All Forum Posts by: Angela Persico

OMG you’re right. I just reread everything and find the wording a bit confusing, but the 1 year hold on eviction only applies to expired leases and hold over tenants? That really changes things, doesn’t it? Thank you for saying something!

Same here! I'm new to real estate investing and was looking for advice on my current rental situation. Someone commented that I was "incompetent". I probably shouldn't engage but this really wasn't the type of response I expected from this group. I replied and he commented back with another snarky post. I'm not sure that he really did anything in violation of the forum rules, but I'd be happy to block his negativity from my life. But I guess I'll just follow @Chris Seveney's advice and ignore these people. 

That actually sounds like a great idea! The house is only 2 blocks from a bank, and right across the street from where she gets her money orders, so she couldn't use inconvenient location as an excuse. Is this a common thing for landlords to do? We've definitely been handling her with kid gloves, thinking that at least she's paying something at a time when plenty of tenants have completely stopped paying rent because they can't be evicted...But I geuss that's why I've been beating myself up over the whole situation. Maybe if I'd been more firm she'd have made her payments and I wouldn't be stressing about this so much. But then maybe she would have just stopped enitrely and I'd have no money at all coming in...

Thank you for taking the time to write such a long response, and providing a ton of good advice. I think you're probably right about the problem with hiring a PM right now, and it was exactly what I'd been concerned about. Who would want to take this on for a measly $90/month? Unfortunately, she can't be evicted until next year because of ERAP, but I like the idea of potentially writing up a new contract, or even offering cash for keys. I gues worst case is that I'm stuck with her usual nonsense for several more months and will evict her once I'm able to.

I have been doing a lot of reading on real estate lately, including BP books, which is how I found the forum. When I first rented out to her, becoming a landlord was never on my radar so I didn't know how to be one, but the books I've been reading have opened my eyes a bit. I'm definitely learning how to do better going forward, though I still have a lot to learn. I'm certainly not rushing into renting again. Who knows, maybe RE really ISN'T for me, but I honestly don't think I will make the same mistakes going forward. I think my Rule #1 will be - no renting to people I know! 

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback. I will certainly screen tenants going forward and don't plan on making these same mistakes again. As I said before, I had never planned on becoming a landlord back in 2019, so I definitely got in over my head trying to help someone out. And who could have seen the pandemic coming and how that would affect real estate, employment, and the ability to evict tenants? Now that I'm trying to take this more seriously and treat landlording like a business instead of a hobby, I'm hoping I will be more succesful going foward. Unfortunately, I set a bad precedent with this tenant that I'm struggling to fix. 

For those saying to evict her, the big problem is that I can't evict her until next spring. She had been paying her rent every month (albeit late) up until the pandemic started. When she started having trouble paying, the eviction moratorium was in place and by applying for ERAP it extended the moratorium even longer. I think a property manager could be useful, just so that I don't have to have any direct contact with her, but since we can't threaten her with an immediate eviction, is that just a waste of money? At this point she's still making payments, and I'm concerned that if I push too hard she'll stop paying all together and there's nothing I can do. I'm actually amazed she is still paying, except that I think she's still hoping to buy the house at the end of all this. I guess I'll have to talk to my lawyer about the eviction process and how to keep track of non-payments.

For those that don't have their tenants send checks through the mail, how do you receive the payment? Should I insist she mail it with some form of tracking? Or meet me in person? And how would you respond when she inevitably says, "I can't meet you today/this week," or "I don't have the money yet," when I can't tell her that if she doesn't start paying on time she'll be evicted? Just tell her that if the late payment every month continues after the moratorium ends that she'll be evicted at that point? This whole thing is such a mess. Thankfully I don't have a mortgage on this house and own it free and clear, but I really feel for the landlords struggling to pay their bills because of this.

 Thanks for your incredibly constructive feedback lol.

It's definitely frustrating! We'll give you money to make up for your tenant not paying rent for the past year, but now you've got to deal with them not paying rent for another year...

This is my first time being a landlord and it's safe to say I'm not very good at it (yet). I came across Bigger Pockets a few months ago and am now seriously considering pursuing REI, but realize I need to change how I handle being a landlord. I'm happy to explain in more detail if needed, but the gist is that I rented a fixer upper that I bought (planning to flip) to a former high school friend who has trouble paying her rent almost every month. I've been renting to her since 2019. She has a 5 year lease with the option to buy. I clearly had no idea what I was doing, and thought it'd be an easy way to make some money while helping out a "friend" who was down on her luck. I didn't know anything about tenant screening and never considered that she'd be a nightmare to deal with. (I'm learning!)

She has rarely paid the rent on time and always has a long sob story that I seemingly fall for. But since the pandemic began she's not only been late on paying, but made partial payments and skipped entire months. Dealing with her has been incredibly stressful, so I was happy just to get anything, which I realize now was a bad mindset. Because of the eviction moratorium in NY I felt like there was nothing I could do, so I gave up asking her where the rent was and just hoped I'd get a check eventually. She applied for ERAP last fall and I received $5,500 in back rent in April. Unfortunately, this means that she cannot be evicted now for another year (maybe I'm lucky she's been paying rent at all). 

I just received July's rent check today but still haven't gotten June's. She says she mailed it out in June and had a long excuse for why she doesn't have the money order receipt anymore so she can't track it/cancel it. Basically she said that she sent the check and there was nothing more she can/would do about paying for June. I told her I'd like her to switch to online payments with Avail so that checks can't get lost in the mail anymore. Her response was that she doesn't trust the website because she's never heard of it, she doesn't have a checking account anyway, and won't pay the 3.5% fee to pay by credit card. 

I know I've handled her entire tenancy badly. So now I would love some advice on how to fix this mess I’m in. I feel like I've set a bad precedent and I'm not sure how to correct it, if I even can. I learned from some Bigger Pockets books about the importance of mailing late rent notices, which I'd never done before. Except that now that she can't be evicted for nonpayment for another 8 months, it's not like I can threaten to evict her if she keeps mailing the check late. Do I start sending them out anyway, just so there's a paper trail? Do I just wait it out and evict her once the moratorium is over next year (as I'm sure she'll continue paying late), and hope she keeps paying in the meantime? How do I handle late/nonpayments at a time when someone can't be evicted? Particularly the "lost" check for June? Is there some other more reliable way to get her to pay if she doesn't have a checking account? I do feel bad for her situation and don't want to have to evict her, but I don't know how to train her to be a better tenant, or if she's untrainable...I’m really at a loss for how to deal with her. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!