All Forum Posts by: Mike Franco

I hate tan paint as much as you hate white paint.
Tan and beige look cheap and dirty after a while.

Do you buy tan and beige colored cars too?

Have you noticed how PC makers no longer make the beige computers you saw back in the late 20th and early 21st century?

People say white paint makes it seem like they're in a hospital.
Does offwhite still make you think so?

Check this out-

Hospitals are now painting their walls tan/beige.
I wonder how long it will be before people start saying that beige makes them feel like they're in a hospital.

Here's BP Brandon's offwhite apartment-

As you can see, when tenants actually DECORATE the walls, the place feels like home.

I don't like this tan fad. Offwhite is timeless.

My house is painted offwhite, but people ask if they can paint it tan or mocha.
I tell them to decorate the walls instead. Decorate with contrast.

Here's Brandon's apt painted in nasty tan-

Also, for #1, credit report is crucial because you don't know if his old house is paid off, and you must find out what he pays for alimony and child support.

I would pick #2 because 3 sources of income are better than one.

If one person in party #2 loses job, the others will still manage to scrounge together the $1400 in rent.

Whereas in party #1, child support and alimony are higher priorities, so after 7 months, he'll be giving you excuses for not paying rent.

Family #1 with dog..... I'd be wary. especially since it's only the man and dog most of the time.

Listen to Ibrahim

You get a bigger share of the renter pool, many of which are lousy tenants with neglected pets who piss all over the place.

I'd say, don't let that "extra 50% tenant pool" blind you.
That phrase makes it seem like you're missing out, but the reality is, there are plenty of qualified people who don't own pets.

Do you guys who allow pets actually get more applicants who are qualified? people who NET 3x rent per month?
Are pet owners so much better?
Owning a pet is like raising a baby. There are costs that eat into their income.

I've had no shortage of people see my house and I have a no pet policy.

A weight limit on dogs has no bearing on whether they will tear up your house or not. 10 pound dogs piss all over the place too. and 50 pound dogs could be very docile.

One of these days, I'm going to do a pet experiment, and see how much better the applicant pool is.

Agreed. Always check credit and background.
Insist on it.

Tell #1 that you know his credit will be messed up, but you still have to check it anyway.

Fair thing is to cut all your labor time in half, and bill for that, maybe at $40/hr.
Based on your billed hours, you're a slow worker.
1 hour to install window blinds, really?
I pay my gardener $60 a MONTH to mow my grass and trim the hedges. You charged $60 to trim a bush?

Bill for 7 hours labor= $300, and refund the rest. That's about $725-300 = ~$400 refund.
So that does work out to about half the deposit in total.

I think it's ok to fix things yourself in the future, but I'd get a handyman's estimate before doing so. Then you earn whatever you would have paid a handyman.

$1100 demand is definitely not fair.
You need to educate them about all the work that was actually done. Even the material alone exceeds what they're willing to pay.

That's the first thing I noticed too. Stuck out like a sore thumb.

changing a drain popup only takes 15 minutes. Remove the lever nut, drop in popup, screw lever nut back on.

I think there's a good chance the OP will get screwed in this lawsuit. A competent judge will see through these charges.

Most of these things should have been professionally fixed.

Sounds like OP was trying to save a few bucks by not hiring a professional carpet cleaner.

If you want to make a strong case, you need professional repair estimates, at least. For the torn carpet, usually it costs $100 to patch professionally.

For everything else, you should have hired a handyman and asked for a repair invoice, as long as the handyman's repair bill could be covered by the security deposit.
It looks like you were trying to make a profit off the deposit.

The funny thing is, you didn't charge for things you should have charged for, like torn carpet.
That's not normal wear and tear, and you could paid for professional carpet repair out of the security deposit, and given the tenants a copy of the receipt.

I just had a recent applicant ask for her application materials back- paystubs, application, and all.

People usually don't do this, and I don't know what they're trying to accomplish.

As landlords and property managers, to CYA, we are supposed to keep copies of the rejected application materials for several years, and applicants should know this.

I will ask this particular applicant to send me a self addressed stamped envelope and handling fee for photocopies, and I will send them back a photocopy of the application stuff.

I will follow your example. Sounds like fun.

My tenant, who tried not to pay last month's rent, also recently bought a new car. I would have loved to see his reaction to getting his car impounded.

Hahaha. Noted.

Might consider adding a "Booya" note inside.