All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I installed the Automatic on-board diagnostics adapter in my car for personal use (I got it as a fun toy and decided I didn't really need it when the company came out with an upgraded version). I notice the company now offers a Pro version that monitors your business mileage and can be linked with various apps (such as Concur, Expensify, FreshBooks, SherpaShare, and Xero).

To make this work, you'll need to nurture your inner geek (https://www.howtogeek.com/304155/how-to-make-your-car-smarter-with-an-obd-ii-adapter/).

The previously-evicted tenant could claim the evicting landlord was the landlord from HELL and if they are a smooth enough talker, might be able to pull it off. It boils down to your word against their word.

If they were evicted due to the non-payment of rent, there might be a public record. But people who've declared bankruptcy or defaulted on a loan can still get credit of some sort (the terms may be less that stellar). The day after my friend's bankruptcy became final, he was flooded with junk mail credit card offers ("you can have it all"). The creditors at least knew he was not saddled with any debt payments at that point.

If they were let go due to lifestyle issues (playing their music too loud, constantly refusing to cooperate with the landlord over maintenance issues, whatever), there might not be a public record on the matter. Being hard to get along with is not a crime and often the landlord (or employer) has to "keep book" to build a case to get rid of the drama-prone person. Landlords need to tread lightly here because the clever former tenant might consider filing a slander or libel lawsuit if they want to continue being a thorn in someone's side.

When I went to the leasing office one morning to pay my rent, I overheard one of the staff talking on the phone to a prospective tenant. Their credit report came back with a non-payment of rent. But when the staff member called the former landlord, that landlord had no record of that person ever living there. At the time, I thought it was a strange computer database error. Now I realize the cause might have been some bad blood between people. I have no idea how that particular situation got resolved. 

My lease has a strict zero-tolerance crime policy that include no drugs as defined by section 102 of the Federal Controlled Substance Act. Although medical marijuana is legal in Florida, it's not at the Federal level and anyone who is legally using medical marijuana here is not allowed to buy a gun from a licensed gun dealer (this was a news headline recently after the Federal background check form was changed by the current administration).

My lease also requires my landlord to give a 24-hour notice of entry unless there is an emergency. I'm required to notify the landlord if anything looks amiss (such as moisture, mold, or bedbugs).

The brainteaser question is what happens if the landlord legitimately enters the premises because of a maintenance emergency (or otherwise valid reason) and happens to notice something that violates the lease?

Common sense tells me the tenant will likely be held in material breach of the lease and dealt with based on the terms of the lease (charged with the cleanup, eviction, possibly turned over to the authorities, whatever).

FYI -- I don't see any clause in my lease prohibiting a firearm.  But there are quality-of-life items such as not annoying, endangering, or harassing other residents.  The presence of a controlled substance is hard evidence, while these other items are not so clearly defined.  A responsible gun owner will probably never let others know about the gun in the first place.  Who wants to risk being burglarized by someone who knows there is a gun in the unit?

Google "service animals ADA" for a FAQ about the law (SPOILER ALERT:  It's complicated).  Also Google "United Airlines service animals" for information about its tighter rules for emotional support animals.

My landlord is pet friendly (with the appropriate paperwork and fees), but the motel where I stayed when I first arrived is not pet friendly.  Although a service animal may also be a pet to its owner, it's not considered a pet in the eyes of the law. 

I also use a spreadsheet I created years ago.  I update my personal expenses as I incur them and update my  assets and liabilities once a month.  The net worth number I get is close enough, which I round down to the nearest thousand anyway so that I don't get overwhelmed by trivia.

I'll respond with a quote from Warren Buffett: Predicting rain doesn't count. Building arks does.

I agree with everything you said in your scenario, along with many other possibilities. I can't predict exactly when the storm will reach landfall, but I can start battening down my hatches now.

I knew someone on the West coast who boasted about how she moved out of her East coast rental home in the middle of winter after turning off the furnace so the pipes would freeze. This was her way of getting back at her landlord. I have no idea who the landlord was and what the issues were, but some people can be downright nasty when they want to be.

I've been told that if you become a landlord and have no street smarts, you are in luck because your tenants will very quickly teach you the street smarts you need to be successful.

My landlord asked me to pay the move-in deposit with a personal check, which has the bank info on it.  I also provided my Social Security number for the credit check.

Could BiggerPockets be considered a "know-how crowdsourcing" site for real estate investors?

Wikipedia and eHow are examples of similar sites in other knowledge domains.

When I needed to borrow money from my parents once, I got a loan through their bank in my name and had to pay it back. My parents pledged their property as collateral for the loan.