All Forum Posts by: Sean Kremer

No chemical (odor exit.....I've tried them all.....none of them work well) will completely get rid of the smell, take my word for it......   If you really want to get rid of the smell you will need to pull up the pad and carpet......paint the floor with any old exterior paint you have around or kilz  oil base and put down new pad and carpet.  As far as I'm concerned, this is the only right way to take care of the problem.....sorry :)

I wouldn't engage the tenant at all.......If they are being difficult, I quickly tell them that our attorney will be handling the lawsuit from here on out and post an eviction notice on their door immediately.  This keeps the he said-she said in check and is more professional. Plus it keeps your blood pressure down because you don't have to deal with that kind of person.  Generally when they see that you aren't playing around they comply (kind of). I just let them know that if they leave now and the place is good, there will be no problems, but once attorneys get involved that things may get expensive for them quickly. And I do exactly what I say I will do......It doesn't take long for the word to get around that you aren't a pushover.  Be nice and polite, calmly expain the facts to them, wish them a good day, and evict them immediatly. Don't go into that unit until an officer says you can. Then sue for whatever damages you acrue.  Be firm but fair. 

When I get asked I say "too many" and leave it at that.......the smart ones realize I don't want to say the number ......the dumb ones...................I don't worry  about the dumb ones..:)   To tell the truth I don't put stock into the numbers because it is really not important to me.  And what if you have numerous apartments and storage buildings.. Is a 32 unit apartment building one rental or 32?? Is a trailer court one unit or 50??  So I just say nothing. 

I know this is not popular around bigger pockets, but I put a lockbox on the unit prequalify them over the phone, make sure they meet my criteria. Then I get their personal info, have them snap a selfie of themselves if they can, then I give them the lock box code and let them go through it. 

Knock on wood I have never had a problem with them doing anything other than using the toilet and leaving lights on along with the occasional thermostat that gets changed to see if the furnace works. Saves me alot of time and energy and gives the tenant a chance to look around without pressure.  Then just go to the property the next day and check it out for anything out of place. 

    I don't think I can stand through another tire kickers life story about their family or whatever the heck they want to tell you to try and impress you, all the while taking up my valuable time on a property that they could never qualify for.  I'm probably screwing myself here by saying this, but I have never  had so much as a key missing from the lockbox. Maybe because I take alot of over the phone information, they tow the line?????

Not money for nothing though ....

working well for me 

Have your attorney evict her butt, and I like to pay the small extra amount to have a police officer serve her personally where she works.....assuming she works.....I find an officer showing up to work to serve papers reinforces the fact that I don't mess around with problem tenants.  Plus sometimes with the less intelligent tenants it makes them leave without much more trouble because they may assume the officer will be back to check on them. It doesn't always work but most of the time it does.  Just my opinion. 

      I have that problem up here too, but I just set the rules from the start and generally don't deviate.  If the if the unit cannot get inspected before the tenant needs to move in, I don't care and tell them they can move in when rent is paid in full before the next month.  If housing won't pay the rent I need then I tell the tenant that I can't rent to them.  generally they run straight to housing and beg them to hurry up the program and it seems  to generally work around here.  You have to be reasonable in your fee's and timelines but I have a good relationship with the local housing folks and I let everyone know that if things don't go the way I need them to go, then they need to look elsewhere. (They don't like this because my homes are very nice and are desirable and are in good neighborhoods. Most section 8 housing around here are in less than nice neighborhoods).  I don't mess with section 8 in the sketchy neighborhoods.  Maybe we have a shortage of section 8 housing around here, I'm not sure, but I find as long as you don't get greedy and keep your rentals maintained right.....(which should be done anyway,) that housing will bend a little to help the tenant out. 

    95% of my tenants pay on time mostly because my rent is due on the 1rst and on the second I post an eviction notice, and three days later I give it to the attorneys.  This gets rid of bad apples and also lets the procrastinators know that waiting to pay rent to me  is not a good idea and is very costly with additional fees and all.  I had a gal that housing raised her portion and she couldn't swing the extra. I felt bad about the deal but I'm not a charity and I had to evict her. 

    Act in a professional manner and it doesn't take long for tenants to realize that  YOU are not the person that they can screw around with if they want to stay in the house. Listen to excuses all you want, nod your head and agree with the tenant when they tell you how unfair life is to them, but never deviate from your plan and leave the eviction notice posted and follow through with it. If you don't tenants will walk all over you with a smile on their face.  Just my experiences. 

I have about 10 homes in a subdivision that just seems to attract sec. 8 folks for some reason. Probably because this subdivision is in the "right" part of the city and without the subsidies the people on section 8 would never be able to afford to live in that neighborhood , so naturally they are attracted to the better schools and cleaner neighborhoods. Maybe NE has different rules but when HUD told me they wouldn't be able to pay the amount of rent I was asking for, I told the tenant and HUD that my rents aren't negotiable and to find another place to live. The Section 8 guy called me the next day and said that if I could find comps for my rents, that they would meet them.

   I actually found comps on rent that allowed me to get more money than what I was asking , so I submitted what they asked for and not only did they raise the rent on that property, they also raised rents paid to me on the other comparable homes that I rented through them. 

    Every home in that particular subdivision is now on Section 8 rents and I love it and seek section 8 tennants out when time to refill a vacancy. I find that if I don't like something that I can just mention that I will need to call housing and report the problem and the tenant remedies the problem asap I assume because they don't want to lose their vouchers? 

  I like it up to this point. 

Heck, I'm not a huge fan of pants either, shorts all the way.  ;)