All Forum Posts by: Scott Lewis

I sold a rental recently and will have a sizable tax hit at the end of the year. I do not have any taxable stocks to sell at a loss to offset the capital gains. I’m still looking into solar panels for the primary house.

I am not able to find many specific ideas online besides the two mentioned above . Anyone have any tricks to share?

Thanks in advance.

@Jason James I’ve done it once. I owned a couple units down the street built at the same time by the same builder. I knew exactly what issues to look for when I toured the house and made the no contingency offer. Good luck to you!

@Marlina Eckel I’ve worked with Dick Higgins in Fayetteville and he seems on top of things. Several of other owners on the streets adjacent to my rentals use him and never said anything negative.

@Joseph Weisenbloom you could play along for a while and get the scammer excited. Tell “her” the check is deposited and look forward to her moving in. After a day or 2 she’ll urgently need you to send some of the money back. Tell her the check is in the mail and drag her along for a few weeks.

@Bryan O. Good point. My “no pets” duplex is a street over from my pet friendly rentals, so I’ve been able to get by so far. Eventually I’m going to have an ESA like you mention on one unit then the others are going to be made as I’ve told them no animals.

@Scott Lewis thanks everyone for the feedback.

It seems about 90% of my inquiries on a rental include a “ I have one or more ESO’s”. It used to be a trickle here and there, but now it’s just about everyone. It’s more the college age crowd where everyone has an ESO.

It’s gotten so bad—- I have 1 property where I allow pets and do not charge any pet fees, but still the tenants lay it on thick with their cats being ESO’s and this and that hoping I will not try to charge them more when the lease comes back up for renewal.

This seems to be the new normal. Would I save myself a bunch of texts and aggravation if I allow pets within reason and just charge higher rent to avoid people trying to get out of pet deposits and such? I did have a property destroyed by a dog ($8000 in damages) once so that’s why I’ve been spending a lot of effort to try to deter the fakes, but it’s getting tiresome.

Anyone have a strategy with just allowing pets with a few exceptions and charging more rent on the front end?

@Alex Smith My duplex caught fire back in April. The first couple of days was stressful with all the stuff going on. The company insurance adjuster was great and very straight forward. They recommended a local preferred restoration company that does good work for her but was clear I had a choice with who I used for restoration. The insurance company paid them directly so it was hands off for me. The contractor did a wonderful job and now I had a “new” duplex.

In my experience- if you are going to have it restored, just let the insurance company handle it. No need for representation unless you sense you are getting screwed somehow. If you are getting a cash settlement of some kind, look at their offer and then decide if you need to hire an independent adjuster for a second reference.

@Nathan G. thank you for the feedback

I have a unit that just opened up and all 3 inquiries claim to have an emotional support animal. I’ve been landlording for about 7 years with a few units and now it’ seems standard for people to claim a pet as ESA’s in order to get into units with no fee’s. One prospect even quoted the Fair Housing Act and basically said I have to take her dog. When I ask for paperwork and remind them that I will verify, they go away... but it’s a pain and a waste of time. I‘m in Arkansas. Does anyone know if there are criminal penalties for misrepesenting an animal to fall under the FHA?