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All Forum Posts by: David Dachtera

David Dachtera has started 94 posts and replied 4494 times.

Post: Help me to reply to my tenant

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995

Here's how would approach it (given: I am NOT an experienced landlord) ...

Dear (tenant),

Thank you for your note. Thinking ahead is always helpful.

At the moment, you are current on your rent. If you think starting a family would change or challenge that situation, it may be wise to reconsider your plans. Offspring, adoptees, fosters, etc. bring many increased expenses, from food and clothing to medical needs, and more.

Economically, times are indeed challenging, and these challenges can probably be expected to increase until the Country's government is stabilized. Also, with  few exceptions, rent increases are really a given. Even home owners face tax increases, interest rate changes on their loans, and so on.

As much as I would like to be helpful, that's not a reality at this time. If you feel you will be unable to continue meeting the requirements of your lease agreement, it may be best to begin exploring other housing options. Talk to a loan officer. You may be eligible for low interest loans, first time buyer assistance and other benefits to help you make your plans become reality.

Best Regards,

Post: Does proximity to a cemetery affect home value?

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995

I once owned a home where the "neighbor" behind was a cemetery. The lot was some 200 feet deep, the back yard was some 60 feet deep and there was a chain-link fence and a wooded buffer zone before the first rows of graves.

The down sides were:

That part of town was known as skunk alley. I hit one once. The freeway now known as I-290 runs along the south border and had an access ramp from US-20. On the ramp, I once had a skunk come out from under the pickup truck ahead of me. Hit my right-front wheel. The car stank for months.

There was a crematorium in the south-west corner of the cemetery. At times, a smoky-blue haze hung over the land which smelled like BBQ. Probably the only ones who would have been bothered were holocaust survivors and superstitious people.

My $0.02 ...

Post: Programmable thermostats = financial suicide

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995
Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

We only put limits of 66-68 in FL, people walk in, drop it to 50 degrees thinking it will cool the unit quicker and end up freezing the unit.  I have had to lecture some owners who set the AC limit to seemingly reasonable 72-74 but have gotten us complaints.


 Guests and owners need to understand that a thermostat is a switch, not a throttle.

Post: Trying to back out of deal with earnest money

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995
Quote from @Charlotte Wilson:

We put in an offer a few weeks ago for a property in Kenosha, Wisconsin that has turned out to need a lot of work and the sellers aren’t in agreement to fix majority of it. Long story short, the electrical is a big issue. we sent an addendum and they responded with fixing some of electrical but not in a way that made sense, so we denied it. The NEXT day, they had an electrician work on the house performing those tasks that we didn’t agree to. Would this be a way to back out of our contract to get our earnest money back? My real estate agent is saying no but when I look online, it states otherwise and I have no further knowledge to back it up. Any advice is appreciated.


 What did your attorney say?

Post: DSCR lending expert

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995
Quote from @Timothy Hero:

I've brokered over 325 DSCR loans. I can help with the refinance to pull equity out, but no the purchase, as 99% of the industry won't finance mobile homes.


 Sorry ... gotta ask a "dumb" question here (I've never looked much into MHPs) ...

Don't the home owners own the mobile homes while the park owner owns the lots and everything else?

What am I missing here?

Post: Expensive lesson by leaving one clause out of rental agreement

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995

Another case where common sense isn't so common.

My $0.02 ...

What did your corporate attorneys say when you ran it past them?

Post: Is AN 800+ FICO CREDIT SCORE EVEN POSSIBLE?

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995

Possible? Certainly.

Probable? Huh-uh. The posts here are those folks whose credit history is exceptional. That said, I'm 6 years out of bankruptcy and on fixed income. My FICO-8 score is in the low-700's.

One of my credit mentors said it this way: "A credit score is a tool, not a trophy".

Post: Can Federal Lands Solve the U.S. Housing Crisis?

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995

A big chunk of the housing shortage goes back to the Crash of '07 / '08 when, according to the economists of the day, 80% of builders and developers went bankrupt once the supply of new mortgage lending dried up.

A good solution - though not the only one, certainly - would be to get home building back on track. We're finally seeing some of the incomplete developments being back-filled, yet dilapidated suburbs and subdivisions are found in areas where economic development slowed and later stopped leaving job loss and abandoned homes in its wake. A comprehensive plan providing jobs and home financing in those area would certainly be a big help toward restabilizing those communities and making housing and worker opportunities available again.

My $0.02 ...

Post: Tenant doesn’t want to place TP in waste basket

David DachteraPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Rockford, IL
  • Posts 4,613
  • Votes 2,995

If it's the kid(s) using this bathroom, expecting them to honor the wastebasket request is likely not realistic. If stuffing TP down the commode is entertainment to them, they're not likely to change that voluntarily.

My $0.02 ...