All Forum Posts by: George P.

I feel there is gotta be a catch - HD is offering free whole house install with purchase of carpet and pad.

What is the catch? :)

If your lease says 60 days notice and your tenant gives you 30 days, how likely are you to return the SD?

Also, you know the tenant knew about his move more than two months before the notice was given, but for some reason thought 30 days was standard (did not consult with the lease to confirm). 

Thoughts?

could also be a scam. 

most typical - I will rent your house, but I am out of area right now, I will send you a MO for way more than you need, could you please send the difference to my interior designer (via Western Union) who will then decorate the place per my taste.

watch out for the scammers

Thank you, decided to keep but use a legit PM. I may have exaggerated the prospects of the area after all.

gosh, Max - can you please elaborate )))))

ok, I am warning that this is going to be a rather lengthy steam blow-off. I however welcome all and any opinions as I currently have mixed feelings regarding the rental property we have. Its a 3/2.5 TH in Baltimore County / suburbs. 

The demographics shift is very obvious and rather scary. When we lived there, it was predominantly homeowners-occupied community; these days families move to bigger (SFH) houses and tend to keep these as rentals. Now you get to see more rentals (my guess is 25% or so are now rentals), and in them, you get to observe a lot of subsidized tenants. 5 years ago most of the inquiries I received were from Section8 voucher holders. Today I am afraid getting a market tenant would be impossible. I do not want subsidized tenants. Just my personal conviction these are not the greatest tenants in the world.

So, we had a market tenant for 5 years, and I managed to manage the property myself (granted I live 5 minutes away, but ... this is about to change). Some things were frustrating, but I learned along the way. The tenant gave his note at the least convenient time: we are selling and subsequently buying a primary residence (30 min away). 

If we were not in the middle of our personal moving (which as you can imagine adds a lot of stress and financial restraints), I am rather handy and would have painted the house myself, clean myself, and only bring a carpet guy to replace the carpet. But I don't have the time to paint the rental. And I am probably ok to pay 4k to paint it (although the thought of it gives me headache). And pay 2k to carpet it (have no choice with this one). 

I thought of bringing the PM, and I called a friend who has 5 properties managed by a PM. Granted his 5 THs are in the same County, but in worse areas where he can only get Section 8. He tells me his PM charges one month rent to find a tenant and 10% ongoing - ok, maybe I can live with that as long as I don't have to deal with the headaches of 30-min away landlording. 

He then tells me he gets paid by the 15th of the next month - usually the tenant's rent portion is late, and then it takes time to get a transfer to his account; no sir,  this is unacceptable I thought to myself, I am used to being paid on the 25th of the month and depositing in my account on the 26th. 

He then tells me his Section 8 tenants often have ongoing issues with toilets, plumbing, window screens etc. Overall, I make a conclusion his PM is not a good one - why would you consistently allow tenants to pay super late? So ok, I think to myself, this moronic PM is a pass, I could find someone better. 

But then I realize that the big demographic shift from the City to the County (those who live around Baltimore should second this) will leave me with the same quality of tenants. There are similar communities VERY close to here, where 75% of the rental properties are Sec8 occupied. I made the wrong turn there not long ago and thought for a minute I was teleported somewhere else - to the (scarier) different part of County where my friend owns his 5 THs. I know for a fact in 10-15 years (at most) the same will happen to the community where I have the rental.

I honestly do not want to cater to people who never take care of things - yes, I realize not every subsidized tenant created equal, but I have a lot of LL friends who tell me horror stories. I am yet to hear a "this Sec8 tenant is so clean and neat, they never neglect the property" story from the local investors. It appears that Sec8 is a necessary evil no one likes but has to deal with given the specifics of the area. I resent the idea of having turn around costs of 2-3k every time Sec8 tenant decides instead of taking care of this property, its easier move to a cleaner one, as long as he has a voucher. 

As much as I love cashflow (only have 30k to pay off, worth 210k) and adore the idea of having an annuity that pays forever as long as I keep it functional and clean, I am seriously considering painting, replacing the carpet and selling, taking the money and buying a vacation condo close to ocean (we are 3 hrs away from the beach) that I know for a fact I will enjoy with my family. And later I can rent if necessary.

Please someone talk to me.

Thank you for reading it all.......

say, you paid $10,000 in interest last year. what appear to make you happy is the fact you can deduct it and 'get' $3,000 back on your tax return? really?

How about you don't pay $10k interest (once the property is paid off) and only pay taxes on it ($3k) which will leave you with $7k?

not sure why some suggest your labor is free. It's true your labor is not tax deductible, but you should not work for free. Charge something reasonable like $30/hr and provide pictures of before and after as a proof that the work has been completed. This should be your documentation fr work performed.

i think your best bet is to read thoroughly all of the threads in this forum.

this will answer 95% of your questions. For free.

in my lease, i have a provision that calls for the tenant to pay for water usage while the bill comes in LL's name. I call it an additional rent and stipulate penalty if the tenant does not reimburse me within 30-45 days. Once I get the bill, I pay it and send a payment request to the tenant. They usually add the amount to their next monthly rent payment. This way I know water gets paid, as opposed to switching bills to tenants name.

If you change the name on the bill to tenants, you risk not knowing what debt they have accumulated for you. Suppose they run the water bill in the thousands and move out leaving you with repairs and water bill. Why would you want this headache?

Also, in Baltimore the water bill (once it reaches a few hundreds) can be sold at h tax sale. 

Do you really need this headache?...