All Forum Posts by: Steve Fitzgerald

We have a cabin in the North Carolina mountains. It’s renting extremely well. The cabin isn’t isolated so if a group is outside being loud or playing loud music our neighbors hear it very well. One of our neighbors in particular is upset by the loud music, loud profanity, and disruption of the quiet mountain nights.

How would you handle this? We do screen guests beforehand and our rules state there are no parties and no loud music. I’m thinking about increasing our rates and minimum stays to weed out people who want to rent the property for parties. We may also reduce our occupancy.

Any other suggestions?

@Theresa Harris I did ask. The tenant indicated a repair person missed an appointment, install of a new washer/dryer scratched the sink (I'm still waiting for a picture from the tenant) when installed. Turns out the sink the tenant installed is not the one I had installed. Their online system for reporting issues is too complicated (they use appfolio), they don't have people's direct email address, etc. I think what it comes down to is that the tenant doesn't have direct access to me. I'm probably more accommodating than the PM which is one of the reasons I hired a PM. 

@Jermell Shavers - Yes. They did complain.The tenant didn't like the contractor I used for some repairs. He did really good work, but they didn't like interacting with him. The tenant wanted to use their own handyman because they did the work the way the tenant wanted it done. That was ok until it became clear the handyman was doing things the way the tenant wanted in contradiction to the way I wanted things done (ie, stained a brand new deck the color the tenant wanted and not the color I wanted). It's basically if the work or interaction isn't to their standards/linking then they complain. If the work is subpar or the workers are rude I would agree, but I haven't seen direct evidence of that yet. 

@Kim Meredith Hampton Thanks. It does sound like that’s part of it. Do I just send the tenant back to the PM and essentially ignore the calls about “issues”?

I use to self-manage, but hired a property manager. I’ve been fairly pleased with the property manager. No real complaints from me. My tenant on the other hand has complaints. The tenant moved in before I had a PM so they have my contact info. When my tenant contacts me about issues I direct them back to the PM to handle because that’s really the best way for the maintenance issues to be resolved. The tenant is not always pleased with the work of the PM. I don’t want to get involved, but I also want to make sure my tenant is being taken care of. How can you tell when the issue is the tenant or the issue is the PM?

Any recommendations for property management companies in Columbus, GA?

Thanks everyone. This is what i suspected and probably how I would feel in their shoes.

What’s the protocol on using more than one agent for searching for str investment properties in the same area? Is this viewed poorly? I don’t have contracts with any agents yet.

I have a single family house with an in-law apartment. There are five bedrooms, three bathrooms, two kitchens, and two living rooms. I'm giving background on the house because it's not a typical SFH. I have a renter that has been living in the house for three years now. She's been a pretty good tenant. Her initial lease was $2500 per month and that included lawn care. Last year I opted to reduce the lease by $100 a month and drop lawn care. It was costing me more than $1200 a year and I didn't want to be responsible for it. Her lease is up at the end of August and she is asking for a rent reduction because she's decided to have the lawn mowed every 10 days plus other yard maintenance. Her choices. She also mentioned that the lease was initially advertised at $2000 a month before she originally signed and was increased to $2500. That's true. I'm considering a slight reduction in exchange for a multi-year lease. What would you do in my position? I have a property management company, but I do the leasing and renewals to save some money.

I have a rental property that I own free and clear. I'd like to get a HELOC on it and use some of the funds for down payments on one or more properties. I'll be using a conventional loan for the purchases. My understanding is that I'm just paying interest on the funds I use from the HELOC and will pay it down through cash flow from the properties. Can I refinance at some point to roll the HELOC into a conventional loan to pay off the HELOC?