All Forum Posts by: Sara K.

Don't chase your rent. If your tenant doesn't pay on the due date/by the end of the grace period, post a "quit or pay" as soon as legally possible. And always follow through. 

At this point, I'd keep all communication in writing, and document everything. 

And, yes, some of those items should be fixed. 

Tell your friend that she needs to decide what kind of landlord she's going to be. Unless this tenant is overly exaggerating and completely making things up, this unit sounds pretty rough. 

The tenant is notifying the landlord of the issues in the unit so that she doesn't get dinged on her security deposit for pre-existing damage. I see nothing wrong with that.

Also, Rachel, if you're up for it, we should chat. We're in the same area and I believe you're relatively new to REI, as am I. My husband and I just closed on our first rental last week.

I'm pretty sure I know which listing your talking about. I saw it and thought hmm ... price firm? This will sit on the market for a while!

It can't hurt to make an offer. Let the listing agent know the logic behind the numbers.

The asking price may be what the seller needs to break even, or needs a certain amount of cash do to x. 

Have you started with sending a letter?

I don't like strangers knocking on my door, I'd be more perceptive to a letter. But everyone's different, of course. 

You're not off base. 

However, the first questions is, how big of a deal is this? Is it a deal-breaker? Figure that out first before you proceed.

You can pull up your states landlord/tenant laws easily on Google, that's your starting point. 

I won't even try to give more specific advice because it's really going to boil down to local law, whether or not this is even legal for her to do. 

This has been my experience with real estate agents. It is extremely frustrating. 

My experience has been that the "seller is reviewing multiple offers" response means that the seller doesn't want to do more showings, they're going to negotiate with the offer(s) they've already received. 

I don't think it's a man vs. woman thing (and I would invite you to explore why you would even feel that type of discrimination was a possibility in your marriage, but that's a different subject).

You're both savers, and now you want him to spend. You didn't marry a spender. Have you shown him the numbers, broken down and explained in a way that he can understand? 

More importantly, have you expressed to him what real estate investing means to you, for the future of your family? He may need to hear more of the reasoning behind the investing. It can be scary to let go of a chunk of money you've worked to save. Be patient with him. Ask him how he feels about it, how does he see the future, does he have ideas to build wealth, etc.