All Forum Posts by: Sara W.

Hi BP community, wondering if anyone has recommendation for a property manager near Lawrence MA?

Thank you!

Quote from @Brenda Chen:

Update: he started his new job here in August 2022. This is the reference from his previous landlord. 
"He was very punctual with the rent the whole time of his residency but his lease wasn't set to end until 3/31/23 but he left in August 2022 without paying the early termination fee and left the unit in bad condition."

Hi Brenda,

I'm a REI from Boston as well so I want to chime in and give you some thoughts.

Reading the previous landlord's reference it got me a little concerned. It seems like he's not a good tenant, especially the part where he leaves the apt in bad condition and not honoring his end of bargain by paying an early termination fee. 
 
And I suspect the only reason why he will be able to or even willing to pay for a 2 bed rent is because he will be subleasing the other bedroom or potentially charging a higher rent for the other bedroom to profit from it at your own expense. 

If you are not too short on cash I suggest you to take your time to place a better tenant. 

if you still decide to give him a try, make sure you do a thorough background and credit check on him and make sure you put a clause on the lease to prohibit subleasing or he needs to get your approval before subleasing the apt.

Wish you the best of luck!

You cannot have two different leases with the tenants or accept additional rent outside of what S8 approved. You can try to talk to the S8 case worker and see if they can adjust the amount if you believe that the FMV rent is higher and see what they can do. But S8 have guidlines on the maximum rents that they are allowed to pay so most of the time their hands are tied. We have had multiple times in the past in which the prospect tenants were not being approved for the full rent that we were asking so we had to drop them right away.

Hi BP community, my husband and I have been using "Lunchclub" as a way to meet other small business owners weekly and have been really enjoying the process of connecting with like-minded business owners and founders. We set aside a certain time of the week just to meet other founders and learn about their entrepreneurial journeys. We have met a lof of interesting people and are able to build connections with other founders this way.   I am wondering are there any similar weekly virtual networking/connection meet-ups apps/groups specifically for real estate investors and professionals? 

I understand that there are local RE meet-up groups, but most of the time they are not very consistent in having meetup events. We want to be able to meet and connect with people in different localities from ours on a weekly basis so meeting virtually would be the best way to do so. Besides we are parents so we can't always just travel to meet-up events. 

If anyone knows of any virtual real estate networking groups please let me know! Or if you are interested in joining/setting up one I would be happy to organize one if there's enough interest. 

Originally posted by @Bruce Woodruff:

Originally posted by @Sara W.:

Thank you all for your suggestions. I know that MA is a tenant friendly state and I might not even be able to collect anything at the end. I'm going to at least give a list of damage and its repair cost to the ex tenants since I am required to let them know where their deposit money goes. I will decide whether to pursue a judgement against them at the small claim court later.

Why do landlords continue to do business in tenant friendly states......? Just curious.....

Well I figured while all the smart ones go investing in landlord friendly states so my chance of success will be higher here. Hahahha

honestly I have considered investing out of state but just never have the courage to do so.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I know that MA is a tenant friendly state and I might not even be able to collect anything at the end. I'm going to at least give a list of damage and its repair cost to the ex tenants since I am required to let them know where their deposit money goes. I will decide whether to pursue a judgement against them at the small claim court later.

Thank you all for your comments. Very helpful! I was thinking about just letting it go but the damage is so bad that I just can't let this go.

Thank you so much ! This is exactly what I needed.

Originally Originally posted by @Patricia Steiner:

You will need to document the damage with photographs and obtain bids to repair/replace.  Notify the tenants of the lost of the security deposit and provide detailed proof (photos, estimates).  Be sure to provide this notice according to your State Law. There are required time restrictions and delivery methods.  In your letter and accounting, show a deficiency balance for the damages and demand payment within 10 days.  

They won't pay...so then you'll file a Small Claims Lawsuit.  Get your judgement and ensure it is filed with the credit bureau so the next time the want a new car, i-phone, apartment/buy a house, they'll need to settle with you first.  You can also assign it to a Collection Agency who works on a fee on basis or "a cut" of what is collected.

I'm sorry this happened to your property...may those former tenants get the karma they so deserve.

Best...

Hi for all the landlord out there, I recently just had a tenant moved out because their lease is up and we no longer wanted to lease the apartment to them. When I inspected the apartment it is in a very bad shape - carpets completely destroyed, several big holes on the wall, bathtub is all black, they unplugged the fridge and put food in there, so the whole fridge is molded. 

We have their deposit but they are not enough to pay for all the damages that they have done. Are there anything that we can do to recoup the damage they have done? 

Some suggests us to go to a small claim court. But should I notify the tenants first or should I file the paper work directly? Or should we just let it go and consider this a cost of business?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We estimated the cost to fix all the damages is at least $4k to 5k with labor and materials. 

Thank you! 

@Jon K.@Eric James

@Eric James