All Forum Posts by: Kristyn Grimes

@Brian Greeson so sorry to hear that you're dealing with crappy neighbors and it seems to be ruining the quite enjoyment of your good tenant. I agree with the above in that you should contact the city or county or whomever does the condemning or ordinance enforcement in your area. A property I was looking at had a back neighbor that had a pretty pool. When I did my due diligence of speaking to neighbors to get inside info, they told me that they had to call the EPA on those pool owners because after hurricane Harvey, they let their pool essentially turn into a cesspool. I can't confirm that it was the actual EPA they had to call but there's always someone in the city looking out for the folks who are doing what they're supposed to do. I'd be very careful if you do decide to knock on the neighbor's door to confront them about the issue. Maybe take someone with you and definitely wear a mask. As a side note and a previous renter who is in your tenants position, try not to disclose that your tenant is the one sounding the alarm on them. After the apartment manager did so and they found out it was me, they tried to make my life a living hell like doing mature things like leaving dog poop bags on my front door...

Best of luck to you!

What are some of the most common lease violations you see? I plan on strengthening my lease for my next property and I'm sure there are things I'm not covering. Aside from moving out in the dead of night and not paying rent, what are the thorns on everyone's side? Thanks for sharing!

Is anyone providing their rental SFH with minor tech items such as Ring doorbells or smart deadbolts? These were standard in my new home and it's really a great piece of mind annoying I can let my kids in and check on my door locks from anywhere. I was thinking maybe only the smart deadbolt since that's the safety item and I believe the Ring doorbell is a bit more involved so I'd probably not do that. I'd add the fact that I had a smart deadbolt in my marketing and advise them upon leasing how it works and that it's their responsibility to purchase a hub I want to use it. Just curious what other folks are putting in there properties.

@Andrew S. Good morning!

Here in Texas case law actually defines a big part of liability. The following two cases are examples of case law that, in Texas, allow for the owner of the tree to have liabilities placed upon him if trees are considered an encroachment or unlawful invader. It's the same thing with grasses as well, as weird as that seems. Things can get even hairier if the owner of the tree refuses to either cut the tree himself or let neighbor be trimmed the tree within reason.

Brown v.Johnson, 73 S.W. 49

&

Flusche v. Uselton, 201 S.W. 2d 58

@Caleb Heimsoth good point. Win the war, not the battles.

Hi Dylan!

I'm not sure where you are but if you do decide to plant one there are better tree-like options than your average magnolia, pin or post oak, cottonwood... I like to use larger variety bottle brush plants which can be left to grow to 10 to 12 ft high bushes or trimmed into trees that get just as high and our evergreen. Additionally you can get several types of large growing crepe myrtles. The newer varieties of large crepe myrtles can go anywhere from 10 to 30 ft in height and, although their deciduous, the leaves are very tiny and blow easily away. I recommend planting them in the corners near the fence line so you get as little deposits into your gutters as possible. They add beautiful color and again the new varieties are way less susceptible to pests and black sooty mildew. Both of these tree substitutes are extremely drought tolerant and take pretty much any kind of abuse once they've been established. The establishment period for both is about one growing season. If you're looking to plant soon, Houston garden center here in Houston or any of the other big box stores will have them on sale all day long.

As the other smart folks on here said you'll want to plant it wisely and make sure it's not going to create any issues with particularly your foundation or the sidewalk.

Best of luck!

Just put down earnest money on a new construction 3/2 SFH. Received amazing builder incentives to take the last lot for the smallest floorplan in the neighborhood including paid closing costs. Not exactly the BRRRR I was looking for but the numbers really work on this one (doubles the 1% rule). Small neighborhood one exit down from two new Amazon DC's, one new FedEx DC, three newer hospitals. The high end apartment complexes nearby aren't keeping up with demand. I've lived in this area for 20+years and the growth has been utterly astounding in the last ten.

With the capital I currently have, I'm considering buying a second but we'll see since nothing else in the area right now is even close to the builder signs that still read "Prices from the $170's." My strategy is to use base level finishes whole leasing it and replace with upgraded finishes once I'm ready to sell it in 7-10 years. We'll see.

@Aaron K. Thank you for your input. I agree he may not accept even though the home has been on the market almost two months. I'm curious what his counter will be, if he even bothers to do so. It's incredibly frustrating how he obviously tried to cover up the damage however his sellers disclosure claims he knows nothing. My agent did mention that tenting would be an option and it would be great if I could get him to pay for that.

So I intend to put an SFH under contract this morning. I went and viewed the property yesterday which has every plus you could imagine. It's priced 30 grand under any other property for sale in the neighborhood. it's three bedroom two bath across the street from an elementary school that was just renovated in the States second best school district. It has a large backyard that needs a little help. Two full bathrooms, big bedrooms, and on and on.

HOWEVER...... There's obvious major termite damage. The owner bought the home and rented it out to his family member who ran a convalescent home for 10 years and never did a dime worth of maintenance. The sellers disclosure claims he has no knowledge of any issues with the home however, there are camera holes in the baseboard with sawdust below. I'm assuming the previous contract fell through based on what the WDO report found so financing couldn't be attained. The framing around both garage doors has been eaten so bad that the tracks for the doors have dislodged rendering the doors ineffective. The soil from the barren backyard has all washed towards the foundation I'm sure contributing to the termite issue. The old wood siding will need to be replaced as well because of combined termite and squirrels going buffet style on it.

With all that being said I'm wondering if anyone has remediation experience with major termite issues. What was the extent and/or a rough estimate of your costs? We're emailing the seller's agent this morning to ask if we can begin some inspections before putting the home under contract. She's extremely difficult to work with because she doesn't have a working phone number. The phone number listed does not ring and when we emailed her for a new one she just simply replied My phone doesn't work. The home has an ARV of 209K and was reduced by 10K two weeks ago to a listing price of 170k. My thoughts, since he's had one or two contracts fall through, was to offer 130k with an option. And 30 to 45 day closing. My second option would be to offer him 110k cash with a 10-day closing because I have resources that can run title checks for me. This one gives me the butterflies because of its potential but the professional repairs and my own elbow grease I put into it will be great.

LMK what y'all think.