All Forum Posts by: Tanya H.

Hi @Christian Fernandez.  There are not any significant improvements to the property.  We replaced the furnace and water heater, but I call those maintenance items not improvements.

I agree that rents generally would be increased if there were improvements.  If this were a great tenant, I would not raise rents just due to the market.  But that is not the case here.  

There certainly will be a turnover cost, but past experience with this property is that I can turn it around in 2 weeks.  The demand is high in this area.  And so the turnaround costs outweigh the costs/time of keeping this tenant now.  

Lost my last post - wanted to delete the partial reply...

Thanks all for the info and advice.  I'm certainly planning on giving him 30 +/- notice.  Since he's already late with the rent, with a promise to have it tomorrow, I am waiting until I get the rent. 

@Bill S., I agree that I shouldn't use the rent increase as the vehicle to get rid of him.  But since he's late with the rent, I do want to wait until I get the rent, and by then, we're past the 30 days notice required with the month-to-month lease.  So I can get past the 30 day notice requirement by using the rent increase instead.  

This is the first time that he has ever been late, and he did let me know ahead of time that he would be late due to a job change.  But that indicates to me that he can't really afford the rent on the place on his own.  

I may wait another month, and give him notice at the first of December.  I think he's going to really surprised to find out the housing costs in Denver, because I'm not sure he's been keeping up with news.  I do try to provide affordable housing, because I know it's a big issue here in Denver, but once a tenant turns troublesome, I no longer feel it's in my best interest to keep them.   

Is there any limit as to how much a landlord can raise rent on a month-to-month tenant in Colorado?  I know this sounds like a weird question, but I have a tenant who is paying below market by quite a bit.   

History:  He and his partner moved in a couple of years ago.  They both had decent credit and all was pretty good thru out that time with both of them.  This past May, they broke up and one moved out.  The remaining one wanted to stay.  But he wanted to sign just a month-to-month lease, which was fine with me.  But in these 5-6 months now with this guy, he has been pretty high maintenance.  

Because they moved in a couple of years ago, and have been good tenants, I kept them at their original rental amount until May, when we went to the month-to-month.  I raised the rent by $50 at that time.  But now with everything, and given that the rent is still quite a bit below market, I would like to raise it by a couple of hundred.  I know I can get that much more, as I've tested it on Craigslist.  And I certainly don't mind losing this guy as a tenant now.

I've read that Colorado law only requires 10 days for a rent increase.  I want to give him at least 30 days.  But just want to make sure that there is no limit on the amount that I can raise the rent.  

Any thoughts from anyone?

@Jeff G. - I don't know that the issues are due to me being out of state, as my home inspector/GC guy lives right there, along with some relatives who also are working with the contractors for me.  They are all experiencing the same thing.  But maybe if I were there, I might be able to build more beneficial relationships with contractors.  I don't know.  

As @Jerry Maxson noted, I don't think there really any war zone areas.  The downtown river area is really experiencing a revitalization right now, and there is some great looking condos there.  If you have any questions about some specific areas, just ask.

Hi @Jeff G. ,

I just bought a couple of houses in Bay City, and got one turned around and rented (Sept 1).  

I had to do a bit of work to the now-rented one - it was quite old and had not been updated much - so I redid all of the plumbing and a lot of the electrical.  New windows, and fresh paint throughout.  The place has beautiful wood floors, and they were in mostly good condition, so I just cleaned them up a little.  

I live in CO, but I've got family in Bay City.  So I thought it was going to be easy to get work done.  Not so.  For such a depressed area of the country, you would think it would be easy to find people to do work and at a reasonable price.  Again, not so.  Everything costs so much more to do than here in CO, and I really cannot tell you why.  The trades people just are not motivated to do any work - it's hard to find someone to even give an estimate.  And then the estimates are so high.  Even non-trades work, for example getting the air ducts cleaned, is 3 and 4 times the cost here in CO.  Why?  It just doesn't make sense.  And the quality is unbelievably bad.  (If you ever need duct cleaning or carpet cleaning - I can tell you who NOT to use).

I'm sorry to sound so negative.  I had really planned on buying a lot more, because I think Bay City really could have a lot going for it.  But wow - the work ethic there is so bad.   So I have to say that I am really reconsidering buying much more there.

There were a few exceptions.  If you need a home inspector, I found a guy who is unbelievably awesome.  Very honest, very reasonable, and just a great guy.  He actually turned into a bit of a handyman for me too, and he is working on building his "rolodex" for better references for the various types of work.  He saw all the trouble I was having, and he really is searching to find reputable contractors for all kinds of workers.  

If you have questions about any areas in Bay City, let me know.  I'm going there again in October, and I think I'll look at a few places, but I think I will avoid anything that needs much work.  I think the value is there, but unless I can find something that I can do most of the work myself (meaning paint, carpet, etc), it's just not worth the headaches right now.  

I'm another CO person investing in MI.  I just bought a couple of places in Bay City...  it's where my family is originally from.

I sold a property in 2015 in Aurora with a huge long term gain and had a hefty tax to pay.  I knew trying to do a 1031 was going to be difficult this market, and to try to do it out of state was just too much hassle for me.  But as Elizabeth said, the capital gains tax is pretty low right now.  If you're paying that tax, it means you're making money (just one way of looking at it).   

Also, a reminder, 1031 is just a tax deferment.  You have to pay taxes at some point - you just get to choose when (and what percentage somewhat).  

Hi @Mike Herbon

I am currently buying property from my deceased grandmother's estate in Michigan (Bay City).  The seller is the estate.  So on my purchase contract, the seller is listed as "The Estate of blah, blah, blah".  There are 3 children of my grandmother's that are inheritors, but only one of them is the executor, and he is the one I will be closing with.  He is the only one who needed to sign the purchase contract.  Also, he is the only one required at the closing, as he is the only one who signs any of the paperwork.  The closing is being done by the estate's attorney, but title insurance is being provided by a title company.  We just decided to use the attorney for the closing as he is cheaper than what the title company would charge.

Let me know if I can help with anything else.

@Mike Herbon

Thanks, @Ryan Gale.  I think we are going with Rescue Plumbing.  They seem to know what they are doing.  I don't think the price is that great, but they've not balked about the crawl space at all.  We've had so many places that just flake out and don't even show up when scheduled to just give us an estimate.  I really wish places would just say they don't want the job, instead of scheduling an appointment and not showing up.