All Forum Posts by: Michele Fischer

Getting a paying tenant is more important than the damages.  Changes are low that you will be reimbursed for the damages and sounds like you can't prove that they occured with their tenancy.  That is a sunk cost.  Set the expectations that the deposit will go towards the damage if you think you can justify it and move on.  Dogs almost always going to mean more turnover costs.

Getting them to pay on time and getting your money sooner is the real issue.  You need them to consistently pay on time or move out, focus on those two options.  Do they have a tax return coming that they could use to catch up?  Come up with a plan but be firm.

It is not uncommon for tenants to consistently pay after the due date, but consistentely paying at the end of the month is not acceptable.

Pre pandemic I was averaging $1,000 per move out.  Since then the costs have skyrocketed.  This year my average is $5,900.  First year ever to lose money overall.  I think its time to get out of rentals on the west coast.

Totally agree that how you manage your properties impacts your move out experience and costs.  Our costs went up when we stopped self managing and went to property managers.  Annual maintenance inspections are a great way to see how the tenants are taking care of the units and to reinforce expectations.

This might be a stall tactic, and it sounds like the applicant is already willingly identifying themselves as disabled, but you could ask them to fill out this form.  We have found that most applicants are not willing to return the form, therefore disqualifying themselves.  ESA is an interesting topic because there is not much case law on the topic and nobody wants to be the first to go to court.

FORM TO REQUEST AN ASSISTANCE ANIMAL

We are committed to granting reasonable accommodations when necessary to afford persons with disabilities the equal opportunity to use and enjoy our rental properties.

Under the Fair Housing Act, a person with a disability is defined as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Reasonable accommodation may include waiving or varying pet polices and fees to allow an Assistance Animal. An Assistance Animal is an animal that does work or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or provides emotional support or other assistance that alleviates one or more symptom or effects of a person’s disability.

Please complete this form completely and return it to us. All information will be kept confidential, except as otherwise required by law.

Today’s Date: _______________________

Name of person with disability requesting accommodation: _____________________________

What is the species of animal? __________________________

Provide the name and physical description (size, color, weight, license) of the animal:

_______________________________________________________________________________

Does the animal perform work or do tasks because of the disability? _____________

If Yes, please provide a statement from a health or social service professional indicating that you have a disability and explaining how the animal is able to do work or perform tasks that alleviate one or more symptoms or effects of your disability.

If No, please provide a statement from a health or social service professional indicating that you have a disability and how the animal alleviates the symptoms or effects.

Please attach statement with any additional information and contract information for the professional completing the statement.

_______________________________________ _______________________

Signature of Person Making Request Date

_______________________________________ _______________________

Signature of Person with Disability Date

If you are trying to sort out which local PM's operate in low income and Section 8, I would look at whatever marketing mode is most prevalent in your area (Craigslist) to see which PM's are advertising those types of properties.  Then you can start asking around about them and interview them.  It's not an easy space to PM in, best of luck in finding someone good!

Agree.  There is nothing good that can come of it.  Better to focus your energy on getting ready to take possession and find a great tenant.  If they are a non-US citizen you probably don't have a lot of recourse to get them to pay after they move out.  If you want to spite them you could look at giving them a gift affidavit that could make them liable for more US taxes.  But realize this is part of the business and move on as best you can.  It hopefully averages out over the long haul.

Hey Ramesh.

I would never try to self manage a property three hours away if you don't have closer boots on the ground that can do some showings or run over to the place for various reasons.  I know people do it, but that isn'w where I would scrimp.

Good luck!  I feel like WA is harder and harder to operate at all, much less profitably.

Maybe the details you are looking for is a unicorn.

We have two different PM's.  One has no written contract, one has a very simple one.

Smart?  Maybe not.  But, it seems to be industry practice in my area to not nail anybody down very much.

Agree that you should offer to tenant to break the lease.  They may or may not do it, but it puts the decision on them instead of feeling stuck.  We were having issues at one of our properties and we asked the tenant what they wanted.  They asked us for a mounted security camera without monitoring.  We agreed to purchase it if they would install it where they wanted it, and we told them they had to leave it when they moved out.

I think I would consider security cameras or monitoring before moving to burgular bars, especially if the burgular bars are not common in the neighborhood.

You're getting good advice.

We have had a great run in the low income neighborhoods, but I'm not sure I would recommend it now with how landlord friendly things have gotten.  In better neighborhoods you at least have some hope of getting a tenant who wants to protect their credit; low income don't have credit to protect and don't have downgrade options to move to when their lives experience hiccups.  We used to have carrots and sticks to encourage folks to leave when they could no longer pay, but now the courts will let them stay for ages.

If you plan to househack, I think driving the neighborhoods to get a feel for them might be the most effective.  If you want to live there, others will too.

It's discrimnatory to prefer a traditional family.  Don't put that in writing.  Nontraditional tenants are the fodder of cocktail party stories.  :)

In addition to earlier questions:

How long have they lived at previous addresses?  Have they lived in the area long?

Is their income verifiable?  Stable?

Are they fussy/high maintenance?  Anything interesting on social media?

Which applicant would you consider the primary/strongest applicant?

If the criteria is 620, they don't meet the criteria.  If anyone has applied and been denied in this applicant cycle, don't change your criteria.  Be very careful about updating standards mid stream, evaluate between application cycles.