All Forum Posts by: Val J.

I have a dilemma. I had a hot water heater to flood my floor in my property .  The flooring was laminate. I decided to remove the floor and replace it.  I've purchased the new flooring but I've just had a big problem getting an installer. One guy wants to charge me $3.50 sf to install 360 sf of laminate. I'm considering him just so that I can put this issue in my rear view but I think that price is a little high. And he can't do the job until next week.  My tenants (who haven not paid their rent this month) or the female texted me this a.m. with a picture of herself stating that the dust in the house caused her face to swell. I apologized for the inconvenience and asked if she could sleep upstairs (all the bedrooms are upstairs) until the flooring is installed. She texted back that when her lupus and fibromyalgia flare up she has to sleep downstairs. I haven't responded to that. I wanted to send another guy to the property to give me an estimate for installation. Hopefully he can go tomorrow. I have the property with a management company that I'm (to say the least) dissatisfied with because they have allowed this tenant to go this long without paying and haven;t filed an eviction.  The tenant also asked if she could give me the rent $ so that it would help to get the floor done. I replied No. Pay your rent as you've always done.  When the tenant mentioned the rent she didn't include the late fees that are due too.  She also didn't mention why they haven't paid the rent. By the way, this tenant is ALWAYS late and has paid rent+late fees the entire time they've been in the property. Red flags are going up in my head because I'm wondering if the tenant is trying to use her health issues as a reason to not pay rent due to the flooring not yet being installed. Give me your thoughts.  I'm not being a slum lord by not doing the floor. I've had a difficult time getting someone to install this darn floor. Please give me advice as to what you would do. 

I need to have a laminate floor installed (I'm in the DFW area). I've gotten a bid of $1256 for 359sf. Tell me your thoughts on this. I think it's a little high. Maybe I'm wrong. Let me know your thoughts. If you have a recommendation for someone in my area let me know that too.

Thanks to all for you suggestions and replies. I informed the tenant that I would allow her to paint BUT only if its done by a professional painter at her expense. I also informed her that I or my representative would have to be present to see that the area is properly prepped prior to painting.   I think when she sees what a professional will charge it will most likely change her mind.

Today my tenant asked me if I would paint or allow her to paint the living of the property she's renting from me. She wants to paint it yellow. I told her I'd give it some thought.  Experienced landlords what would you do? 

I have a tenant who is faithful with her rent. She's been with me for 15 months but during this time. I've had to replace 2 stove elements and repair the same issue for the same  sink twice. When she moved into the home everything was brand new. I suspect that she has been using the stove to heat the house. She seldom (until things are almost out of control) calls me about repairs. When I have to enter the house for whatever reason, I began to note various things that need to be addressed but I hadn't been informed about.  Recently, she finally did call and told me that the house (it's an old house) wasn't getting warm and she was using space heaters and the central heat. The following day I sent an hvac guy over only to discover that the system has a dual something or other and on the first one was working and it was repaired immediately.  This weekend I had to have a kitchen sink repaired again. She had been placing a bucket under the sink to catch the water instead of informing me. The repairmen told me he found straws and lots of hair in the pipes.  I have a text message/written to her stating my concerns that she is not helping me by not informing me.  I have a mind to tell her that I won't be repairing the stove or sink again and that I will not pay for repairs that linger for months that she fails to inform me about. I don't want to micro-manage her by going in every month to check on what the house is in need of.  What would you do if you were in my shoes.  

I have a dilemma. My tenant called on Sunday and informed that the hot water heater was leaking. I sent someone with an hour an had them to cut off the water to the heater and they also drained the water from the heater.  Here's where I need help. I have a warranty with AHS. I called the same day for a repair. A company called on Monday but told me they couldn't get out until Friday. By the time they called it was late in the evening. After AHS was closed. I called yesterday to ask if they could switch me to a vendor that could get there sooner. I had an EXTREMELY long wait time. The rep. couldn't get a vendor to answer but told me since it was after hours she'd call me today with a new vendor. This didn't happen! So I called again after work and had to wait an hour before a rep came on. The new rep. was extremely helpful. It was noted that I should'v been called but wasn't. She (with her limited powers) tried/is trying to get a supervisor to over ride their usual policy of waiting on a vendor for 48 hours.  I'm supposed to be called by a supervisor sometime this evening. I explained how cold it is here in the DFW area. My hope is that I'll be allowed to hire my own plumber and get reimbursed by AHS. What would you do once this is rectified? Would you give the tenant a break on next months rent because of the inconvenience? 

A few years ago, I gave my property management company the side eye because I was getting calls every week. The tenant sad this or that.  On one of those occasions I contacted the tenant myself only to discover that they had NOT called the property management company. I called the  company  back to say hey, my tenant hasn't called you. They (imo lied) and said "Oh we called the wrong property owner. Like you, I would just approve every repair without question. Now I check with my tenant before N E repair is done. You could also (in the future) ask them to take a picture of the issue prior to repair or get a 2nd opinion. 

Need advice and/or suggestions. I purchase a property last May. I'm interested in perhaps doing a cash out refi. I paid cash for the property. I called a mortgage company in December they told me I had to wait a year to cash out. Question? Do I only have to use local mortgage companies to do a cash out? And, what % of the property can I cash out? Purchase price only or ARV?

I have a tenant who is on a 1 yr lease. I've informed the tenant that when it's up in October, I will only be offering a month to month lease. I sent a certified letter but, so far no response. I'm trying this on for size so I have no real info. to add other than I think your friend has merit in his theory. If they are leaving , lease or no lease, there's nothing you can do about it. I'm thinking that if If things don't work out you & the tenant can kiss (not really) and say goodbye within 30 days and not have to wait months to do so.. 

I fear that I'm not doing it right. I read all of the rules on this site 1%,  2%, 50% etc. and finding them confusing  I ask myself am I doing it right? I don't like debt so I fear borrowing too much money and having the noose/burden of it around my neck.