All Forum Posts by: Shazia Chiu

We are having a new boiler for two units installed today; the total cost will be $4000-$4500.

Oh man, that sounds awful, I'm so sorry that you're having a rough month! I thought my month was bad but I guess I can't complain...we're dealing with one eviction, a plumbing problem (thankfully the repairs will cost $500), and we need to get a boiler replaced ($3500). At the beginning of the month we had one empty unit to fill but we found a renter for that. Normally these things would feel more manageable, but we're about to use a substantial amount of our savings to acquire more properties, and I'm wanting to save because of some big changes that are going on in my life right now, so I've been freaking out about the costs. It seems like that saying of 'when it rains, it pours' totally applies to landlording. I hope that things settle down for you soon and that everything works out in your favor!

Ah this is a hard question. I got a degree in public relations from BYU (fellow Utahn woooo) but I've done barely anything with it, unless you want to count my small freelance writing business as PR-based (I could have started that without my degree). Now I work in sales and I absolutely love it. As far as school goes, I think I would have felt more fulfilled if I'd studied something that would have challenged me, like business, IT or a science of some sort. But I don't regret college--if I hadn't spent four years at BYU I might have not met my husband (who had far more initial interest in RE than I had), I wouldn't have made some lifelong friends and I wouldn't have had the experience of "adulting" all on my own. Of course you can have those experiences outside of school, but I think there is some value in having a degree. I like the suggestions that others have mentioned about finishing your degree and saving up for a property at the same time. We bought a duplex while we were still in school and rented it out to fellow students; it worked great for us :) good luck!

Hi all, I've been quiet for a bit but I finally have an update to share. The tenant responded to the summons and we have an occupancy hearing next week. I am nervous about this, even though it's probably not a huge deal to some of the more seasoned landlords here. 

What should I expect to see at this occupancy hearing? Does anyone have Utah-specific experiences to share? Thanks in advance! 

Man, there are so many good points here and I'll certainly need to go back through the thread to make sure I have all of this info in mind for the future. Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts; I really appreciate it! :) I learn a lot from this community (as I'll bet we all do). As an update, the tenant is still here, we saw her today. Didn't talk to her though, we've already called, texted and tried to see her enough times that any effort to contact her now would probably be overkill. We touched base with our lawyer this morning and he said that he's filed the paperwork with the court, so we'll see how this goes. Thanks again everyone!

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

"I get hooked responding to good looking posters   Its a fault of mine....lol."

Can someone find a way to get this guy off my thread? Tag a moderator perhaps? I'm not comfortable with this and apparently there is no "block" button. 

@Anthony Thompson luckily we have a good attorney and I completely trust the advice that he'll give. I also like the idea of saying that we manage the property, but don't own it. We moved in under some whacky circumstances (the unit we ended up occupying was completely trashed and had to be totally overhauled before we could live in it; we did a lot of the work ourselves since we were the ones who would be living there), so it might have a bit hard to hide our connection to the property from the get-go. But I do like that advice!

You are right about inherited tenants...almost every issue we've ever run into with our tenants has involved the ones who we didn't pick. And the property management company who was handling this place before certainly seemed to have some poor screening processes. 

At this point I'd just love for this tenant to leave; I don't mind if the unit sits vacant for a bit. We are in a position to handle that and I'm confident that it'll rent quickly to a solid tenant once this mess is behind us. 

Thanks again for your advice! And thanks to everyone else too :) 

It's nice to hear from others who have gone through the mental (and emotional) stress of this process. I guess her behavior is mystifying to me because I'd act exactly the opposite if I were in her situation--I'd be freaking out, communicating with my landlord like crazy, being honest about my situation and trying to pay whatever I could, etc. etc. But even before she started living on the down low (but while her rent was still late and she was in the doghouse with us) she'd hang out her porch with her friends and I'd be able to overhear their conversations, and she seemed completely relaxed about life, haha. I don't get it. We will go through with the eviction and hope for the best. It's a funny situation since we're neighbors and my husband and I both work remotely, so we should be able to keep a close eye on the process as it goes along. I've had some doubts about staying here through it since I don't know if she's planning anything nefarious for her grand exit (whenever that happens). But so far I've felt safe and fine.

Thanks for all of the tips! I don't know what condition the apartment is in, but I should clarify that the people I referred to as "constantly coming and going" is more like one person who has been in and out from the start. I'm not sure if he's in a relationship with the tenant but they definitely work together. We've talked to him before and he's cordial, but he hasn't conceded that he's been living here with the tenant (I'm pretty sure he has been). This tenant has always kept a low profile; I won't see her around the house unless she's hanging out on her front porch or working out near the garage. The weather has been crap lately so if she's here, she's probably inside. I'm mentally prepared for the possibility that the unit is trashed, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it's not, since this tenant has always been meek and agreeable whenever we've approached her about anything. But I guess we'll see. The eviction process should be in full swing tomorrow (I've never been more eager for a weekend to end, haha)

Uhh yeah I gave you a thumbs up before you elaborated on your reply and now I can't undo it on mobile. Awesome.