All Forum Posts by: Adam Martin

My inspector let me look at his tablet and pictures while he was finishing the inspection.  I made the comment to him that I had never seen this type of insulation before but it appeared to be well insulated.  He laughed and told me he was not doing an attic inspection and this is not insulation, it is raccoon poo.  He believed raccoons were still in there and showed me where he thought they were coming in and he was right.  After we had the seller remove them and replace the damage he came back and finished his report.  I'm not going up there with raccoons so I can't be mad he wouldn't either but he made it right.  The house was a nice house and from talking to the sellers I wouldn't have thought they were the type that would live with raccoons but they were there for a while per my inspector.  

I have a strict 0 tolerance policy for any applicant who has ever been evicted.  I understand Covid was tough on a lot of people but there were a ton of jobs out there and many people on unemployment made more than when they were working.  If someone had a negative landlord reference or even if the eviction was filed but not finalized I may be somewhat sympathetic but for the eviction to have actually gone through the person knew they were not paying yet refused to leave until the court told them they had to.  To me this is a character flaw and would be an instant pass where I wouldn't even bother showing if I knew.  Remember eviction is not a quick process and they had ample opportunity to leave but basically decided to squat until the last minute, they did it once and I wouldn't risk them repeating it on me if things got tough.  I don't think a lot of people were thinking long term about their actions during Covid but this is an instance of you reap what you sow. 

Trashed is a fairly relative term.  I have no doubt they left it in bad shape but am curious to know what the damage was.  It would have to be pretty serious to be worth 4 months of missed rent for the hope of an insurance payout.  This is not something renters insurance would cover.  I've filed a claim on renters insurance but it was for accidental damage and got my money.  I would 100% cancel this insurance carrier but I would wait until the claim is settled, I feel like once they loose you as a customer they are going to be less inclined to work with you on the claim.  I'm sorry this is happening to you but feel you may be stepping over dollars to chase dimes by not just getting the place turned over and re-rented.  

I've rented to ALE solutions who specializes in insurance claims.  They originally asked for a 3 month and I told them I won't do under 6 months and then M2M after that.  They agreed and the tenant was only there for 5 but they paid for it.  I charged an extra 600/month so it seemed like a great deal.  I wouldn't however do it again most likely and if I did it would be in the off season.  We are in prime rental season here at least and I'd not be looking to rent to a shorter term tenant and put myself possibly looking in the holiday season.  That said they allowed and encouraged me to screen the client and they were responsible for their own deposit.  It was a great deal for me however I'm just not wanting to have that much turnover.  I thought they may have more demand and thought this could be a great niche but that was not the case.  

If it is a plug you don’t typically use just take it out and put a plate there.  Internally I’d want to cut the cord but would think they may retaliate on me by damaging my property for damaging theirs.  This may be a somewhat nuclear option but do they have kids and if so should cps be notified the kids don’t have access to electricity and possibly hot water due to no electricity.  

I've done it before, the previous buyer fell out due to financing issues and the seller offered it to me and showed me the receipts of all the things they did.  My real estate agent told me that the inspector that was used was reliable and I went with it and saved about $600.  All the major things were fixed from the report and the rest was just small stuff.  I didn't have to pay for an inspection and they didn't have to prepare for one.  My seller offered but it doesn't hurt to ask especially if you are already under contract and it provides an inspection contingency.  

Oddly enough I just replaced a garbage disposal in my own house and it cost about $150 and 30 minutes of my day.  My properties are between solid b and a- but they all have disposals and dishwashers but I don’t provide a washer and dryer.  I think not having a dishwasher would really hurt business and a disposal wouldn’t be noticed at first but could cause issues.  Of all my appliances these are the 2 cheapest and provide a great tenant experience so I keep them.  For the disposal it is all about education.  

Bank account numbers really aren’t all that private and are at the bottom of every check you have ever written.  For my mortgages I had to provide statements and I could either do it electronically where they had access or email them they didn’t care.  I was all about the electronic link so I didn’t have to do it.  You have protections from fraud through your bank so this is not a bill to die on.  In fact in ky it is the law that all my tenants know the account number for their deposits and if they don’t I can’t withhold from it.  

You just had a rent increase on there.  Could it be that the tenant decided if you are upping the rent they are upping their standards and turned in their list of things they lived with but now want fixed?  Outside of that though agreeing with the others that if left to the tenants they will have 0 incentive to report or get quality repairs.  I'm not sure why but for me when it rains it seems to pour with maintenance where I'll go a while all quiet and good then BAM 2-3 issues at different properties at the same time.  

I see you as wrong for thinking this but also don't feel like you should be on the hook.  Why on earth would the PM be in such a hurry to return the deposit, here we have 30 days.  Is it shorter where you have your rentals and they were on a time crunch?  I would let the PM know that this is something that they need to pay for and they can either pay for it or reduce the placement fee for the next tenant by the cost to repair.  If not you have to decide if there are better options out there in your area and if so use them.  Tenants always want the deposit back ASAP but I tell them it is going to be a minimum of a couple weeks while I inspect and up to the 30 days if there will be deductions.  It seems like on a lot of posts the go to answer is to hire a property manager but this is just one of the many reasons not to if you don't have to.  Nobody is going to care for your property like you would and if the properties are local and you have the time it really isn't that hard.