All Forum Posts by: Rachel Pivonka

Hi @Adelaide Wolcott! My husband and I have 5 long term rentals in Knoxville and are housing hacking our basement. I would love to get together and chat about Knoxville and real estate! We got started with a live in flip as well! I wish we had started earlier like you are! We love the BRRR method. It has been harder to find deals recently in the areas we like. Good luck and feel free to reach out anytime!

@Ben Hutto This is a great thread! Did you ever find out if you can pay the intermediary from the gain? Or does anyone know. We are thinking of doing a 1031 on a rental that we will profit 15-20k and we have had it only 2 years. I’m trying to figure out what the cost will look like compared to paying taxes. Any thoughts @Dave Foster?

Hello! Does anyone have experience renting to a recently divorced person and evaluating their credit report? 

The person's score is 670 and they do not have a history of late payments however the total monthly payments they have equals about $2500 (not including the mortgage, the spouse is keeping the house). They bring home $4k after tax and rent is $930. Some of the debt is their student loans, some are credit cards which some says the person is an authorized user on the account and then there are 2 auto loans. The person says the divorce will be final in January.

Any advice? Seems like a lots of bills but I would think they spouse is paying some of them but I guess there is no way to prove this. 

Is the fact that they do not pay late good enough to accept them considering the monthly payments or are they too risky?

Welcome to Knoxville Adam! My husband is a PA here in Knoxville! We use a local portfolio lender, People's Bank for a lot of things. We have an amazing agent that we have used to buy several foreclosures. She doesn't bring us deals but shows us anything we want to see, Lesia Carter with Caldwell Banker. We would be happy to answer any other questions if you need anything! 

Thanks @Colleen F.! I was able to have a phone conference with my lawyer and he said stick with not paying hotel expenses. I politely told her that is what I  was advised to do.She said she doesn't think it's fair and doesn't see how I think it isn't fair. 

In hind sight I should have asked my lawyer first. He may have recommended not being so easy on her because that didn't work anyway. 

Oh well! I told we had to agree to disagree. I will definitely be adding details to my lease to cover this. Learning the hard way!

Thanks again for advise!

@Joe J. I told her I would compensate her for the inconvenience before she said she needed a hotel I didn't say how much. She got a hotel before asking if I would pay for it then she complained about it getting expensive. My response was okay send me a copy of your receipts and and I will look over them and send a check. I did not say how much because I wasn't going to pay for high end hotel. But this was based on the incorrect information. The tenant knew she would be responsible for the plumbing expense if it was a clog from the very beginning and she acknowledged that. 

I realize now that I need to add in my lease how much I will pay for a hotel if displaced but only if they did not cause the problem. I will talk with my lawyer and it. I have an appointment later with my lawyer so we will see what he says

Thanks again everyone for the advice!!!

Okay I need advice again! @Colleen F. @Douglas Krofcheck @Kim Meredith Hampton @Steve Babiak @Chris Eaker @Ryan Murdock @Kaycee Miller and anyone else!

I told the tenant I would prorate rent for 6 days but would not be covering the hotel expenses because the major cause of the clog was tampons or feminine products. I told her to check with her renters insurance because they may cover some of her hotel expenses (I am not even sure she read that part because she never mentioned it).

She is very upset and said she will not accept this. She insist on me taking care of August rent because her hotel cost totaled to more than her monthly rent.  She also said if I don't compensate her she wants out of her lease. I guess she doesn't understand how that works. I do have a clause in the lease that if she wants out of her lease she has to pay two months worth of rent. I told her I would talk with my lawyer and get back to her and I told her I was trying to be fair and I reminded her that it was in the rules not to flush tampons or anything similar. She doesn't understand why if it was just a clog it took the plumbing company so long which has put her out of the house for 5 days. She has not been out of college all that long so I am sure she doesn't understand her responsibilities. 

Any advice?? 

@Thomas S. that is a great point. I want to run my rentals like a business. Thomas do you think that would hold up in court though since there were roots present? Plus if she gets mad she could leave the place trashed eventually. Like I said we are new at this so this is a great learning experience and I appreciate all the feedback!!

@Colleen F. that makes sense!

Thanks for all the advice guys!! We do require renters insurance so I will ask her to look in to filing a claim if she wants. I would assume there is a 500-1000$ deductible though so I am not sure how much it will help her. Thanks for that tip @Kim Meredith Hampton and @Steve Babiak. I did not realize renters insurance would pay for that.

The only thing I "promised" her is that we would compensate her so at most I would maybe prorate her rent and take of those days to compensate her. When I told her that I thought it was  purely faulty sewer line and not a wade of 8 tampons lol. When she asked about the hotel bill all I did say I send me your receipt and I will look at them but I didn't not say how much I would cover. Our house rules are referred to in the lease, which she signed, and they say expenses from drain stoppage are the tenants expense and also no flushing tampons.

I am leaning towards paying the plumbing bill because of the roots but not paying for her hotel or compensating her. You have a good point Steve but I do not feel I need to compensate her since I was basing this of of incorrect information. Then again maybe giving her a small amount like $100 might help her be more understanding. I might mention she has not been the best tenant but I guess that doesn't matter all that much. She hasn't broken anything in the lease/rules until the tampons.

It seems like most of you guys think that would be appropriate. Thanks so much @Chris Eaker, Steve and everyone else for the advice! We are only about a year into owning rentals and this is our first sewer issue. 

@Ryan Murdock did you pay hotel cost?