All Forum Posts by: Cheryl R.

Last year, I bought a house in the subdivision Grove Park in Durham, NC.  We got renters in the place and ended up asking them to leave because they could not follow the hoa guidelines and they were happy to go.  Got new renters in and I am realizing that the hoa difficulties are not valid issues.   We get about one letter per month for minor issues, but this one takes the cake.  I got a letter saying that the renters need to clean up a planter in the backyard because it is full of weeds.  First off, those weeds are rosemary, which were there when we bought the house, NOT weeds.  It has a layer of pine straw over the bare earth.  Second, it's in the BACK YARD, not visible from the street.  In order to see this planter, the hoa had to ride a golf cart down a greenway and use binoculars.   This is not cool.  I felt I was being targeted, but when looking on the neighborhoods social sight, I am learning that we are not being targeted, that this sort of thing happens all the time.  One person got told to remove their high grass from the mailbox.... it was daylillies.   Another got told to remove weeds from a planter and stated they are phylox, not weeds.   So would you stay and fight, or just sell this place and buy elsewhere, leaving the hoa nazi's to their game?   I would take a loss.  I replaced flooring and got a new water heater, etc.... thinking I'd keep this place at least 20 years .

Is it possible to be a landlord without being "rude" or worse?  I rent houses that are between 1100 and 1400 sq ft and I tend to rent them in what some would call "B" neighborhoods.   They aren't the worst around, but not the best either.   

Here is an example:

 Tenant in place for 3 years starts lagging on rental.   Goes from paying on the 5th to paying on the 10th or later.  After a few months, it is the 18th of the month and I still do not have her rent check, so I send her our state's notice that she needs to pay the rent or be evicted (I am in NC and typically this can and should be sent out much sooner than I did, but since she had been in the house, I did cut her a break).  

She emails back that I am "Rude" and that she has "never been late" on her rent.  I email her the explanation and the expectation.  I tell her that she has in fact, not been on time in her rent payments for four months, and that from this date on, she will get the 10 day notice on the first day I can legally send it.   I sent her a copy of the law that I was following inside the email.  

From that day on, I got the rent on the 10th of the month until the last month she was in the house.  I felt like she was acting like a 2 year old from that point on.  If she knew she could get away with it legally, she did it.    

This is not the first time it happened...I actually had a person tell me they were working.  I called to verify and was told that the person did work there.  The day she moved in, she quit her job and planned to go on disability....which we all know takes forever.  I ended up asking her to move out so that she would not have an eviction on her record, which she did move.... but not after calling me "rude" for expecting to get paid the rent by the 5th of the month ( our state law).  I even saved one of her emails as a laugh. She was a week late already and sent me an email that asked.....

"Hi, I was wondering if I could start paying my rent weekly?".  It would be easier for me to budget that way.  

Should I care that I come across as rude for expecting to be paid?  What do you do to not be called rude?  

ps:  these people were found by a management company for me, and should have been well qualified (I didnt continue to use the management company after finding the tenant"

I was looking at a duplex, and across the street was a lot for sale where another is being built.  The new one will sell for $330k, rents will be $1500 per side ($3000 per unit).   The one I was looking at is $350k and is older, but has tenants already.  How would you make this decision?  How do you factor in the time costs?  The new one will take 6 to 8 months to build, then I have to put tenants into it...but it will be brand new and I can choose the most durable materials to put inside from the start.  The unit for $350k needs some updating and rents for $1400 and $1500 per side.   The $1400 is a long term tenant and the current owner has records that they pay on time. 

I could look in dayton/cincy area, I have family there that I could call on if need be and I'm there several times a year.   I realize that prices here are high, and I do wish I had bought more during the downturn.  

I once had to let hubby learn the hard way that you get what you pay for.  Had quotes of 1100 and 1200 to install tile in a shower and some guy quoting 400.  I wanted to go with 1100 guy, but hubby wanted to use 400 and refused to listen.  So 400 guy comes with a hand held tile cutter as his only tool.  He spends the day in my master bathroom and when finished the tile looks like crap because he used tile nippers to cut all the tiles.   While we were ordering new tiles, the ceiling developed a wet spot below where the shower sits, and we learned that he had knocked a hole in a pipe and just closed it up...  So his $700 savings ended up costing $1000 in new tile, $1100 for installation, $500 for plumbing repair and $1000 for the ceiling to be repainted.   And that isnt even mentioning that someone went through my underwear drawer and left grout finger prints on my undies.  

I want to know who owns the property management company. Is it an LLC of his that he runs from florida?

Which would you choose?

Lowest average price 1100 to 1500 sq ft home that costs around 190k and rents for 1400 (crime is higher in this area, but not really bad). 

Better school area 1100 to 1500 sq ft home that costs 290k and rents for 1600 (maybe a little less)

Bigger house in either area?  (not sure about the rents because I have not rented a larger house)

Also, how do you deal with hard to please hoa if you already own the house?  I get a letter every single month... things like:  mailbox "dirty", ruts next to driveway, car parked on street (renter had family visiting for five days), garbage cans stored in side yard,  "bald" spot in yard (it was winter).  I suspect the hoa does not want renters and specifically looks at my house twice a month...and always finds something.  

Thanks for the great info... I will have out a copy of the HOA guidelines with some of the more restrictive rules highlighted (like a fine for street parking), and let them know that if they violate, they pay the fine.

I bought a house and moved a renter into the house, then realized the HOA is terribly strict. There were posts in their neighborhood website about people having liens on their home for not doing what the HOA wanted and they seemed unrealistic. One person said that she was being threatened for a "crooked mailbox flag", and others seemed just as petty. Some people said that they had liens put on their home for things that were not wrong with their home. They claimed they thought the process was "silly" and did not go to their "hearing" and got slapped with a lien.

The HOA responded harshly that these people need to follow the rules.

Yikes! I have renters! I did put in my rental agreement that HOA guidelines must be followed, but do I need to put in anything else next time? I am redoing an agreement and will be showing the home later this week. Do I need to state that they will have to pay fines? How do you deal with a very strict hoa?

I do what tracy streich does and apply the check to the last late fee first..I also put that into my rental agreement.