All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Look, there's a reason people on Section 8 are on it.  If you are a responsible landlord providing quality housing, your screening criteria will most likely except Section 8 by default.  You may be able to put limits on the total number of humans allowed in the unit, credit scores above X for each adult, no rude people, people who smell like alcohol at 10AM, smokers, leather-wearers, vegans, etc.  You can't discriminate based on protected classes, but you can discriminate based on whatever other factors you want, as long as you do so consistently.  

And income can still be X times the portion of rent that the tenant pays. Because HUD subsidizes the rent and that's given directly to the landlord, and because section 1 above essentially states that the subsidy to the landlord should not be counted as qualifying tenant income but rather that it reduces the rent amount, it should follow that if you require an income that's 4 times what the tenant pays in rent (and apply that standard to all applicants), you will likely avoid Section 8 (if that's what you want) because as far as I know, Section 8 recipients pay up to 1/3 of their income in rent.

Rather than complaining about What Is, what would be more productive and helpful is for landlords to talk about their screening process and how they legally navigate anti-discrimination legislation while still managing to find great tenants.  @Marcia Maynard, for example, is an expert in this.  If you are a landlord without experience in this area, then it would be helpful for us if you brainstormed some potential solutions that we might not have thought of yet. I tried to do this in the previous paragraphs.

I wouldn't recommend, however, breaking the law.  I would recommend even less breaking the law and then bragging about it on a public forum.  

 "Anti-Landlord" is a bit hyperbole and sounds like click-bait, wouldn't many of you agree?  

In any case, these are the same rules we in Portland have already been following. While there are ways around Section 8 (e.g. own higher-quality rentals that are more expensive than HUD limits, require an income from all sources to be at least X times the rent amount, require a certain credit score, require higher deposit, etc.), it's fair to accept the first tenant who fits your criteria. Otherwise if your criteria are constantly shifting and the goalposts moving, then what's the point of having criteria in the first place, and how can someone who has traditionally been discriminated against in society (e.g. racial minorities) ever meet them?  

Many of the people here criticizing these anti-discrimination measures don't have profile pics, and anyway I won't make assumptions about anyone's ethnic background based on how they look.  That said, if you believe anti-discrimination ordinances are fundamentally "anti-landlord" yet at the same time think you don't hold prejudices against certain groups of people, this may be a time for some introspection and soul-searching.  

@David Boroughes:

This is what I used. Feel free to adapt to your needs, or not. I'm no lawyer, and this isn't legal or investing advice.

Letter to tenants of one year on a month to month agreement: 

Notice to inherited tenants after acquiring new rental property:

Sometimes a little context goes a long way towards fostering goodwill.  I could have charged more, but then I would have had to rehab the units with cash I didn't really have at the time.  Instead, I raised the rent to below market and fixed some things that the previous landlord neglected.  Just before the new rent went into effect, I bought the tenants new stainless steel kitchen appliances.  

Landlords do have the upper hand in most landlord-tenant relationships, but tenants are still our clients and are paying our mortgage.  Also, when the market shifts, I won't need to bribe prospective tenants with flat screen TVs to fill a 2-month vacancy.  

Thanks for organizing this, JR, and thanks for tagging me Randy. I'm planning on it!

First, I'll say that I'm a bleeding heart dog person.

Second, why not just ban the boyfriend's dog? It's not on the lease. You have the right to do that. The dog and the boyfriend are guests of your tenant, and so by extension, your tenant is responsible for their actions. And in most states, you have the right to evict if your tenant is a nuisance to the neighborhood. 

Don't let your worry over potential lost income take precedence over your responsibility to the neighborhood. The money will sort itself out. You can always offer a new tenant low rent in exchange for keeping things tidy and opening up the house for showings with a 2 hour notice. That may well prove to be a more fruitful proposition than trying to sell a house with an uncooperative tenant, and dog hair.

 Welcome J.  What is the zoning at your place, and how big is the lot?  Are you in St. Johns?  Portsmouth?  FoPo?  Often with amenity bonuses or alternative design overlays you can build up to 150% of the allowable base zone.  Happy to provide more specifics. 

The reason to build one as an ADU is, it's cheaper to build one, and it's even cheaper to build an ADU because of the SDC waiver through I think June of next year. Though in bank-land, commercial multifamily is 5+ units, in Portland code-land, it's 3+ units, meaning you'd then have to equip your units with sprinklers and whatever else code now dictates. And you'd pay SDC for all the new units. AND you will have fewer exit strategies with a triplex than with a house + ADU, since many buyers search MLS for SFRs but not for MF. Also in my experience, house + ADU sells for more than "duplex."

I know you're talking about a triplex, but you may want to run the numbers (for both holding and selling) both/all ways. You may find that your ROI is much better with an ADU than with a triplex. Which brings me back to the zoning. If you can build more than 3 through the zoning provisions mentioned above, then a 4- or 5-plex might pencil out better than the ADU--economy of scale, taxes, lending options, and all that.  Especially if you're within 500 feet of a frequent transit line and can forgo some of the parking requirements.

Feel free correct me if I'm interpreting @Michael Quarles ' comments inaccurately, but it sounds like he's promoting a neurolinguistic programing (NLP) based approach--the same strategy used by pick-up artists and con men.  If that kind of thing works for you, more power yadda yadda.  But it takes a long time to become great at NLP (though there are many entrepreneurial types who would gladly teach you, for a price). 

Then, once you master NLP, you'll have a powerful psychological tool to use for good, evil, or everything in between.  A lot of salespeople learn NLP.  

Personally, I'd have a hard time sleeping at night knowing that my material success came mostly from manipulation, rather than from making people feel good while solving their problems.  I'd much rather do business by referral than by having to market to/hypnotize new prospects all the time.  

Knowing how to use language to your advantage is definitely a plus, but that doesn't preclude connecting with people and developing rapport.  There's nothing "wimpy" about being genuine.  

The City of Sherwood seems to be flirting with changing some zoning to allow tiny houses.  You just missed this city council meeting, but I'm sure there will be more news to come: http://www.tinyhousecommunity.com/map/events-calen...

Short video about city codes for tiny houses on wheels.

Cracking the Code book for tiny house zoning 

Oregonian article from two days ago with info about everything Portland Tiny House.   

A couple relevant websites:

http://thetinylife.com

https://smallhousesociety.net

Otherwise, @Jeffrey H. is correct.  Whether tiny houses will be allowed mostly depends on your neighbors.  

 Jennifer, this is an intriguing topic that's super hot here in Portland. I've got an industrial zoned house on a big lot next to a golf course. I posted a note on the Portland Tiny House Facebook group asking if tiny-housers would be interested in parking there and what rent they are looking to pay; I got several responses in the first day. People will pay $400 to $500/month just for a place to park with a garden hose hookup and 30 amps of power, but there are considerations like zoning and what the neighbors think that affect whether they can actually live in their houses. If we can resolve those issues, hosting tiny houses seems like a terrific way to get a great return on a minimal investment while helping to alleviate some of the "housing crisis" here in Portland. 

I'm pro-dogs, but they will likely disturb some of your landscaping.   You could include the landscaping in the premises description on your lease, so if it gets destroyed (by adults, children, or dogs), it's included in what the tenant pays for with their security deposit.  Some dogs dig, others don't, and there's really no way to know in advance what an individual dog will do. Kids can be destructive too, so restricting dogs won't necessarily preserve your landscaping.