All Forum Posts by: Rick Bassett

@Akhilesh Rao - many good suggestions already. In addition to the cost implications, you also have to look at the issues of obtaining building permits for the ramp. Towns and Cities usually have various requirements for ramps.

@Terri B. - we require payment in advance of at least five banking days (non-holiday weekdays) for the payment to clear before move in. If they are inside that window, we will only accept cash, no exceptions.

@Lynn Gadd I would’ve responded with a snarky comment like “obviously that text was meant for a family member, not me”.

Sometimes kicking the hornets nest is just too irresistible 😎

@Sidney Garcia check out Torrington or Bridgeport Connecticut (CT) we manage a quite a few properties in both places. Not too far from NYC.

@Amber Masterson, from the perspective of a property manager – we will not act as the bank for our property owners.

We would typically ask the owner to fund the job ahead of time. We have a great reputation and rapport with our owners so most would not have a problem doing so.

Sometimes owners are concerned, as you are, that they will pay for the work and it will not get done, or it will be substandard. When we run into those concerns, we tell the owner they could pay in progress payments and they can verify that the work is being done. The progressive payment and verification steps can slow the job down and delay the rental unit getting back on the market for rent. But if it’s a quick job, progressive payments don't make much sense.

Curious to know how others are qualifying prospective tenants with vouchers (section 8 etc) with respect to their income to rent multiple.

On a non-voucher prospect we require documented income to be either 2.5 or 3 times the rent (depending on the property)

With vouchers we require documented income to be either 1.5 or 2 times the rent (depending on the property) with the assumption that the covered rent counts as 1. As we scale up, we are finding that very few voucher holders are coming close to these ratios, and many have virtually no income.

Any best practice advice would be appreciated.

@Kendall Moore - what I would do is rent the Airbnb from him as a guest, then squat in it and refuse leave and make him evict me.

Have run about 6 STR's in Greater New Haven since 2017, as you mention, there are times when the demand is strong (usually in May @ graduation time and July, or August). Some Cities like West Haven do have restrictions on STR's and others handle the restrictions in a different way; such as 3 or 4 maximum number of unrelated people in a home. Read those zoning rules...don't rely on agents.

This happened to us often before the pandemic and is on an uptick again with the SFH/Townhouse rentals. We have had 3 in the last several months.

We now include a clause in our leases about the costs & terms if they need to break the lease early. Still, they are unpleasantly surprised by this when they proudly contact us telling us that they purchased a house and will be moving out soon. 

Our lawmakers in Hartford are taking aim at landlords with several bills they claim will address housing affordability in the state (HB 6781 & SB 4). The majority of the proposed legislation targets 5 units and above, although mom & pop landlords will be affected by some as well.

It could get a bit more difficult to be a landlord in Connecticut

Some of the highlights:

Requires landlords to give tenants pre-occupancy walkthroughs using a State Generated form to reduce security deposit disputes.

Limits on application fees and allows prospective tenants to submit their own screening reports. Landlords will only be able to charge the cost of screening and must provide the prospective tenant with a copy of the screening report and proof of the cost of screening to get reimbursed. There's a lot of crazy subtext in this part of the proposal but it seems like a service like Zillow screening will benefit the most from this.

Limiting the use of eviction records to 5 years

A ban on most winter-time evictions from Dec. 1 to March 31, and limits on late-charges for rent. The fee limit for late rent would be $5 per day, up to $25, or 5% of the total rent payment.

Increase the amount of taxes paid by large investors who buy up lots of single-family housing and to invest those profits in affordable housing.

-> The proposal to cap rent increases to 4% plus CoL  was in there but it died in committee a few days ago.