All Forum Posts by: Miranda Crown

I have a friend who is renting an apartment with what sounds like either serious weather-proofing issues or burst pipes and she is not sure (nor am I) how to proceed. Before they moved in, they were told that someone broke into the apartment and deliberately flooded the toilets/sinks, etc. but were told all was fine. Since they have lived there, corners of their walls ice up and now have mold, the laminate flooring is buckling and shifting. They have asked their landlord to address and been dismissed. Is their next step a lawyer? Any other ideas? Thanks, in advance!

Thanks for the advice/info! We had no upgrades prior to the rental. I agree, we probably should have just left the house on the market and held on for a few months. We were worried about too long of the double-mortgage program and feared trying to sell in our area during the winter with lots of cold and snow. But...it's been a mild winter and I now understand there are advantages to being one of few houses on the market that time of year, particularly since people looking in the winter tend to be more serious and intent on purchase, not just shopping around. Always living and learning!!!!!!

Crossing our fingers that our 3mo inspection won't reveal too many surprises...

We are accidental landlords, renting our house for 6 months, starting 12/1/13. I would love to use TurboTax to save some money on our taxes and it claims to be able to handle rental income using the premier product but am I fooling myself? Should we be using a CPA? What about depreciation? Here are some facts/figures if it helps:

Bought home 10/10 for $235k, loan for $180k

Tried to sell for $320k 11/13 but we missed the best season to sell, multiple agents we've spoken to believe it was priced accurately. Decided to rent it out over the winter and try to sell this spring.

Would appreciate your advice on our tax situation. Thanks!!

Awesome, thank you all! Great feedback

We are accidental landlords who rented out our house in a middle/upper income neighborhood for 6 months to get through the winter and then put the home back on the market for sale. We have an inspection clause in our lease that allows for it but just not sure if it's appropriate/necessary for such a short lease? I know my husband would happily pass on it but I'm not so sure...Thoughts/advice? Thanks

OR does not have limits for deposits. I've seen recommendations that the security deposit not match the rent so that it's clear that tenants cannot use the deposit for their last month's rent. In my area, some have recommended that the security deposit be significantly higher when you are renting a nicer SFH. Thanks for your thoughts!

We have a 3bd/2.5ba home in a nice area of town, rent averages $1400-1800/mo. How much would you charge for security deposit? And how do you determine the amount? Thanks!

Do you have any general guidelines you follow when converting from a fixed lease to a monthly? We are renting out a SFH with a 6mo lease starting 11/1/13 so that it will end about the time we can decide if it's worth putting back on the market for sale. During that time, we would consider a monthly lease and if the house doesn't sell, likely offer a yearly lease at a better time of the year. How do you set up your lease to automatically convert to monthly once the 6mo period is up? Thanks, in advance!

All great info, thanks everyone. Re-key it is!

We are in Bend, semi-accidental landlords. Thought we might be able to sell our house for a certain price but missed the best window of the season due to a slow finish on a new home construction project. The rental market, so we've been told/read/heard is very hot, just all about finding the right tenants at this point and figuring out the many details.