All Forum Posts by: Bob H.

I bought a rental house that the previous owner had purchased after a foreclosure. It was missing about two-thirds of the screens, probably because the foreclosed-on residents were thieves, even taking the garage door. I bought the materials and built the new screens because, like others here, I try to provide decent housing.

I realized later that there is another benefit of providing screens. The windows on this house and on my residence nearby have brittle plastic inserts holding the glass on all four sides on the exterior. A hail storm has hammered the windows at the rental, and most of the plastic inserts are cracked and don't look good. I learned the hard way that it's a bad idea to replace the inserts. The bottom one typically is very tight because of gravity. When trying to replace one of these, I broke a window and had to buy a new dual-pane unit.

The screens protect at least some of the windows from this hail damage, which is not practical to repair.

I provide the appliances that are part of the real estate -- range, dishwasher and built-in microwave -- and those that are personal property -- refrigerator, washer and dryer. I often have tenants moving from apartments. I think it would make my rental houses less appealing if, after coming up with a deposit and first month's rent, the tenants immediately had to buy appliances. I also don't want tenants and their movers hauling major appliances around and banging up doors and walls.

I bought most of the washers and dryers used. To guard against neglectful tenants, the leases do say that repairs to the refrigerator, washer and dryer will be made at the discretion of the landlord.

Think about what you would do when the three months are up and she can't afford the rent.

Also, see this topic, which got an unbelievably big response: http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/197591-would-you-approve-an-applicant-with-a-big-advance-rent-payment

I use National Tenant Network (ntnonline.com).

I don't think it happens often, but lack of communication can be a problem. At the worst, I have had tenants who painted several rooms of a house without obtaining permission as required, and they chose bad colors or combinations that had to be dealt with when the house was put up for sale. More commonly, there are little things: Let's say a gate sags and doesn't close well, or a front door swells from wet weather and fits too tightly in the frame. Ideally, a tenant would just figure out how to adjust the gate hinges and take care of it. More elaborately and less likely, a tenant would sand down the edge of the door and paint it with the correct paint from the garage. Second best, a tenant would tell me about the problem and I would correct it. Most likely, tenants will not want to disturb the landlord or will not think that the condition needs to be corrected. Instead, they will start to slam the gate or the door, making matters worse and necessitating more extensive repairs.

I can't imagine a situation in which my tenants complain that I did not respond to a problem in some way during a legally required time period. It just doesn't come up.

Don't feel obligated to stick to the first rent you advertised. Big apartment complexes, like airlines, hotels and car rental companies, change rents every day based on demand forecasts. 

As always, as others have suggested, know your market and weigh the reward of charging rent near the high end of the range against the risk of vacancy if you charge to much.

You need to do two things:

1. As others have said, read your old lease. Read every single line carefully. Look for anything relating to renewal or "holding over" to see if the landlord's claim has any merit.

2. Before spending money on a lawyer, call the landlord and ask for a specific line in the lease or a specific law that prohibited you from leaving "without terms," whatever that means. If the landlord cannot cite a specific lease provision or a specific law (as in a URL or a citation, not just what somebody says the law is), then politely ask why the landlord is complaining and what the landlord expects you to do.

An option gives you the right to buy a property under specified terms, and you pay the seller for the option. Then you buy or you don't buy and let the seller keep the money. Here in Texas a standard residential contract has an option period during which, at a cost of typically $100, a buyer can get out of the contract.

If you have an existing purchase contract, you're past that point. You probably have an inspection contingency, which means you have a period during which you can get out of the contract if the inspection reveals significant problems. If you have such a contingency, your options are to accept the property with the problems or get your earnest money back and cancel the purchase. Rather than lose a deal, most sellers will agree to some compromise. In this case, an inspection with the water on -- to look for both plumbing problems and structural problems caused by water -- is the least you should expect from the seller.

@Michael Noto, no clause needed, at least in most jurisdictions. It's the law.

I think some posters here misunderstand your situation. I think you have a working home phone and think you need to be contacted elsewhere only when showing your rental.

I have spent more time than I'd like to admit studying cheap cell phones. I settled on a Moto G from TextNow for $23, including shipping, plus $18.99 a month for unlimited talk and text and 500 mb data. Ting was my second choice. As others have noted, many companies have cheap pay-as-you-go plans that have no continuing cost if you allow your minutes to expire.

If you want some phone service while not at home, get a cheap phone and then get a Google Voice number or a free number from RingTo, which will let you make and receive calls free from any wifi hot spot, such as McDonald's or Starbucks.

For an extremely cheap home phone, assuming that you have Internet service, get a box from Obihai for about $50 and pay $12 a year for 911 service.