All Forum Posts by: Tim Miller

@Paw Nouri Maybe in your area they will cover damages but not in Maryland. If they damage your property here, you're SOL!

@Matthew Mclean It's totally your call but my advise is to read the contract that they'll make you sign. Fully understand what they can do to you and what is required. Know that if they pull an inspection and it fails, you will not receive any rent until the inspection passes. Before you ask, No, they will not make any back payments. Good luck.

We started out splitting the Heat, Water & Sewer on a over/under duplex. After 2 years we were over all this extra work each month. We took the 2 years worth of bills and divide by 24 month to get our average. We upped the rent by $75 a month on each unit to cover the bills. We also put in the lease that anything over $300 for water would be charged to each unit. This ensures they don't waste water. The heat we control remotely, so there's no issues there.

Make your life simple and easy, just up the rent to cover the heat & w/s. You'll sleep a lot easier with less headaches.

Everybody is going to love the software they use. My advise is to pick a mix of about 4 or 5 different software. Setup dummy accounts and run them through what would be (as close to normal) day to day process and see which one works best for you. If you're looking for just the basic, Avail or Innago would work. If you need a little more power, look at Rentredi or one of the other software to charges a monthly fee.

Personally, we don't like all in one software because they never do everything great. They may do 1 or 2 things really good and the rest is so so. For that reason, we use Innago and it works great for collecting rent, fees and maintenance request. What they lack is Advertising, Application processes and a thorough nationwide background check. So we have other services that does a really great job for us.  Good luck.

I agree with @Alison Brenner If the tenant does not know how to deal with a kid that has ASD, than shes needs to get help. I would also add that the upstairs tenant has the Right to Quiet Enjoyment of his home. Your downstairs tenant is in violation of this. You have to serve her with a notice to resolve this issue within 3 days. If not, you have to start the eviction process. Because if you don't the upstairs tenant will move and you will keep having this problem with the next tenant.

HELL NO!!! RED FLAGS!!!! If your unit is in a very tenant friendly state, they can really screw you legally. Maryland law only allows for you to collect two months rent to hold as a deposit. So if you take a years rent in advance, they can turn around an sue you. 99.9999% chance you will lose and could be liable for up to 3 times the amount you are over the two months limit. Basically you are looking at up to $45k that you would have to pay to the tenant.

As for this potential applicant, they are just another "Cry me a river" that I don't want to hear. Tell her or anyone like her that this isn't possible and you must past all of my requirements to rent this unit. Good luck!

We had problems with tenants not paying the water/sewer/trash bill as well in a duplex. We simply took over the bill and raised the rents to cover to cover the $300 a quarter bill. It equaled to $50 increase per unit and that solved our problem. We also added to our lease that there is a $300 cap and anything over this will be billed back to the tenants. 

I agree with @Ned J. one month in and already starting to complain! We wouldn't do the 50/50, I would simply tell them that they have to pay for the inspection and if it comes back with dangerous levels of bad mold. Then and only then will I pay for the testing and the cost to clean it up. Plus tell them that you will provide them with an inspector for them to call and make the arrangement as needed. Otherwise they can provide their 30 day notice and we'll all be happy.

No, we have a "Welcome to your new home" card but that's it. We also give Thanksgiving and Christmas gift cards. Some are appreciative others.... well we just leave it at that. 

As @Lucas Miles stated, use a lawyer. You can use a generic one but it will fail you in the long run. Even rocklawyer isn't up to snuff, due to local laws. We used Legalzoom for a while but then had a lawyer make correction and updates to it. The lawyer cost $500 and well worth it.

Maryland past a law for the MHP tenant to have the right of first refusal. If they agree to buy, it can take up to a year before you close. If you don't give the tenants the option to buy, you have to pay a $10,000 fine. I'll pay the fine!