All Forum Posts by: Andrew S.

I'm going to differ somewhat from most other answers.  Obviously, from a humanitarian standpoint it's a no-brainer: let the old lady stay, if you can afford it.

However, from a business standpoint, I doubt it makes ANY sense at all.  It sounds like you haven't raised the rent in 6 years, so you are very likely well below market.  Therefore, I don't think it would take you 4 years to recover the cost of turnover.  In fact it may take a LOT less time than that if you can bump the rent back to market.  So letting her stay at the reduced rent may be charitable, but it doesn't make sense, in my opinion.

I would at the very least do what @Marcia Maynard 

 and @Roy N. 

 suggested and pitch the case to the Section 8 authorities.  Now, I know that some of these authorities can be quite irrational (my city holding the dubious distinction of being THE prime example!), but I have to believe PHAs in most places are at least somewhat realistic and open to discussion.

@Adam Perry Can you give some more detail on what type of property?  Bedrooms, bathrooms, sqf, etc? 

Check out the BP podcasts. There was one (probably around #20-30 or so) on this specific topic 

 Well, true, but I hope it would steer them toward their OWN yard......  that might cause the owners to re-evaluate whether they really need 12 cats.....

I won't argue with the data since I haven't checked the sources, but I will say it's not my observation for the particular location and market segment I'm operating in.   

Thanks everyone!

@Bryan N. 

 - Yes, I'll check with the city but I'm pretty sure you are right - roaming pets are against code (although everyone - including myself - tends to ignore it).  The city recently ditched the registration requirement because only 10% of pet owners actually complied (I was one of that 10%) and it was too expensive to go after that many delinquents for an annual fee of 10 bucks.  Again, the problem is not one or two pets per house - most of my properties sit on a quarter to half an acre of land, so a couple of cats don't make much of a difference.  However, with 12 or more cats in the same place, problems arise.....

So, it's not my tenants who own the cats - it's an owner-occupant next door.  In fact, my property is turning over right now which is why I'm spending time fixing up the yard and which is why I noticed (smell, plus cat poop on my shoes anywhere I step).  The previous tenants never complained about it, but I'm concerned that it may negatively impact my ability to find a good tenant. 

I haven't done the particular program, so I can't comment specifically, but I have interacted with Dave Van Horn on several occasions and I'll say he is the "real deal".

Over the past 6 months, I have responded to probably 6 solicitations from area wholesalers (mostly yellow letters), and I have not received one single follow-up call!  I don;t understand this: the wholesaler spends his/her hard-earned money to send out postcards/letters to mailing lists and then, if they get a positive response, they don't follow up!  What gives?

Example a few weeks ago: got a "customized' postcard saying something like "Dear Andrew, we noticed you recently bought a property on 3455 Main Street - we have access to many properties just like this one, all over town.  Call us or visit our website".  So I call (recorded message) and leave a message saying I'm interested in hearing more.  I also go to the website (no info - just an e-mail capturing page).  I leave my e-mail saying I'm interested.  What happens?  NOTHING!

So, I don't understand what the business model is here, but I'm getting tired of wasting MY time, trying to respond to THEIR solicitation.  What am I missing?  This seems to be the rule, rather than the exception.

The neighbor of one of my rental properties has about a dozen cats.  Evidently, with that many cats, litter boxes are not practical, so unfortunately, these cats get kicked outside to their "business".  As it turns out, they seem to have decided that the front yard of my rental property is the proper place to take care of this and while the yard is big enough to accommodate the occasional "transgression", 12 cats generate a huge amount of waste - to the point where there is a permanent stench at my front door.  The neighbor on the other side of my property has told me that the folks with the cats are very defensive when approached about any problems related to their felines, so I have not yet approached them directly.  Before I do, I wonder if anyone here knows of any ways to "discourage" the cats from using my front yard as a bathroom.  I suppose I could run a fence between the properties but cats can be very stubborn and they will, of course, find a way to get around it.  I also could call the animal control people (I believe it's actually against code to let cats roam in the city - though nobody tends to enforce it), but that probably won't endear me to my neighbors much.... 

Don't get me wrong, I love cats, but this is out of control....  Any thoughts?  @Brandon Turner ?

 I would definitely go with refinishing the hardwood.  It is a real selling point with the majority of people.  Yes, they CAN scratch but on the whole, they hold up much better than carpet, or most other surfaces.