All Forum Posts by: Scott M.

@Kelli Parker you said you were a newbie here so I would suggest using the search in the upper right hand.  Search for both Sec 8 and Section 8 and if you sort by latest you will find many threads from the last few months.  Tons of info here.  

You can put me in the pro column of Sec 8.  BP seems to be split, maybe not right down the middle but close.  Posting specific questions might also help you get more specific answers.  

Truth is you have no idea what happened. None.  In addition, you will never know what happened and if it happens again you won't know.  This is why you don't buy a glass top range for a rental.  Instead of paying to fix it or charging the tenant to fix it get rid it and put in a range w/o a glass top.  

We have run into this several times and have reached out to the emergency contacts, generally an adult child.  We expressed our concerns and in all cases the adult child has stepped up, talked to their parent and has taken care of the issue.  In some cases, it helped the parent get early treatment because the kids didn't pick up on the decline the way we did.  

Should never be embarrassed to reach out and voice concerns.  If you don't have contact info I would ask the tenant for it.  Ask for friends or family as you need it in case of an emergency.  Would not tell them it is an emergency now.  Other have suggested reaching out to a social worker and see if they can help.  

You might like this thread  

RentRedi, TenantCloud, Hemlane or Innago (biggerpockets.com)

@Greg Scott the reason they want to break the lease is insanely important as most states, including Virgina where this house is allows tenants to break leases for specific reasons. 

As a landlord you should never disregard the reason.  You need to know your local laws to know if the reason they are breaking the lease is valid or not.

In this case, they are not.  

Landlord is required to take "reasonable steps" to rerent the unit and you can only charge the outgoing tenant for the time it was vacant. 

Rents have skyrocketed in the year this tenant has occupied the home so if you chose to look at this as a positive, that is a solid angle, you are likely to rent it for a decent amount more.  

She is gone and you are not getting your rent.  You send her the final disposition of the SD that shows how much you kept and what she owes and then you move on with life.  

We do this all the time, help our clients buy or sell property.  But as @Nathan Gesner said this is a different service from property management, it is buying and selling real estate.  Good news is the commission on the sales side is far cheaper then the ~10% you pay them to manage.  But there is separate commission on each buy/sell.  

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