All Forum Posts by: Andrew S.

@andrew s, If two sides come to a mutual agreement that's a reasonable way to go.

@Account Closed,

 Just be happy it didn't cause any damage to property/people!!!   The only person you could go after to help with the cost,  is then neighbor-- if it's their tree, they should be paying for  it!    I'd try and get them to at pay for it, or settle of splitting the cost.. all depends on how expensive it is.  

That is not how it typically works in most places.  Unless there was something verifiably wrong with the tree AND you reported that fact to the neighbor and the local authorities, chances are the tree is YOUR problem, and not the neighbor’s.  This will be considered an “act of God” type event and the neighbor is off the hook.  Now, it doesn’t hurt to ask them - it is possible that they agree to chip in, but in MY experience, they rarely do.  In fact, for one of my rentals, I found it cheaper to pay for the preventive removal of a sketchy tree on my neighbor’s property rather than wait for the tree to fall on my house (and risk the tenants getting injured).  Neither the City, the insurance company, nor the bank would help me with forcing the neighbor to remove the tree.  The insurance company simply said “once it falls, file a claim and we will pay for the repairs”.  Of course, I have a $5000 deductible, so this was not acceptable to me (aside from worrying about the tenant getting hurt).

@James Bailey I agree with multiple others, stay with the gas stove. I've never heard anyone say they prefer an electric range over gas. I have heard the opposite a lot.

For the water heater, my buddy who is a plumber was telling me they got rid of gas water heaters with pilot lights. Now gas water heaters have an electric spark kinda thing and when they replace them, they have to run electric to it for the igniter (or whatever it's called, I'm not a plumber). Just FYI

I don't use rentigo. I just looked it up because I am shopping for an online payment solution as well. I have narrowed it down to cozy and tenantcloud, but may take a closer look at this too. They all have their limitations. 

@Tom Gimer

beheadings

Although I am a big supporter of capitol punishment obviously this would be somewhat overkill. Two years less a day in jail however would be a adequate deterrent against non payment of rent.   

@Andrew S. I use Rent Recovery Solutions. They focus just on rent collection. 

Getting debt collected is tough and will depend on the tenant class you are dealing with. I will give you a couple examples that I have dealt with:

1) White collar tenant - they felt they were right, so they didn't pay for damages and the final months rent. I filed for small claims, I won, they paid. They had the money to pay, they just didn't because they didn't feel they owed me until they were legally proven wrong.

2)Another white collar tenant - I warned them I would turn the file to collection, they didn't pay, I turned it over. They got mad it went on their credit. I don't expect them to pay until they try to buy a house.

3)Foreign exchange students - they caused a property fire, over $20k in damage. They also let their rental insurance cancel without my knowing. They didn't feel they had to pay because I had insurance. They also felt since they were going home in another year or two it wouldn't matter. My lawyer wrote a firm letter saying if they didn't pay, he would make sure the state department knew they were skipping out on their obligations, and if they tried to renew their student visa, or go to apply for a work visa after graduation it wouldn't look favorably. Their parents wired the whole amount to me the next week.

4) Blue collar or affordable housing tenant - they live paycheck to paycheck, they skip out on the last months rent so they have money to use as a deposit for their new place. They might have damages & cleaning that exceeds their deposit. They don't pay because they don't have the money. And they most likely won't have the money. You just file for collection so if future landlords do screening they see they skipped out. You can hope they get their act together or start making more money in the future and clean up their credit.

Rent Recovery Solutions has collected on some money for me, but its always at a discounted rate. They are good about doing calls/letters around tax time as they know folks are getting money back. Most of the money I don't every expect to get back.

Did you try simply asking the owner?  If you are in negotiations for a purchase, it is a relevant fact, imho.