All Forum Posts by: Amy Zemser

I am so grateful for this community and the wonderful responses. Can anyone in my state recommend a tenant/landlord attorney for this case? She is continuing to harass me with text messages. We are certainly in the process of switching out our boiler, but it is an old house, and her complaints are infinite. I'm certain she will continue to call the Dept. of Health if the heat goes one iota below 68, and while this is apparently within her legal right, is also unreasonable. Also, I'm not in the business of retaliation. We have been considering opening up the apartment for an ailing mother-in-law, or to just try Airbnb, for quite a while. It's time for her to go, and we need a definitive answer on the 30/60/90 law. 

Hi Friends! I sure could use a piece of smart advice right now. I have a rather nuanced problem. 

Our home is a two-family, and we have a beautiful one-bedroom apartment at the side, where we have rented to a timely payer for about five years. The utilities are not separated; all utilities are included in the rent, so heat, hot water, electricity, everything -- we pay.  I accepted her tenancy years ago because she is a working professional, a single woman, and I knew she would be clean and would pay the rent on time. I checked her references. I acknowledged my own inner flags, too. I could tell she was going to be extremely anxious and uptight, but I figured I'd take a chance since the previous tenants spent their free time whacking off the faucets with baseball bats. 

The tenant adopted a little baby boy, and this is when her typical small complaints (Janet: There's no hot water! Me: You have to let the water run for more than two seconds.) started to grow. She started to complain about every little small thing, and to do so rather impolitely. 

Our house is an old Victorian, and the boiler has to strain to heat up her apartment as fast as she would like it. We go through this every year, but she often calls many times each winter to say that it's not getting to 68 degrees, it's only holding at 62, 63, 64. We always remind her to wait a little, and the heat will get there. This year, she purchased a space heater and deducted it from the rent. 

Fine. I didn't argue. But apparently this week, enraged that the heat was only at 66 and wasn't climbing to 68 fast enough for her and her baby, she called the Department of Health in our county to lodge an official complaint. I got a call, and had to explain to a stranger that yes, this is an old home, and yes, it takes a bit for the boiler to reach the apartment. No, I'm not slummy, and yes, we are in the process of looking into a new boiler, but sometimes the heat is a little slow to rise to temp. 

She's been difficult for a long time, potentially litigious, and we are tired. The apartment is rented at way below market value, and there is no reason to continue with a tenant that would go so far as to make a call and involve third parties. Frankly, I think it was a stupid move on her part. She must have known it would only alienate us. 

She does not have a paper lease anymore, though she did the first year. We agreed to an oral month-to-month lease, and according to my attorney, I am allowed to give her thirty days notice, which I did. She promptly responded that New York allows for ninety days notice if a tenant has been in the property for over two years. "I won't leave before ninety days," she told me flatly, on the phone. "You can evict me if you want to." 

I can't have a litigious tenant in our home any more. I'd like her out. Does anyone know what the law in New York really says? I have an attorney, but I think it would be unpleasant (and expensive) to begin legal proceedings before I talked to you, my Bigger Pockets gurus, first hand. 

I'm not interested in knock-down fight. I just don't want her on this property for any more than the law allows. If she continues through ninety days, this is ample opportunity for her to nitpick continuously, torturing us for week after week. 

Thank you for your help. All best. 

This is great -- thank you so much. I'm leaning toward just buying materials myself and then hiring someone to start building. What do you mean by "all will want a reasonable profit margin since there's no making it up..." Are you saying if I buy the materials myself and hire someone, say, by the hour, that they won't want to do the work? I'm thinking this might be the way to go, since our budget is so low. Thanks so much, truly grateful. 

Hi Fellow Big Pocketers! 

We're doing a basement rehab, turning it into an Airbnb. I've considered hiring a contractor to do the whole job, but numbers came in so high that I started over and began calling the smaller outfits -- you know the ones. The dad who just works with his son and comes in cheaper. I'm getting names through friends, but was wondering what would be the safest and most effective payment style. Half up front, half at the end? Thirds? How do I protect myself there? 

Also, I kind of like being my own contractor! Would anyone like to weigh in on that? What if I just oversaw the whole operation and hired guys step by step? It's a basement living space, utility kitchen, and bathroom. Isn't the order of operations -- 1. Plumbing, 2. Framing and Insulation, 3. Electric,  4. Walls, 5. Floors. I like working with people. Perhaps I could hire people for what they do best? 

I'd love to hear from those that have worked with renovators on a more regular basis. 

Thank you and all best,  

Amy

I haven't gotten very far. Am now taking an online course to get my real estate license (I want access to the MLS) and also took some part-time work to generate some revenue to invest in real estate. I'll keep you posted, thanks for writing!

If you're the listing agent can you just buy the property? Are there rules around this? Forgive my stupid question; I'm new at this. 

Thank you! I actually just cold-called a bunch of landlords to see if they were open to Airbnb and some actually are! If you are a natural at being friendly and negotiating well, it's not that tough a sell, so I'm not going to buy the program. Thanks for responding. 

Airbnb works anywhere that people would find a hotel, although more touristy areas, like major cities, are easier to attract BnB folks. That being said, I live two hours north of Manhattan and Airbnb is thriving up here. 

Some great contributors to my original question - thank you. I did some digging on the internet and found no independent reviews of his course. His hotline number goes to voicemail, which is disappointing. Maybe I’ll just buy the course and write an extensive review here - I am that intrigued. Thank you, all. 

@Jeff Kehl this is a fascinating response, and I thank you for writing to me. I'm a fan of Michael Blank (did you take his course? I'd like to hear about that, too, if you did) and I did indeed watch the entire webinar. I very nearly pressed the purchase button, too, and was still considering it when I saw your post. I suppose now I must be more circumspect. 

I agree that aspects of the tutorial have an unctuous feel, and I despise the webinar model that poses as a tutorial but is really nothing more than a hard sell. It's frustrating. But I'm susceptible to this one in particular because I achieved such success with my own Airbnb and am now looking for ways to expand the model. After two years, I simply got tired of being the front desk. Brian Page is ostensibly all about systems, and I can't help but wonder if it would be helpful to just purchase all the materials he has set up to get this sort of machine started. I don't have any illusions about a rich-quick game. The idea of running one or two airbnb rentals appeals to me and I can't help but wonder if it would actually solve some problems for landlords. I rent out an apartment attached to my own home, and I have had so many problems with tenants -- and so FEW problems with Airbnb guests -- that I can't help but wonder if an entrepreneur came to my own rental with a proposition that I would necessarily say no either, particularly if there were a monetary incentive for me. 

Would love to hear more about how your Airbnb rental is going for you, and thanks so much for contributing here.