'm not sure if that's something to take into consideration, or if I'm just over-thinking it.  Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you!

Becca

Hi Everyone,

I have a question about a tenant I inherited.  I just closed on my first property last Tuesday.  I inherited a tenant, met him that day, and he seemed nice.  He lives by himself in the one bedroom unit in my new house, and I'm planning on house hacking so I'm moving into the other unit.  He does have a clause in his lease that allows me to end his lease with a 60 day notice because of the sale of the property, however, I was hoping to keep him until the end of his lease so I could have the automatic rental income, move in, and get my bearings as a landlord first.  The day I closed I gave him a packet with a new lease and a termination agreement to terminate his old lease.  I was very clear about telling him to email me if there was an issue, and to call me only if there is an emergency.  I just prefer to have a more professional relationship with the tenant instead of being friends.  However, since I am house hacking, there is also a neighborly aspect that gets added to the equation.  He blew right by the 'only for emergencies' part, and has been texting me everyday so far since we met, and nothing has been about landlord/tenant issues.  At first I was nice, just wanting to get to know what type of person he is (because I didn't screen him I didn't know anything about him and he's living in my house), but he's texting me about things that clearly did not require communication.  I started moving some of my things into my unit, and I noticed every time I come to the house and he hears me inside, he comes outside of his apartment to say hi, which is fine, but not what you usually do with neighbors.  Last night he did the same thing, came out of his apartment to say hi, and he was so inebriated that he had to lean against the wall in order to stand upright.  I continued to move in my things and then he preceded to call me twice and text me four times saying he heard someone upstairs and wanted to make sure the place was safe.  The texts themselves were clearly drunk texts, as they didn't make sense, so I did not respond.  Today he texted me about how I'm already receiving mail and quite frankly it's getting irritating.  At this point I haven't responded to his last six messages (all non-landlord related texts) I don't want to make him angry because I will have to run into him, but I want to draw the line and say stop.  Has anyone successfully dealt with this before?  He has not signed my lease yet, nor have I, so I could still technically end his old lease and kick him out, but I want to see if I can salvage it.  Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you!

The $200 repair was for something that happened after the purchase agreement was signed, and the current owners used the tenant's security deposit for it, and never asked the tenant to replace that money.  At this point, they're giving me what's left of the security deposit at closing, but I just wanted the receipt and the tenant's signature that the work was completed and the deposit was used so somewhere along the line he can't claim that the work was never done.  The ownership of appliances was addressed in the purchase agreement, and per my inspection I know they're in working order, I just wanted the tenant to sign off on them working as well.  I know it's late but I still need that verification.  

Do you suggest I do a move in check sheet instead of an Estoppel agreement?

Thank you for all the responses!  Sounds like I should have done the Estoppel agreement earlier, but better late than never I guess.  So I'll provide him with an Estoppel agreement on his current lease including the ownership of all appliances and their working condition.  Then I'll provide him with the new lease.  It's really late in the game in my closing process, so I'll most likely be giving him both documents at the same time - is that any cause for concern?

Currently I'm pressing my real estate agent to get a receipt for the $200 repair, but the seller's agent has been extremely slow to respond and seemingly not to care about this closing.  If I can't get it, I was thinking of including a clause about it in the Estoppel agreement as well.

Thank you for your reply!  I will request the $200 but give him a little extra time like you suggested.  Also, I saw you were from North Augusta, SC.  My hometown is Augusta, GA - small world!

Hi All,

I am going to be a new landlord closing on my first property in three days.  I am planning on house-hacking, and I'm going to inherit a tenant in one of the units.  The sellers of the property deducted $200 from the tenant's security deposit during our closing process for a repair, and the tenant is aware.  However, now I am going to receive the security deposit upon closing on the house which is $200 less than one month's rent (the current rent in my opinion is below market rent).  There is a clause in his current lease that allows me to terminate the lease because of the sale with a 60 day notice.  I am planning on terminating that lease and writing up a lease of my own for him to sign - since I'm a new landlord I might as well keep him while I get my bearings.  However, am I allowed to request that he gives me the additional $200 owed for the security deposit upon signing the lease?

Thanks!