All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I learned the hard way as a resident manager that whenever I became friends with a tenant, they expected favors.  Every single time.  And when I inevitably would have to say no, the friendship ended and wasn't pretty, no matter how calmly and friendly I explained things.  Some ended up constantly complaining about weird things about me to the owner (who would laughingly tell me about the crazy complaints).  And, I'm talking about one of them wanting a washer/dryer unit in a building with no hookups where no other tenants were allowed to do such a thing (25 units), another wanted to be able to park in such a way as to take up 2 parking spaces so they could easily get in and out of their vehicles without anyone damaging their cars - obviously crazy favors.  And yet, because we had become friends, they thought they had the right to do such things, even if nobody else in the building - including me - were allowed to do.

People just get weird.  It's really awkward to live with your customers, but you just really must keep a clear boundary between you.

I'd want to be a partner - 50/50 ownership.  I personally would not give somebody the money to buy a property, and then let them be the only name on the deed with the possibility they would blow me off and then keep the property.

If your relative isn't okay with that, then I don't think you should give them a dime.  Because you have to wonder why?  

You can love someone and also be wise at the same time.  You don't do anyone any favors in life if you take up their life consequences for them.  In the real world, you don't get to buy properties without any skin in the game.  So, if you give them your skin, without putting them in a position to lose any themselves if they don't act responsibly, and then only you suffer the consequences - you haven't allowed them to learn any real life consequences for their behavior.  That's not doing them any favors, and is definitely not a wise thing to do yourself.  

If you're not comfortable with that, then just give them the money and call it a gift.  And then, let them take the consequences as far as having to pay taxes on it :-)  

 You can get the current edition and it should contain a link to a website that will have any future updates.  Look to see if it says that on the Nolo website for the book.  It used to.  I liked to have a paper copy of the book, but I would use the link mentioned in the book to look to see if there were updates for the CA law - I had the CA landlord book, too.  I never did look for updates for the tax deduction book, so I'm not sure about that one.

Oh, and you can often get a discount by buying it direct from the Nolo press website, so check on that.

 Well done and what a pain.  I'm so sorry you're going through this.  You're right that a judge would see through any rhetoric that's masking what equates to blackmail, whether it's paraphrased or not.  I just hate that you're having to pay for a PM and an attorney.  This just goes to show that you still have to manage the manager, especially when the manager gets paid more money for dealing with problems - makes problems welcome, if you get where I'm going with that.

It's really kind of you to share this experience, so others can learn from it.  I hope you'll let us know how it all works out.  Take care.

Also, is there anything unique about your particular unit?  Upstairs - so they don't have to hear anyone above them (really important to a lot of tenants), first floor unit (older tenants, especially, love them, also better for disabled) has hardwood floors (tenants love them), is a corner unit (so fewer neighbors, more windows), closer to the parking lot (important to tenants) - market it with anything that's unique or better about your unit.

Read this book: https://store.nolo.com/product...

The author is a lawyer who used to defend tenants.  Here's a great free article where she is interviewed:

https://southphillyreview.com/...

One technique that served me well was to chat them up while I walked with them to show them the unit and then out of the blue asked them, "So why are you moving right now?" It's amazing how they will bluster and sometimes just blurt out that their aunt wants them off her couch lol.  

I highly suggest starting out with month to month agreements.  That's all I would ever use.  Sometimes a great tenant can move in and then get involved with a reality TV drama queen who screams and throws furniture in the hall (happened to me more than once).  If you are on M2M, it's way easier to get rid of a problem tenant.  So, at least while you are learning, your best way to fix any bad mistake in renting to someone you wished you hadn't - is the month to month lease.

One way to get additional income is to allow pets (if your HOA allows them) and charge a pet fee (if allowed by your laws) and higher deposit.

I managed a 25 unit building with all utilities included: electric/gas/water/sewer/garbage.  My experience is that most tenants are able to do that math if they have been renters before, and know if the overall rent plus whatever utilities you are including - is a good price or not.

I agree that if your phone is ringing off the hook, you're definitely in the ball park.  If it's really ringing off the hook, you might be too cheap.

If I understand you correctly, the current owner of this apartment building is the 86 year old man (how do you know his age?) who hasn't been paying his mortgage and/or taxes, so his building is being foreclosed on.

Well, you'd have a tenant who doesn't pay his bills/who is in the middle of a foreclosure.  Not a tenant you would choose. And, previous owners don't make good current tenants, as they generally will think they know more than you about everything.  And, he may have relationships with the other tenants that could be problematic.

If you don't think you can kick him out, I really think you should pass.  It would be hard to do and could take a long time.  You can find something else.

Sometimes, new construction has additional taxes, too, that need to be factored into cash flow analysis.  Here in CA, for instance, you can end up with Mello-Roos taxes in new developments, which is an additional property tax placed on that development to help fund schools, roads, emergency services, etc., that will be impacted/needed by the new development.  Not sure if that's an issue anywhere else, but you should check it out.  

I have a feeling that the poster meant to type .5% instead of 1.5%.

This is why I hated QB.  I just created an Excel spreadsheet for basic info on each unit.  The time spent entering stuff into a program like QB was just not worth it, to me.