All Forum Posts by: Michael Jones

do you know where they work? They can be served at work.

I would go the insurance route as noted above. There is little chance that your insurance provider will cover a pit bull under your current policy. But they can quote you a policy for coverage for a million dollar liability on that pit bull. However, you will not be able to afford the rates.

So, there is the undue burden on you as the landlord. that allows you to say you can not make accommodations for such an animal.

It is the same as if a person applied for an apartment on the second floor and after being accepted stated they were in a wheel chair and since the apartment is on the second floor you as the landlord must install a ramp or lift that makes the second floor handicapped accessible. That would be an undue burden and allow you to not rent to the potential tenant.

Talk to another bank. I have five four plex's and all are on 30 year fixed. 

You always want to consult with a lawyer or do the research rather than take my or any ones word for legal advice.

With that being said, a little research online says NC state law is a seven day notice to increase rent under a month to month lease. However, I would still give a 30 day notice just as a courtesy so they have a full month to adjust spending or move if they can not afford the increase.

If the tenant is under a lease that is not month to month then an increase can not be passed to the tenant unless there is a provision in the lease that allows for a rent increase. So if you purchase a property and a tenant is under lease and the lease says nothing about a rent increase you can not increase under the end of that lease.

Again, just my understanding and I am not an attorney.

@Brian Orr

A tote is a two wheel garbage tote supplied by most trash companies. We remove dumpsters when we by a multi family property and replace with these. A dumpster is usually around $100 a month on the low end and the totes are around $15.00 per month. So four a four plex with each unit having a tote you can go from $100 down to $60.00.

A lot of different views. There in lies the challenge. If you ask 100 people how to do this business you will probably get about 300 different answers. And it may be that all are correct. Everyone has their own reasons and styles for how they handle challenges.

My two cents worth is to keep it simple for yourself and your tenants. That is why I am in favor of just raising the rents and letting the tenant deal with it. If i chopped up utilities and it went from 420 to 500 they are going to be shelling out the same dollars anyway so the threat of them moving has not changed.

And another thought, when I bought my first four plex my biggest concerns were collecting the rent ( that is still my number one priority) and not losing a tenant. I have learned as I became more seasoned that tenants are going to move on at different times and that I should never behave or react in a way that would be different if I knew they were not going to move out. Just do whats right and if the tenant has an issue just fix it and the tenants will stay more loyal for that reason than cheap rent.

And the best advice I have ever received was "drive just as fast to a property to fix an issues as you drive when you know they have rent waiting for you and you will always have good tenants"

Move on. You smell a rat because a rat stinks. 

I know you may not agree but I have been through this same dilemma on every occasion when we have bought a four plex. 

My strategy is to go in and raise the rent on the first meeting once i have purchased. If the rent is at $420 and the market is at $500 guess who knows best that they have been getting a great deal? The tenant. When they heard the building was being sold they knew a rent increase was coming.

I would raise to $500 now with a 30 day notice.

Sure, some could move if they do not like it but they will not give you a notice then as they have no other place lined up.

I have purchased 6 four plexus in three years and raised the rent on the first meeting to any unit that was below market value. You want to guess how many tenants have moved out over the increase? You guessed it. Not a single one. Fair market value is still fair and they know it.

Do not wait six months because by then you will know that Jane cares for her sick mom and is having car trouble, Suzy's boyfriend is not paying child support and etc..........and it will be harder to raise then.

Just bite the bullet.

and if you raise all of the rents to market value then you do not have to worry about chopping up the water by percentages. It is covered in the rent. and you also do not have to worry about someone paying rent but then chasing them for a $40.00 water bill. 

on another note, I would have the dumpster picked up and bring in totes. Cheaper and you do not have to worry about couches being dumped into them or around them by non residents.

There are only two times in life to plant a tree. Today, or twenty five years ago.

I started at age 44 with a cashed out 401k that totaled $90,000 after all the penalties.

Three years late at 47 years old I have 28 rental units with a yearly profit of $91,000 and rental income of $200,000.

I wonder what my 401k would have paid me per year if i left it in and retired at the young age of 65?

Just make the call. As soon as you state your name and say you got their number off CL and you are interested in buying their property they conversation will be organic from there. One thing for sure, property owners are very passionate about their property. They either love it or hate it and will be glad to talk about it. 

Oregon defaults to the federal HUD standard regarding service animals and ESA's. In short, you can not deny a person with an ESA (emotional support animal) any more than you can a blind person with a seeing eye dog. To do so is discrimination against a person with a disability. You do not want to get tangled up in a discrimination suit because you turned down George who brought a dog into the unit and produced a certificate from some online sight that says the Saint Bernard he has in the apartment makes him feels secure during rainstorms and full moons and this keeps him from having nervous seizures. We are not medical professionals and the courts will quickly side with the tenant if there is a discrimination suit and our only answer is "I know he is lying"

But not all is lost as a landlord. There is hope. 

The Federal Hud law also states that the ESA or service animal can not create "undue financial and administrative burden" on the landlord. So now George has decided that he wants to hug a 12 foot python at night during the months that end in y and this will help him sleep and he has a letter from scam.com that says it is an ESA. What do you do?

Speak to your insurance agent and ask them for a policy quote to cover a 12 foot python that likes to eat small animals like rats, rabbits, cats and oh yeah...the four month old child that lives in the unit downstairs.

I am quite certain when you see the price tag on the policy quote to cover a non-domesticated animal that eats little babies.

There is your undue financial and administrative burden. You can not make reasonable accommodations to accept a 12 foot python.

But what about dogs and cats? If they are house cats and non aggressive breed  dogs you might as well just accept the bs letter from scam.com as being as legit as if Dr. Phil himself signed it. 

But, I promise your insurance company has an aggressive breed clause for dogs in your liability policy. This will cover the obvious......pit bulls, rotts, shepherds, chows, dobermans...etc. 

Again, contact your insurance agent for a policy quote to cover the liability of an aggressive breed and you will have you "undue financial and administrative burden.