All Forum Posts by: Gretchen P.

Good suggestions.

I'm trying to stick to nurses, to simplify this. 

I think they are logging on at different times and making new user names, and inquiring about different units. I'm not that familiar with the process, but it seems that some of them look for housing and don't have exact contract dates set up yet, so start date on one could be March 21, and April 1 on another contact, with different user names but the same person. 

We have several year-lease rentals and just expanded into furnished nurse rentals. Two units are ready one will be finished next week. 

How are people with these properties managing their units? I am using Furnished Finder and the same potential tenants will inquire using different names, ie, Linda Jones, NurseMom, and LSJones. I already feel like I am spending a lot of time trying to figure out if the same person is contacting me, if they are legitimately a nurse traveller, and answering questions. Do you switch to email or text?

Organization isn't my strong point, so I would love suggestions. 

Thanks!

I look at why the score is low. I have had applicants with no debt, and no history of debt with low scores, and had people making 3000 a month owing 35K in consumer with a 750. I will take the low score all day long in that situation. I also look at what caused the low score and what kind of debt, someone with a 25K car loan and 10K on a Nordstrom card is different than someone with 35K in student loans in my opinion. It shows how they handle their financial decisions. A few random late payments in the past are also different than if someone missed payments over the last few months. That's more forgetfulness than inability to pay, if they want to pay a late fee every month, that's fine with me, I can cover the mortgage. If applicants had an 780 credit score and a great income and tons of savings most of them would be looking to buy, not rent. I look at the whole picture, and if the score is in the 580-640 range I ask for an additional month deposit. 

There is a 6' wood privacy fence at one of our properties. The bottom rotted and began to fail due to 8-10" of dirt built up on the other side of the fence. The neighboring property is also a rental. Each condo owner is responsible for their own fencing/yard. Last September we were told by another property owner the fence was failing, and our tenant sent a picture of the fence bowing, but not breached. We contacted the owner's property management company. They sent us a bid that included not only the shared fence but the fences on the sides and front "wing" fences on the neighbor's property. The management company informed us the owner wanted us to split the entire fence bid. We indicated we would be happy to split the cost of the fence contiguous to our property, but that the dirt needed to be mitigated. The back and forth dragged on, later my tenant texted to tell me his beloved dog had escaped through the fence and was killed. Again we contacted the management company who supplied a new bid, which included the fence separated out and a $1300 retaining wall. There was a notation from the contractor next to the portions "split with the neighbor". We immediately replied we would be happy to pay the portions marked for us as long as the owner was building the retaining wall. The management company replied that the owner wanted us to split the cost of the retaining wall. 

The situation now is that his dirt has spilled on to our property and the tenant has a makeshift fence up. The tenant decided not to replace his dog. We can't just put up our own fence as it will eventually fail, but the property owner is standing firm that we should pay for the retaining wall. The fence was there when we purchased the property. 

We are willing to pay for a fence, but not a retaining wall on someone else's property. What can we do?

I had 2 tenants who expected to have problems, and I offered to work with them. I didn't expect to get anything from either until unemployment kicked in. One got a temp job and paid April in full on the 27th of March, the other paid half on the first, and is hoping to pay the rest by the end of the month. 

I am with @Cassi Justiz on this. I have 4 tenants who are in service industries that could be affected by this madness. One contacted me yesterday, she is luckily not sick, and was proactive in applying to Grubhub, etc., as restaurants in the area haven't been shut yet and word is there will still be take-out. I told her we would work something out. I am not going to throw a good tenant out on the street over this, but obviously can't go months without rent payments. Replacement of a tenant is costly too. 

The government just appropriated a boat load of money, why not give people whose jobs were shuttered rent assistance rather than sticking it to landlords, or using money for completely unrelated BS. 

I had one tenant text me worried about her job, as a small-time landlord we are willing to work with tenants affected by this situation, BUT I can't just allow everyone to pay nothing ever. My tenant was looking for alternative work (driving for grub hub, etc. ) until this ends. It seems the government should provide rent assistance, not a moratorium on evictions. However the politicians try to cram every long-reaching unrelated piece of pork into legislation they possibly can. 

I think the house hack strategy makes sense, there are several podcasts on Bigger Pockets about it. Pueblo could also be an option for you. 

Congrats, best of luck with your new venture. What are your next plans?

What zip code or area? That rent seems super low for a house that sounds very nice. 

Can you get a security deposit from Section 8? I am now getting 1.5-2X rent for security on my units, Assuming you can rent conventionally for $2200, and $2800 for Section 8, you will spend an additional $150-250 on utilities, so the net will be about $400. When the Section 8 tenants move out you will have to pay for painting, flooring, repairs out of your own pocket. No security deposit to lose means they won't care how they leave the house. Carpet, paint, cleaning, repairs and lost rent will easily reach $4K (if you are lucky and that is all the damage).