All Forum Posts by: Sean McKee

In your case I'd terminate. In my opinion that's way too many pets.  I've had someone sneak a pet on before. I worked with them and they turned into an absolute disaster. If they bend one rule, they will bend more.

This is a potential warning sign of a tenant willing to do whatever they want. She is clearly testing the waters. If you do decide to keep them as tenants. Make the pay a 200 dollar pet fee and charge them an extra hundred a month. If they become annoying later, at least you are getting paid for it.

@Cindy Schneider-  Tenant screening criteria depends heavily on neighborhoods and local laws. 

As long as you are following fair housing and any local laws, you can set your criteria to whatever you want. You just need to be consistent about it and apply it to everyone. 

I used the use this criteria for high level screening on sites: 600+ credit score, income must be 3 times monthly rent, 2 years of work history, no evictions, must provide at least 1 landlord reference. We can't blanketly deny people in my market based on criminal history, so I would double check in yours.

I'm in C class markets, so everyone pretty much has some kind mark on their credit. My key areas of rejections are: any past eviction in last 7 years, past due car payments, judgements/bankruptcies , utilities in collections, address/social security mismatches(I've caught a lot of scammers this way), fake landlord references(usually caught through simple county searches). I would error on the side of caution and just go with what the report says about their background unless they can provide compelling evidence against it.

Both your applicants seem like typical renters and both have credit scores higher than my average renter.  Just verify all their information before you proceed.

@Julie Batt- I'm sorry about your situation. The government has been incredibly one sided and has definitely stripped us of our most powerful tool for reclaiming our properties. I had a tenant not pay for 2.5 months and then left abruptly. She probably left because at the time it was announced the moratorium was ending, we had served a 5 day notice, and sent her to a collection agency. In terms of rental aid, to my knowledge the landlord doesn't get a dime unless the tenant cooperates and they have to still be living on the property.

First I would try cash for keys. Offer them 1,000 dollars to leave in like a week and you'll forgive the past due balance and avoid court.  Admittedly this technique has lost its effectiveness since tenants know they can't be evicted and it won't show up on their record. However I've only had one tenant ever reject this(the one mentioned above). 

At the same time I would prep your lawyer of the situation. If cash for keys fails; have them immediately start the eviction process.  I think you can file against non-covered people and challenge declarations of those that do submit them, but double check with your lawyer as the laws are constantly changing.  Even if you don't get a hearing right away, you can at least be positioned to once the ban ends. If she has a home, she might have assets you can go after.

Lastly, while Illinois sealed eviction records, you can still report them to the Credit Bureaus. All you need is their date of birth or social security number, full name, and address. You can accomplish this in two ways. The first is to turn them over to a collection agency. They will report on your behalf, but it will take a few months to actually happen. The second way is to go through a service that will do it on your behalf. Landlord Credit Bureau is a site that I now use for all my units. Most people that are willfully withholding rent are doing so because they think there won't be any consequences for their actions. Reporting them to the bureaus will hold them accountable. You might even get paid back in a year or two when they want to get a new car or something and can't because of their credit score. Just discuss all this with a lawyer so you make sure you do it properly.

Hang in there. We are approaching the end of this nonsense.

@Dan L.- I set it to 70. I tried 68. I had way too many complaints about it being cold and was not worth all the grief. I haven't notice a huge difference in cost. So every unit can control the same boiler?  It depends on the cost of the rewire.  I think you can likely get away with just locking all of them.

@Darrel Hernandez- I did a similar thing. I did a refinance and HELOC. It is a sound strategy that allows you to time when you want to use the money. The downsides are the variable/higher interest rates and the shorter loan duration. Also a lot of banks won't do HELOCs, I had a difficult time finding one to do it.

I have one thermostat for the entire building and that keep in one unit. I used a basic one from Home Depot. This mostly does the trick. I did however have a tenant knock it off on accident ( I didn’t properly close it). They definitely can get in them if they really wanted to. They are more a deterrent and honestly if they are trying to break in them, they aren’t good tenants. They have higher quality ones or Landlord thermostat that are auto reset to certain temperatures. So you could put a case lock over the landlord thermostat. That should stop most people.

I have thought about these, but have not had a good reason to do it yet. Congratulations on your purchase.

Older homes definitely are a sharp learning curve.  I've only bought homes built around the 1900s. Electric and plumbing are the biggest headaches I've encountered. The key is to find these old homes that have been a least partially updated.  If all the major systems need complete overhauls (HVAC, electric, plumbing), I'd pass on it unless it could be bought at like 60 cents on the dollar.

@Melissa S Vrobel- You will likely lose them as a tenants, unless they are willing to buy it.  A 350+ rent increase will be a sticker shock to them and they likely won't understand it. There's a good a chance they might be offended and get angry.  This is all ok and part of the business. Unless you can afford the monthly losses and the appreciation will more than offset the losses, I would not advise to keep losing money. Losing money drains your resources and leaves you exposed to economic shocks, like an eviction moratorium or leaky roof. And the worst part is that nobody will care that you were a nice landlord and spent the last 5 years renting at below market rents to your tenants.

@Krista Olen- I actually have an iguana. He requires a massive cage. I had this professionally constructed and looks appealing and is in a separate room. I would NEVER allow a tenant to have one, especially in my smaller units.  He can absolutely leave a very disgusting mess if I don't clean up after him, feces and skin he sheds.  He requires a rather complex lighting system, that I could see being a fire hazard with less than careful tenants. I'm sure he could cause some damages, mainly from knocking stuff over/climbing on stuff. I got the appeal, but a lot of people are terrible at taking care of reptiles.

You should require them to show you the cage they will be using to make sure it isn't unsightly(future showings). Ensure they know how to properly set up the heating lights to avoid fire hazards. Ideally limit small reptiles that can fit inside a 50 gallon tank , stick to herbivores. I also had a bearded dragon when I was a kid. I was careless and allowed worms to get out....they turned into beetles. My parents were not pleased and I'm sure you as a landlord would be even more so.

Never underestimate the power of people to royally screw up with even the most simple of pets.

@Mitch Jones- I think a lot of this is going to depend on where you are investing. While the CDC moratorium was far reaching, there were states/cities with significantly more restrictive local bans on evictions. I think markets that were fairly landlord friendly before the pandemic won't see much of a change. Places that were tenant friendly before the pandemic are a different story. There was a lot of pent up anger at landlords in general, COVID just put a spotlight on it and gave them the political clout to enact further restrictions. So the solution for landlords operating in these areas is to have strong knowledge of the law, increase tenant screening/rent collection procedures, and to make sure the deal is worth all the additional hassle.