All Forum Posts by: Sam T.

Originally posted by @Alex Shin:

@Sam T. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Kait is the one doing Kait wrong. There's a hint of loyalty, but a lot of negative emotions like fear holding her back from taking control of the situation. To your question, Kait's husband occassionally "barks" at them to pay and their last payment was like $1000 for a year's worth of rent. But every time Kait and husband try and collect, the squatters (imo) have all the reasons why they can't pay. Health issues, job problems, you know how it is...

What would you do in this situation?

 Definitely a tough situation. If it was me, I'd first politely ask them to leave within x number of days/weeks, and assuming that doesn't work, gradually escalate to offering their full security deposit back to leave, then cash for keys, then evict if all else fails. 

Have you considered slowly increasing rents to market rates over the next few year to ease the tenants into it, instead of hitting them with 30% all at once? For example, increase 9-10% per year for the next 3 years to soften the blow to hopefully keep the units occupied instead of increasing 30% next month and risking most/all of them leaving.

Unless you want them all to leave so you can renovate the interiors, in which case go ahead scare them all away with big increases. Lol

"The current tenants haven't paid rent for years... She's tired of the situation and the stress that comes with it, however, doesn't want to do her friend wrong."

I think anyone with an ounce of sense would say these tenants who think they're entitled to free housing, and the "friend" who apparently thinks not paying your rent is ok, are the ones doing Kait wrong. This is probably a stupid question to even bother asking, but has Kait told the freeloaders tenants to actually pay their rent? Has there been any kind of discussion about the obvious problem with the situation?

Hi all, I'm planning to try getting as much available money in personal credit lines as I can to use for acquiring rentals. The plan would be to then cash out refi and repeat (BRRR) indefinitely without needing much, if any, of my own cash. I have excellent credit and a good income, so I'm hopeful I can accrue a good amount of available money this way. I'm planning to start applying for personal LOCs at as many local banks and credit unions as I can find, and hoping for the best. My question is, having never done this before and not wanting to badly hurt my credit with hard inquiries, is this a bad idea? I hear that if I have multiple hard inquiries in a short period of time for the same purpose, they can be considered as just one . Is this true? And if so, is there anything else I should be worried about with this plan? Thanks in advance.

Thanks everyone for the input. I decided I'm not replacing it (at least not for now) as to not start down that obviously slippery slope, but I am going to try every possible cleaning method to get it looking as close to new as I can. After getting a few good cleaning tips I'm somewhat confident I can get at least a large majority of the hard grease stains off and hopefully she'll be happy. For reference, the unit is in metro Atlanta and rents for $1550. Worst case scenario I'll buy a basic new one in a few months for $300-400 if it still stresses her out and just raise rent $40 next year (which would just be keeping up with inflation anyway) to make it back. 

Thanks everyone. I'm going to try cleaning it with the most heavy duty methods I can find and if she's not satisfied I'll pony up for a new one. She's a seemingly great tenant and I don't want to miss out on potentially keeping her for years.

Originally posted by @Cee Small:

@Sam T. How long have the grease stains been there? How long has she been a tenant using this stove?

 I just bought the place a few months ago and the oven came with it as it is. The tenant just moved in, so I know she didn't do it.

I'm a new landlord and not quite sure what to do in this situation, so any advice is greatly appreciated. My tenant asked me today if I would replace the oven (gas stovetop) because it has a lot of tiny grease stains all over. It's overall a little worn out and has stains here and there but it's still perfectly functional. Aside from being nitpicky with this type of thing, she's a very solid, clean tenant. What would you all do here? I'd hate to replace an appliance that works just fine but I'm not sure if it'll be possible to get all the grease stains off. The oven is 9-10 years old by the way.

Rod, will this be a monthly event? I won't be able to make it tomorrow but I'd like to plan these into my schedule for the future if it'll be a regular thing.

This is probably a dumb question, but where would everyone suggest I find a good, standard residential lease to use for tenants? I'm hoping to have my first rental property filled soon and I still don't have a solid lease for us to sign. There seem to be a few resources online but it's hard to tell which are reliable. Any suggestions?