All Forum Posts by: Scott J.

Good morning fellow BPers.

I have a unit where I've rented to the same gal for 3 years. She has been an ideal tenant--very clean and rent is always on time. Two months ago her boyfriend moved in who is an architect. He asked to do lots of upgrades to the inside of the unit, which usually makes me very hesitant. Although, after he helped me use his table saw to cut some screen doors I saw how meticulous he was.

He asked to install new cabinets throughout the kitchen. He has friends in the cabinet business who would give him the materials and he would do the install himself (ie. no charge to me). Well, I let him install the cabinets and they are beautiful. I mean perfect... I couldn't find a flaw.

Should I reward him in some small way, such as $100 off a month's rent? Or just thank him and leave it as mutually beneficial work.

What do you think gang?

PS. He wants to do more upgrades at no cost to me, all materials and work will be reviewed by me first. Someone pinch me!

Sounds like this is common. My logic was dealing with the hassle of one paying and the other not paying. Partial rent is covered in the lease, but it seemed out of the norm to me.

Thanks for the responses fellas. I'll tell them it's OK.

Good afternoon fellow BPers,

My somewhat long-term tenants (3 years) are a couple. One of them has finally finished a lengthy divorce process and they are requesting to each send me a separate check for rent. They stated the divorced person in the unit needs to show proof to a judge that they are paying X amount of rent directly to a landlord (not combined with a roommate).

Have any of you heard of this? It seems a little far-fetched, as divorces are common and I've never heard of having to mail individual checks to a landlord. On the flip side, I like these tenants and don't want to say something like "Sorry, I need one check. You will need to figure out how to make it work."

Y'all have been around the block. What do you think?

Go back to the property and ask the "security guard" if he can score you an 8-ball from somewhere nearby. If he points at your building, you know you have a problem.

Just kidding of course. Call the authorities and have them check out the property.

This cracked me up.

I'm a young dude, but do it the old fashioned way. 25% down payment with a conventional 30 year loan. Buy and hold.

$20 a year, wow that is cheap! Thanks for the info Nathan.

Would you mind clarifying what you mean by having a "business own the property"? I'm unclear as to what the legal entity would be.

Good to know, thank you.

I am getting conflicting advice (from RE attorneys) on how to structure the ownership of this deal. I would greatly appreciate any advice you pros can offer (I understand it's not legal advice.)

Here's the situation: my wife and I are putting 50% down and my parents are putting 50% down on a $500k property. We have two goals 1) asset protection from lawsuits, and 2) ensuring ownership transfers from my parents to us assuming they die first (their other assets will be split equally among their kids).

Here are the two suggestions we have heard:

1) Own as joint tenants so ownership automatically reverts to my wife and I. Purchase liability insurance.

2) My wife and I purchase, transfer to an LLC where all of us are owners (for asset protection). They would put in their will that the LLC transfers to my wife and I upon their death.

I am strongly leaning towards #1 due to simplicity, also it doesn't rely on someone else's will. What do you think? Also, how does the cost of an LLC compare to liability insurance (for one property)?

Great post Eric, I whole-heartedly agree. This is the time to capitalize on everyone's fear.

Of course you need a different strategy when you are near retirement like the original poster. My advice is simple... diversify. You don't need to answer this Steve, but how is your 401k invested? All with one mutual fund company? Individual stocks? What mix of asset types do you have?

Happy New Year everyone.