All Forum Posts by: Michael Jones

Tell him you will sell the building to him for 14 million dollars and then he can stay there at no charge.

He wants to negiotiate so at least you have a starting point for him to counter with.

I would provide a 30 day lease termination letter. This will end the current month to month lease.

I would then inform them that the unit will be rented at (whatever your fair market value is) and will require one months rent security deposit.

They now have a choice: Pack up and move and pay fair market rent plus one months rent at a new rental unit or not move and pay fair market rent and one months rent security deposit.

What ever direction they go, you will end up with a tenant that is paying fair market rent and you will have one months rent security deposit.

Honestly I think you have spent more time posting on this forum than the whole issue is worth.

I would hop on facebook market place and find a $100 window unit and go put it in the window of the unit.

Its only a 500 sf studio so most 110 ac window units will cool the place.

I would then pull the breaker to the a/c unit that is installed in the closet so they can not use it at all.

You promised them working air when they rented the unit. They do not get to decide what system you install to fullfill your promise.

Here is your air. Have a nice cool summer.

I would not have the tenant cutting the grass in anything except a sfh. 

In the suggestions above I would be very careful about any of the following:

Providing the lawnmower = I got burned on the lawnmower or a rock flew into my eye and it was becasue the lawnmower you provided me was not maintained and serviced to safety standards per the manufactures recommendations. And here is the letter from my lawyer saying you are responsible for all of my hospital bills as well as my workmans comp payments seeing that I was an employee of yours cutting the grass for your rental proerties.

Oh, you have insurance. Great. My lawyer cant find the workmans comp coverage you had on myself when you hired me as an employee under the laws of this state. By the way, I have missed several days of work due to this eye injury and will not be able to pay rent until you pay me the workmans comp salary I am due. Its all covered here in this letter from my lawyer.

Paying the tenant to cut the grass = see answer above

Reducing the rent to cut the grass = see answer above

Solution = Raise the rent to cover the cost of lawn care and hire a legit company with Liability and Workmans comp insurance and sleep well at night.

Or...cut it yourself and sleep better because you are tired.

"Experience is never at the mercy of an argument"

I would find it easier to just move the rent up $75.00 and tell them that is to cover the water bill.

If you move $50.00 and they go over you have to manage the collection of $10 or $15 they went over. 

They owe another landlord $9,000. Principal alone says I would not rent to them.

And why get in line to be the next landlord they owe?

Btw.....$9,000??? Thats a years worth of college dorm money.

15% vacancy? If you were running 15% vacancy you should have stopped self managing and let a company do it for you to fix that vacancy issue.

I am in bucket number 2. I self manage my 28 units all the way down to the actual books and filing taxes. And here is why:

If I have a tenant that has a plumbing leak and it is managed by a property company and the tenant calls them and then they call a plumber to repair any type of leak it is going to be $300 no matter how minor the leak. 

Instead, I just got this exact text yesterday. The toliet is leaking. I replied with "can you send me a picture of where it is leaking? Once I recieve the picture I see that it is dripping from the wall valve where you shut off the toilet inlet water. 

I hop in the truck, stop by the hardware on the way and match up the new valve with the picture and within 30 minutes i am knocing on the unit.

I go to the hot water closet and shut off the main to the unit, test the water in the sink next to the toilet to ensure it is off, grab my adjustable wrench, pipe wrench and thread tape and replace the valve in under five minutes.

I show the tenant what I did and how I fixed it and thanked her for always being so prompt with any issue and for being such a great tenant.

She is in her 60's and says to me "I have rented apartments my entire life and I have never had landlords as good as you and your wife. As long as you two own the building I will never move."

The value of fixing the leak $300.00 minus an $11.00 valve and one hour of my time.

The value to my tenants for not having to deal with the red tape of a company and having me respond in an hour is priceless.

And I didnt give up 10% of her rent for someone else to call a plumber.

I am not saying that property management companies do not have great value to certain owners in many situations but they are not for a large majority of independent owners. 

If i start running 15% vacancy then I might consider one.

Probably buying a property in which the current owner was taking cash and not reporting the income especially if it was an old house with one address converted in to three rentals.

I would, as suggested above, make the purchase contigent upon the current owner meeting with all three tenants and having them sign "your" new lease. It should cover all of the legal needs of a lease which will protect you on rent amounts, deposits, who is living in each unit...etc.

I also would make these leases be month to month in case there is a bad apple in the bunch it is easier to get them out.

I manager 28 units in my market and the leasing portion is the most critical step. I would not hand this over to a PM unless I was on my death bed. As said earlier, get the right tenant and your rental experience will be a great one. Get the wrong tenant and well....you know.