All Forum Posts by: Cali Skier

Thanks David, agree, will wait until the issue is fixed with the unit, and after laborday weekend work through it.

 I have double deposit, and I kinda doubt they will have cat piss... Its easier to do it like you say, look the other way and hope... but it may be better since they are great tennants. 

 Extended stay, yes.  14 days..  

Approval for extra pets, yes: 

I have multiple statements about "and damages by guests, XYZ caused by guests, performed by guests, etc."  

I think I have everything on paper.  I struggle with frustrating them when they are so very good, they are planting gardens in the front yard.  It was a very nice house and they are absolutly keeping it that way if not making it better.   We have a double deposit already... We need to think about this... 

Preamble:  We don't announce that we are the owners, we don't hide it, but it never comes up.  We have a logo and a company name for all our properties, we look like a business.  We sign the owner line on the lease, but nobody every notices.

We have nice middle class houses we rent. In our nicest house we have Tenants that pay 2 weeks early, been there for about 4 months. They are friendly tenants, They call us immediately when there is a problem, and every time either of us is over there, the house is very clean and there are no odors... They came in with a dog, told us about the dog, paid a deposit and fee for the dog.

We were over there for a problem recently and noticed two things. A cat, and a pack of e-cigarettes on the counter. We have a very hard core policy on smoking / vaping, screen shots below... The cat is not on the lease, and we have strict rules about that.

They indicated that an older child moved in with them temporarily, trying to figure out a housing situation. That child brought the cat. The e-cigarettes, we are not sure if its this child and have not addressed that yet.  

I want to stay professional on this...  e-cigarettes on a counter does not mean they are being used on the property, its assumed though.

I am thinking this is the play... Tell the parrents, that the child needs to be added to the lease, and have that child sign all the same documents, and pay for a deposit and pet fee for the cat.  Once he moves out he can have his cat deposit back if we do not see any damanges or smells.  That's the cat.  

For the e-cigs....With the other documents, new child will sign the no smoking / vaping addendum, that might be a good way to address anything without saying "hey I saw a pack of e-ciggeretts on the counter".  Treating this child like we treat everyone, as we hand the document to sign: "And this is the no smoking addendum, just be aware, dont allow anyone on the property to smoke here, inside or outside, its impossible to get the smell out of the house" 

How would you approach this?

 absolutly!  Thx...

Thanks both of you. 

BTW, Nathan you have been very helpful to me in the past as well...

Actually, what we did was put it up for rent well in advance of our tenants leaving. We knew they were vacating so, we are really only 1 week vacancy.  If they dont sign on Aug 1 we will relist and, then yes, will be losing real money.  

Wanted to ask you on this:  "Don't hold a vacant property for someone for more than two weeks. After that, they have to pay rent, utilities, and other costs even if they aren't going to occupy for another month."  Can I take rent from two people at the same time where 1 is not in the property?  

Or are you suggesting this... "Take rent the day the other tenant leaves but get it paid in advance".  So like in our case, the other tenant left on the 24th, you might tell me the new tenants sign the lease for the 25th, pay rent for the rest of July, all August and the deposit, and I would not care when they show up.  

Hi,  

We took a property off the market 6 weeks ago because we landed some tenants that paid a deposit / holding fee.  They signed an agreement to comit to signing the lease or forefeit the money.  Aug 1st is the day they have to sign.   There are some indications that they may not sign, some personal family stuff that I don't want to get into.  They wanted to start early, but then no, then they have stopped texting.  I believe it's my right to keep the deposit, is there some law or some thing I don't know about that would say otherwise? 

Aug 2 I am relisting the house if I don't have a signed lease.  

Thank you both, this was really helpful

Hi

We are screening tenants again. I go pretty much by the bigger pockets formula, some of my main instant declines are:

1. Gross less than 3x monthly rent
2. evictions, felonies
3. poor rental history
4. Dogs that my insurance does not cover

Ok, beyond that, things get gray for me…and I had a coach tell me this… “If you ever make an exception on one criterion, you must continue to make that exception from now on.   For example, if you want credit scores above 600 but you accept a 580 once, you can never in the future decline someone with a credit score between 580 and 600.

The gray areas…

1. I like a credit score above 600,
2. I like my tenants not to have bankruptcy
3. I like my tenants not to have a lot of debt (such that payments impact the Gross = 3X number)
4. I like my tenants to have a history of paying on time

Here is a scenario:  Tenant “X” gets past all the instant declines. Employed with the same company for 7 years, makes 4.7 times the rent, has a credit score of 580, and a bankruptcy that is over 3 years old, shows 0 late payments since bankruptcy.

If I accept this tenant, does it follow that forevermore I cannot decline someone solely on a less than 600 score? 

Reading a lot of posts on this forum it sounds like many of you look at the whole picture and it's not always black and white… To me the 580 and the bankruptcy are unacceptable at face value, however, the 7 years, the 4.7X, and 0 late payments since bankruptcy offset those blemishes.  

Would a cort of law find this acceptable?:  “Your honor, yes I accepted Tenant X with a 580 and a bankruptcy, but these other things offset that and I felt comfortable with the risk.  Tenant “Y” has a 590, 3.2X rent, but just started a new job a week before applying and I did not feel comfortable renting to them for that reason.   How do I know they aren’t going to be fired?"  

Well it does work... We did get one dead end interest from someone that wants it for $1,500.  So at least I know it does work.