All Forum Posts by: Wade G.

@Rick PozosI will be glad to get this taken care of and done.  I informed the owner that I will release the lien once his cashiers checks have been cleared.  He is not comfortable with that.  He wants to pay off my original loan with the bank by sending an overnight cashiers check, give me another cashiers check for the difference and pay off my lien, while simultaneously I give him a release of lien.  I don't think he trusts me to pay off the bank loan if he gives me a check for the total amount.  I see his point but at the same time I don't like the idea of releasing my lien until all is clear.  Any thoughts?

Got it, thanks!

A few years ago I sold a rental with a wrap.  Due to the buyers (now owners) credit and self employment he cannot get a loan so he wants to pay off the property in full.  He owes me around 89k and my loan is around 48k.  Can we just take care of this at an attorney's office or will we need to go through a title company?

I have always remodeled the bathrooms in rentals with new tubs and hardibacker walls covered with 12 inch square tiles.  Usually ends up taking a contractor 3-5 days to get the job done and I usually budget about 3k for the job.  Then after every tenant turnover the tub has to be recaulked due to the mold the inevitably grows behind the caulking and turns it black.  Saw a commercial on TV for Bathfitter.com.  Just wondering if anyone has used the company or another company that does the same thing.  It may not look as upscale as the newer look with large tiles but I don't think there is any caulking that can be seen thereby reducing the work that needs to be done during tenant turnovers.  Plus they say it is one day install.

It is my understanding, and I may very well be wrong, that you can only deduct for the damages that you paid a contractor to repair and you must have a receipt from the contractor and provide the tenant with a copy of the receipt and an explanation of the work done.

How do you charge for some damages?  Specifically, when the lower panel on a double car steel garage door is dented due to closing it down on something.  When something like that happens the door is still good and operational but according to the pictures and pre lease walk through condition forms, that the tenant signed, there were no dents in the door before they leased the house.  Another example would be a steel front door.  I have a house that had a brand new front door when the tenant moved in.  The prelease condition form even states it was a new door and pictures prove there were no dents.  Now there are about 5 little dents that look like someone hit it with a ball peen hammer.  The door is fine otherwise.  Personally I do not consider either of those two situations to be normal wear and tear but how would you charge for diminished value, and can we even charge for diminished value since there would be no actual repair expense paid to a contractor?  In order to get the garage door back to the shape it was in pre lease I would have to get a whole new lower panel and have it installed and paint matched.  Seems overkill but it was their responsibility to maintain it and return the house back to me in the same shape it was in prior to rental (minus normal wear and tear) according to the lease.

I'm at a crossroads and I would like some opinions please.  I have been a landlord for about 12 years and I think I'm done.  I no longer care to make small repairs, answer phone calls, or go through the tenant screening process...especially the tenant screening process.  I have found that the longer I'm in this business the more picky I get when picking tenants and its causing my houses to sit vacant longer.  As I get older I want my weekends and weeknights free and not have to deal with turnovers.  Turnovers are very discouraging, its discouraging to see the fresh paint, carpet, etc turn into used condition.  Even when tenants maintain the property the usual wear and tear is discouraging.  Getting to the point of this discussion I have decided to either refi the properties, get cash out, and turn properties over to a management company, or other option is to just sell and pay the tax.  Probably would not 1031 because I don't want more houses (not sure where to put the money yet). 

After either selling or refinancing the next question is where to put the money.  Refinancing would give me about 120k, selling would give me about 140k.  The safe place would be to pay off my primary house mortgage of 137K @3.7%.  That would give me $700 month tax free back into my life from the 137k.  Horrible place to put the money but there is some peace in not having a mortgage.  I know its a terrible, terrible, idea but it somehow simplifies things in my mind knowing that the sacrifice and work over the past 12 years did amount to something.

Other choice is to invest the money (putting it at risk possibly) and surely earn more than the 3.7% but it needs to have growth and income.  Right now my thought is to invest the money into a syndication.  I don't want to pick up a hammer or screen tenants ever again.

After posing this question to the wife she believes the best scenario is to refi the houses, hire a property management company, and invest the money into a hands off investment.  The houses will not cash flow very well but they will not be negative and I will still have them for the future appreciation.  Many people do not count on appreciation but I do.  My houses are in very stable nice neighborhoods and I think 2-3% appreciation is a safe assumption.  The negative to this option is I would have to manage the PM.

What all this boils down to is I am becoming more risk adversed and placing more value on my time but I still want to be involved in RE investing.  Just seeking opinions from anyone willing to read all this.

Eventually millennials will either accidentally or purposely start having kids.  Whether it be by renting SFHs or buying homes sooner or later they are going to want to get their kids out of the apartment complexes.  These same millennials are also currently watching interest rates slowly rise and real estate values steadily climb.  Maturity will eventually set in and the progression to the suburbs will start.  Contrary the what the media says the economy is getting much better.  Barring a massive plague or nuclear war SFHs should stay in demand.  Class A apartments not so much.  Just an opinion.

I use to be a big fan of ceramic tile.  Now I only use it in small rooms like bathrooms.  Its just to unforgiving if the slab heaves or cracks.  Tired of having to hire people and rip out tile and all the mess that goes along with that.  Experimenting with vinyl plank now.

I have recently started using Cozy.  There is no way to block partial payments but you can deny the payment if it is not the full amount.  First months rent and security deposit should always be collected and cleared before move in.  I always require a money order for that well before move in date.