My pet peeve in my rentals...Doors! Whats YOUR biggest peeve?

[Shelley F.]

Doors on my rentals are driving me crazy! Since most of my properties are purchased in a distressed state of some sort, My first step is usually to secure the property and then start the trash out process. Doors can vary...old rotted wood ones are replaced with newer steel doors (Home Depot )

 I usually take the time to widen a doorway too if it needs it. 

Ive learned to remove closet doors after they seem to get trashed over and over. Creatively trashed. But Entry doors have never been an issue once I fix them up in the beginning. 

Until yesterday. Had a handyman at a place to check it out for some spring repairs, he mentioned the door was 'broken' as in kicked in. Broken door jamb and all. Of course, we are immediately addressing the issue, but it made me reflect on...doors.

Whats YOUR pet peeve in your rentals?

[Mike H.]

My two biggest pet peeves in investing:

1) Best and Highest.   When I put in an offer and the bank (seller) sits on it a few days and then says there are multiple bidders and they want my best and highest offer.  I almost never get those deals so I hate having to resubmit that stupid best and highest form.  Why do they need ME to sign something saying I understand its a multiple offer scenario?  Does that even matter?

2) Appraisers that use comps that make no sense. Appraisers can literally use any comp they want and can easily change the value up or down so significantly its ridiculous. If you have a 1,500 sq ft house and they use 1,000 sq ft comps with an adjustment of 5 to 10k, you're hosed. Oddly enough, it seems like appraisers never use comps that are of a higher value. Why is that?

Why is it I never see a 2,000 sq ft comp for a 1,500 sq ft house and then give me a 10k deduction off that? :-)

Believe it or not, I had better luck on my comps during the bust period when almost everything was a foreclosure.  I almost never missed. Now, about 1 in 5 is coming back crazy. And I know why. The appraisers don't believe we can get the kind of discounts we're getting.  I've literally had one tell me that.

He wouldn't budge when I asked for a Review. So I had to pay for another appraisal (that came back right in my range).

Bottom line is that there has to be a better way to enforce some of the appraisal rules. Or at the very least, fix the adjustments. So if an appraiser picks a 1920 house as a comp even though the subject property was built in 05 (had this happen to me last year), they are required to give you more than 10k in an adjustment.