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All Forum Posts by: Steve Balinski

Steve Balinski has started 34 posts and replied 101 times.

Post: Paint in between tenants? Yes or no?

Steve BalinskiPosted
  • Roselle, IL
  • Posts 102
  • Votes 19
Quote from @Jake Wiley:

I agree with the posts about painting as needed.  One thing I'd like to point out is how you turn over a unit to a new tenant sets the precedence for the unit and you/your company as a landlord.    I am not suggesting that everything needs to be perfect, but you do need to get to the perceived level that you care about your units and have a good product.    

When units look like they've been used hard when the tenant moves in, they aren't going to be as thoughtful about their use because they know it's likely not coming out of their security deposit upon move out.    


 Ohh they do in mine, lease has paint in there.  If they move into a freshly painted unit and I need to re-paint it, thats on them.  I've lived in my place for several years and there is hardly  a single mark on the walls, I expect people living in my building to treat it as I would.  I let them know I don't play around when they move in.

Post: Paint in between tenants? Yes or no?

Steve BalinskiPosted
  • Roselle, IL
  • Posts 102
  • Votes 19

Hello everyone,

I'm curious how many people paint in between each tenant? Surely depends on condition, but if it has some basic scrapes and marks here and there, do you repaint for each tenant?

im calculating the costs of I do this every time.  Leasing fee is 1100/month, paint is $1500 for the whole place.  This means for each tenant I'm immediately $2600 in the hole.  For those who shoot for $200-400 per door, how do you even break even just with these costs alone? That's 7 months of rental income just to pay off the move-in costs alone.  

I understand some of this is subject to state laws, but just want to get a general idea of where to go with this

2 tenants, both of them weren't getting along and decided one of them was going to move out, so I gave the other a 30 day notice to leave and signed the new lease with the one who was staying.  Today is day 28, the one who was supposed to leave is saying his plans fell through and he will need another month.  I had a bad feeling this person was going to end up being a squatter from the beginning, and now here we are.  I really don't want him to stay, but he basically told me he is staying and will need another month to come up with plan B and agreed by Nov. 1st he will be out.  Current lease states anyone living there not on the lease will incur a $xx/day fine.

My questions are: Can I amend a 1 year lease contract with the other person and make an amendment for the other person to stay for 1 month?


Can I charge an additional security deposit (month rent x2) because now I see him as very high risk?

How would I go about removing him without removing the good tenant who I re-signed with, is it the same eviction process?

Originally posted by @Ian Whiteman:

Can't have flies without maggots. Keep looking for the source.

Agreed... I can't find it for the life of me! Driving me crazy!  Did a deep clean of the whole house 2 days ago.
Originally posted by @Harry Gamble:

@Steve Balinski. I had a major indoor fly problem one time and I finally discovered that the source was the garbage disposal that had old food it in but had not been run in a while. Doesn’t sound like the case in your situation, but maybe worth investigating if there is a disposal. I got rid of them by spraying raid on them at the windows, and of course running and cleaning the disposal. Maybe try some different indoor traps? For outdoor I’ve had great luck with Captivator traps.

I do have a disposal, but no flies in the kitchen. My disposal is very clean
Originally posted by @Adam Martin:

I’d say the most important thing is finding the source.  We had a ton of small flies in our house and found a bag of potatoes made their way to the back of the pantry and were the source once we removed then problem went away.  Until then I have posted a link to a possible solution.  I don’t know how practical it is to shoot them one at a time with a salt gun but I feel I could stay busy for a while.  If you have kids that’s a bonus especially if you offer some kind of bounty

https://www.amazon.com/Bug-A-S...

honestly, im not sure there always is a source, the more and more I learn.  A fly or two gets in the house, lays eggs, and thats the start of the cycle.  I've had several people inspect the attic, I have someone coming today to scope the drain lines, but my and my neighbors drain lines are separate, wouldn't make sense if BOTH our drain lines cracked on the same week after 30 years..

Originally posted by @Sharondalyn Botley:

Hi,


I just recently had the same problem and I just sprayed them and the window seals with Raid bug spray and that seemed to work. Although it’s not a permanent solution it works. Haven’t had flies in weeks. 

 I actually tried this, but unfortunately the smell from the basement is now getting recirculated through the house...curious to see how well it works though.  They have to be laying eggs somewhere, I have a feeling its on the windowsills

Anyone ever deal with a fly problem?
I have a duplex, about 2+ weeks ago both of our units started getting flies. My unit has about 10-15 a day, the other unit has about 30+
I had Orkin come over, they didnt see anything specific that indicated where the problem was coming from. Both attics are pretty "clean", except there is evidence of a squirrel (crap) in my tenants attic, BUT no smell of anything dead, AND no swarms of flies in the attics. At this point I dont know what to do. I've been told they run their course, but going on 3 weeks seems kind of long. I'm not sure what else to do at this point.  My tenant has them all over the house, mine seems to be localized to the basement.  I put a stick trap on top of the floor drain, 0 flies on it in 3 days now, they're just all on the windows.

Hello everyone, I need some help.

A new tenant just moved into one of my units and they are putting up a trampoline. The lease does not specifically state no trampolines....is there anything I can do. I see this as a liability issue AND i'd assume it will kill the lawn beneath it.

Originally posted by @Bruce Woodruff:

You usually can't serve them yourself - you can get a friend, hire a server, or pay to have the Sheriff do it. When you show up in court, that's when you present your evidence to the Judge. He will most likely rule in your favor, and grant you a judgement. However that means little in most cases, unless the defendant just pays...but if he was going to he would have already, right? The only good a judgement does is when it is recorded it can prevent the defendant from getting a loan, or selling their house. In order to perfect the judgement you'll then need to go to Civil Court and start spending money. If you can eventually get him into court, then they can force him to pay. But he can countersue if he has the money......

 The tenant works at a school and has great credit.  I'm sure she wants to keep that credit score and doesnt want collections company trying to contact her at a school, or get served at school, that'd be pretty embarrassing, and just not a good look overall