All Forum Posts by: David S.

@Michaelina Stathakos Here is a little different take on this. Did the worker who repaired the floors have liability insurance? I have experienced workers who cause damage and it sucks. Also, is it a good tenant or is this some type of extortion request for payment from a troublemaker? If it is a good tenant, I may be inclined to give a small credit for the broken item if the repair person did not pay anything or have insurance for this. I know many don't want to pay anything but if was a legitimate issue caused by work under my supervision, I would feel partially responsible for the incident. However, it would not be a blank check either.

Yes, I had this issue many times.

Unfortunately since your lease does not include specific language about the breakers, then I am on the side that it is your responsibility UNLESS you can prove the tenant did something wrong that would trip the breaker and that would be very difficult to have definitive evidence.

For $75, I hope someone just did not flip the breaker and leave?  I would expect a basic troubleshooting of what was on that circuit. 

For example:

1.  Do you have a short somewhere?

2.  Is it a weak breaker or is the breaker bad?

3.  Do you have damage to the bus bar?

4.  Does the tenant have anything on that circuit that would trip it?  Like a space heater?  A faulty appliance or light?

This does bring ideas on how I can improve my systems.  Moving forward, I think I will:

1.  Put in the lease that tenant must try resetting the breaker 1st before we send in an electrician, or pay the cost of paying an electrician to flip the breaker.

2.  Train new tenants on how to flip breakers and the locations.  Some of my places have 2 different electrical panels in different locations of the residence.

3.  Type up a guide for each unit on location and procedure.

4.  Do the same for water cutoff valves to the unit.  This may save thousands if they know where the water cutoff is.

I have had this happen a couple of times. 

Several different reasons as to why you are seeing this:

1.  Tenant does not have the funds available.

2.  Tenant has cancelled payment.

3.  Tenant has closed the account.

I don't think you were scammed by Cozy---you were scammed by the tenant!  I never use Cozy to collect 1st month's rent and deposit.  I always get the money order or cashier's check in hand.  Cozy has a huge lag time, like you said, 5 days.  That leaves it open for tenant abuse as you have seen.  I actually will disable a tenant's Cozy account if they do not pay on the 1st (meaning I don't get paid until the 5th or 6th, which in my opinion in not good because I want the 1st, but I will accept it for good, timely tenants) because it will mean I will get the payment REALLY LATE.  Also, if there is a cancellation event like you have seen, I will disable it and then they just have to have rent in my account on the 1st.

@Anthony Wick I am in the text confirmation before you go. No text confirmation = NO GO. I try to take it a step further and stack 3 or 4 appointments within about a 30 minute window. That way, the flakes who confirm and don't show would still yield a productive appointment most of the time if at least one person shows. Another thing I try to do, if possible, is to schedule outside of busy traffic times. Due to bad traffic in my area, an appointment is very likely to get canceled or have a no show during rush hour.

@Matt B. I have noticed the exact same thing. Many issues raised are outrageous and ludicrous, while missing major issues. On one house I sold recently, the inspector missed 2 major items. I had a laundry list of completely UNNECESSARY repairs or the deal wouldn't move forward due to the scare factor of the buyer. I found one of those issues myself before closing and took care of it even though it wasn't on their list. The 2nd issue made it past closing. I took care of that one too even though it wasn't my house anymore and I had no obligation to do so. I think reputation is more important than assigning responsibility. Like you said, I don't mind fixing REAL problems and not fake problems because they are pet peeves of certain inspectors. On my last house, I accommodated most stupid items but had to draw the line on a few. I elected to just add that house to my rental portfolio and that is when a finalized deal fell into place.

Originally posted by @Stanley Bronstein:

@David S. The situation is a little confusing and not totally clear to me.  Sorry if there was any misunderstanding. Are you saying someone is trying to charge you a 2% fee and make a couple of extra thousand off you on this deal?

 I am not sure either.  We have to ask the OP.

Originally posted by @Stanley Bronstein:

@David S.  and @Allen Lopez It's not BS. The closing attorney (who also runs the title work) is allowed to get paid.  The $600 for 100,000 of title insurance is not all that out of whack. Title companies in most states (presumably Louisiana as well) have mandated insurance rates and they cannot change them.

Normally, the title policy will be paid by the Seller (unless you negotiated otherwise). Read the contract and see what it says. If you're going to be a buyer in the future, I would usually ask the Seller to pay for a title policy in my opening offer.  You can always negotiate from there.

The fees you describe are simply the cost of operating in the real estate business. I would plug these numbers into every deal you do.

I am not saying title attorney fees are BS.  Far from it.   I am saying that a transfer tax or fee of 2% is BS.  We do not have that high of fee for title transfers in this municipality.  I stated that the municipality fee is $135 only, not 2%.  I only mentioned the other fees as an illustration.  Even all of that added up does not equal 2%! 

A lot of folks mentioned excise fees, stamp fees.  We simply do no have that here.  So if this is demanded that the buyer pay this, it is BS.

I vote for BS!

The only fee for a 4 unit residential property is the recording fee of $135, which is the standard fee charged by the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court.

You will pay about $700 to the closing attorney and about $600 per 100K of title insurance.

Of course, the property taxes will be prorated. Also, if you have a loan, you will have a ton of finance fees, but those are standard bank fees.

I have numerous settlement statements showing this.

@Steve Vaughan  We have "Parishes" here in Louisiana and not counties like most states :)

@Molly Morlino

I cannot speak as to Texas laws on this, but I have been following HUD on this issue. HUD does say that you must provide "reasonable accommodation" for person with disabilities and that it should not cause the landlord "undue burden." However, as with a lot of HUD guidance, it seems to be a bit gray and subjective. What exactly is "undue burden?"

In my opinion, getting your insurance cancelled and having to find another insurance carrier would be "undue burden." However, we may have to wait until a complaint like this is brought up, prosecuted, and the result of said prosecution made public. Until then, we must be careful. My opinion or your opinion does not matter, only HUD's and the presiding judge.

If presented with this situation, I would formally ask my insurance carrier if there was an exception for service or ESA animals.

Here is a case where a landlord was prosecuted for refusing an ESA animal (however, no breed was brought up, so this is a little different):

https://archives.hud.gov/news/2015/pr15-050.cfm

My advice is to tread carefully.  You do not want to end up as a test case.

BTW, did you know that HUD now has a smartphone app so that you can file discrimination complaints?

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

Your trick doesn't make sense. You say to hook the garden hose to the "washer hookup on the house" but that's a water supply line, meaning water comes out of it. How are you pumping water into it?

And what difference does it make if you use a garden hose or if you use the washer hose from the back of the washer machine? It's a just a hose, just like a garden hose but sometimes nicer. Why would it matter if this is inside or outside or even used at all?

Basically, he is flowing water from the neighbor's outside faucet to the washer faucet inside the house that has no water service.  Since the water company has closed the valve at the curb, you are effectively feeding water into the house via the washing machine faucet.  The flow direction on that faucet is now in instead of out.  The reason he mentioned a washing machine hose is because you need two female fittings, whereas a normal water hose has a female and male. 

This is a way of not hooking up normal water service when you just need water on for an hour or so for cleaning purposes, therefore avoiding hundreds of dollars in hookup and usage fees.  In certain cities, it is very expensive for water service and some charge every month even if the usage is zero.