All Forum Posts by: Albert Johnson

My local power company has a program where they can lower power consumption to a property(ies) to prevent the grid going down during high power usage surges.  My power doesn't "go out", but prevented from pulling all it's capable of and switching around the system to different homes to lessen the pull.  Could this be the case with your power company?

You forgot to put your location in your profile or your post.

But 1) I bet you $100 every one of their neighbors has their ac set below 80. 2) when it’s 115 degrees out I guarantee everyone on my block has their ac set below 80, pry below 75. 

Almost everything that’s broken was working before it broke. It’s under warranty get it fixed. What if it only cooled to 90? Would the answer be just set it for 90 or you’ll break it? What if this happened the day before they moved in? I assume you live in the same town and have your ac set below 80. 

For all you know they’ll find clogged filters (tenant’s fault if you made them responsible in lease, yours if you did not.), or low/missing Freon. (It really sounds like one of these two things if it’s not a compressor issue.)

Nope. It’s already “broken”. This is 100% on the landlord.  I know people that set their ac to 70 all summer long. Get somebody out there to figure out why it’s not working. It should be blowing MUCH colder than 80.  I bet your ac is set below 80. Did someone install too small a system, did the Freon leak out, are the air filters dirty. 

Ps. Most systems have 10-25 year warranties. So get the installer/dealer back out there. 

 Since you own both units, you may have the ability to do something about it. The question is, is the "problem tenant" violating state or local law or the lease agreement? If so, you can deliver a notice to cure. If not, then you have no legal remedy against the "problem tenant". 

If your lease agreement doesn't prohibit driving too fast in the residential area of the unit, you need to have a landlord attorney in your state look at the lease you're using, because driving too fast in a residential area may be a civil or criminal infraction or may even rise to the level of endangering the lives of others (neighbors). Of course, it depends on the facts here. The best evidence is a video recording of the alleged conduct.

The "problem tenant" allegedly "telling them what to do" doesn't appear to be behavior you can prohibit, unless it rises to the level of disturbing the peace in violation of state or local law. Of course, if the reporting tenant is overly sensitive or has unrealistic expectations of social interaction, then the credibility of the report may be low. 

In general, a tenant can setup cameras on the rental property as long as they are not invading the privacy of the neighbor. That said, I wonder if these are the kind of cameras that require "altering the property" in any way, because there is typically a provision in lease agreements that prohibits the tenant from altering the property without landlord permission. 

In my view, the only reported behavior that could lead to your action is the driving too fast if it rises to the level of a lease or law violation, but you should investigate to get facts that could prove the allegation before taking any corrective action against that tenant. 

Best wishes. 

Do you own both units?

If you don't, then I recommend letting them work it out themselves unless they're doing something that will materially affect your rental. Example: once I had a neighbor that was continually blocking the driveway of my rental property with his truck, as the driveways were conjoined. The tenants complained about it, and I solved it by dropping a fence all the way down the property line and widening my side a little by having it repaved. 

If you do own both units, well then you can always address any lease violations with your other tenant as well. 

Hi,

I am just starting out and have $20,000 in cash invested in the S&p 500. I am looking to get my feet wet in real estate. being a new investor I don't want to get to risky as I am prone to make mistakes with my limited knowledge. anyone have any ideas on how to get started?

thanks,

Abe

I personally am okay with having a cosigner for a tenant because this adds an additional person who is financially responsible for the lease if the tenant is unable to pay rent or for damages they cause. If you do this you can potentially include a higher security deposit but you want t make sure to follow state laws about that.

I understand that people may be improving their credit due to life circumstances. Paying rent can be reported to their credit report which can improve their scores. In my screenings, I don't just focus on credit. I focus a lot on the income side of things, such as how much they are paid monthly, how long they have been at their current job and/or in the career field. Sometimes a good person can just be in a situation, but they have the income to support the rent. 
 

Hi Albert, I would urge you to rethink your minimum credit score. According to Experian "78% of U.S. consumers' FICO® Scores are higher than 620." 620 is objectively a very bad credit score with a high probability of delinquency.

For my rentals, 700 is the minimum and any applicant with lower credit score will need someone else to serve as a personal guarantor. We run the credit report and background of the personal guarantor. So in your case, make sure the applicant's mom is a good credit risk.