All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

C) Live there til you move out. Pair up with an investor to get money to fix up the place a few months prior to moving out. Sell the condo, then split the proceeds 3 ways. Nobody is screwed and you have money to make the repairs (sounds like your bro and you don't). I'm sure if you offer a fair deal, there's plenty of investors in your area that will jump for it.

 How do you know she used your deposit and not her own money? If she sent you a statement showing she used it for the sod then you might have a case. But if it shows other items then no.

Sometimes you'll have landlords that will nickel and dime you to death. If you feel you have a case, you should take her to small claims court and try to get your money back. Some people need to be taught a lesson. Yes, those fees are excessive and if you have proof of how you left the place prior to move out then you can strengthen your case. I don't see why you have to pay a cleaning fee after move out when you gave it back to her in a decent condition unless it was stipulated in the contract there will always be a cleaning fee. In reality though, it's probably not worth your time or money since the deposit is shared and that's probably what the landlord is relying on. Also, when you move out you can request a move out inspection to see what needs to be fixed so you don't get any surprises later on. Was that done in your case? 

I've sued my landlord for keeping my deposit before and they have settled out of court, but my case was strong. Not sure about yours. 

It's also odd to me that you should provide this comment, 

"If she keeps our $1000 deposit, we'd like her to drop any further claims she has towards us. I see it as both sides winning then..."

Suggests to me you don't really care too much about the money and not willing to put much time and effort into it. Let me at least recommend this: if you feel your landlord really is in the wrong, send her a strongly worded email that if she doesn't refund you your deposit, you will initiate legal proceedings against her. Tell her the cleaning fee is excessive and you have photos to prove the condition before move out. Include estimates of cleaning fees you found as well. Add in any other nitpicked item you feel should not be charged to you. Typically, landlords cannot charge for wear and tear so those nitpicked items may fall in this category. Let her know that too. Throw it out there and see how she reacts. You may or may not follow up on it as you please but she may yield to your liking.

Disclaimer: I've been both renter and landlord. I'm a landlord now.

So you didn't actually see the inside of the apartment after move out and only going by what your roommates provided. To me, the fact that the landlord wants to take you to court suggests there was extensive damage to her property. It would be much more interesting to get the landlord's side of this too.

If you have problems sleeping at night because of this, now is a pretty good time to unload if you so choose for a better state of mind.

That said, I have a few houses in class C+/B- neighborhoods and as far as appreciation percentage-wise they have done the best, and I don't plan to sell whether a recession comes or not. I think that last tenant you had is giving you a bad taste in your mouth and you may be succumbing to unreasonable emotion at this time. Wait until you've calm down a little bit and perhaps you can see the bigger picture. You'll make better decisions then. I've never been in a downturn with my rentals so I don't know but I figure the worse I could do is lower rents a little bit.

Personally, I would never sell a cash flowing house in California, and SoCal at that! Besides 3% more on $500k is only $15,000 a year which is really not much for someone like you. And getting money at 7-8% money is still a good deal in my book.

So I'm just guessing here from your numbers because they are not perfectly clear. You have a 3.3% fixed rate on your primary residence at $371k and around a 4.75% (implied b/c you mention going up to 5%) variable rate on your HELOC also attached to your primary residence at 286k. And then who knows what on your other loans. The effective interest rate on your primary residence would then be a 3.94% (using a sumproduct calculation divided by the sum).

If you can do a refi for less than that or close to that, it seems to me a no-brainer. I would go as far as taking cash out to invest more if you can stomach the risk or at the minimum pay down any other higher variable or fixed loans on your other 5 properties. Your equity is not doing much for you sitting there being pretty. 

First look at comparable sales in the last 3 months for that area. I use redfin sales data which is free. Try to get a house that has sold close by in the same general area or subdivision if you can and look at the state of the house (fixer, ok, immaculate, whatever grading scale you want to use). When you walk through, try to identify the work that needs to be done and add that to the asking price. If it's significantly lower than the comparable sales, then it is potentially a good deal.

So basically you paid him $1000/day for two days (you said a couple of days) and he wants to renegotiate the contract. To me that is very generous. I would say not too many contractors make $1000/day? On this deal you've grasped the blade and not the handle. Consider it a very expensive lesson. His text says it all, he doesn't want to work with you anymore.

When dealing with new contractors, I pay them after certain work is done and never before. I pay the material costs. They have to take the risk of working with me and not the other way around. If he is an unlicensed or unbonded contractor, more so. I think it would have been prudent to pay him by the day or couple of days for his time and not give an advance like that. Typically, the upfront charge is suppose to pay for materials. But since your are supplying the materials, there should be no upfront charge.

I hope for your sake the $2000 was fair value for the work he did in those 2 days.

From your previous posts, it sounds like you're pretty handy since you are able to gut rehab your own primary. A 4 plex IMHO is about the same or easier so the technical maintenance stuff is already taken cared of. The major roadblock would just be learning how to landlord which honestly, if you are of someone of average or above average intelligence should not be that hard. And honestly, I've been landlording for 6+ years and mostly a piece of cake with occasional hassles. Also, it sounds like you have the financial strength to weather some possible setbacks. With that in mind, I think you can do it and you should go for it. You can only look back on this 5 years from now and think.

1) Damn I went in over my head and got screwed, I lost $X of money

2) Don't do it and wonder whether you could have made it. Then harbor some regret (or not).

3) Succeed, replace half of your income, feel accomplished, get bragging rights along with many other benefits

So depending on how much money it's possible for you to lose, is it worth the possible regret? If the cost is low, I would say go for it.

I, myself, have been in your shoes and have felt the self doubt. But if you are someone who is willing to learn and grow and do, then I think the chances for success are high. Play the odds.

I would second the cash out refi for what you're trying to do. I'm in the process of doing two right now and am in a similar position as you. The local credit union is quoting me 4.25% and 4.3875%. The huge downside of a HELOC is the high rate which is quite off putting.