All Forum Posts by: Heidi Kenefick

A unit I own out of state, which is vacant at the moment, had a leak. I wasn’t initially able to reach the PM, but eventually did and they went out and dried up the water. There was no damage to my unit so I did not file an insurance claim.

The water went through the wall into the neighbors unit (she called the HOA) which is how I learned of the leak in the first place. She is afraid mold will now grow and says the baseboards are coming off the wall. She would like my insurance company to fix it.

My insurance company says without filing a claim and having an adjuster do an investigation they cannot tell me if 1. The leak is covered or 2. If her unit is covered. The leak most likely is not covered based on the source of the leak and what I read in my policy documents.

I suggested to the neighbor she contact her own insurance as I am not filing a claim. She was not thrilled because she says she will have to pay $1000 and it’s my fault. While I do feel bad, and if the shoe were on the other foot might even feel the same, I am not sure how to proceed or if I am liable or if this a just a risk of living in a town house?

Thoughts? Advice?

@John Morgan

Thanks for the advice. I was 1/2 and 1/2 about accepting him or not, but he was up front about it and agreed to smoke outside and not on the property at all. The benefit of accepting him is that he wants a longer lease and the majority of the leads I have had have been dead ends or for only 3 months. I’m still learning so we shall see how this goes.

I have a house that I rent out by the room. Right now only one room is rented long term, and one rented on a 3 month lease to a travel nurses. I have interest from people to rent out the other rooms long term.

Someone just applied that wants to rent for 6months to a year. Obviously it is better to have longer term tenants for stability. He did indicate that he smokes but won’t smoke in the house or at the property. This is a furnished rental- so I’m worried he might smell up the furniture or bed.

Would you all rent to a smoker? How likely is this fact going to cause problems with the other roommates?

I’m new to self management and new to by the room rentals. Thanks for the advice.

@Delbert Standifer

I’m renting by the room. I have it advertised on furnished finder and through avail. It’s tricky to find tenants honestly.

Yes I signed up for baselane and it seems to be working ok. It does have a lot of features and navigating around the website is a bit cumbersome because things are not where I expect them to be. Even getting to the accounts is a lot of clicks and one day I couldn’t find the accounts at all. So that’s a bit annoying. But it does categorize everything which is helpful. 
I’m not sure if it has a pay bill feature, or checks. I need to explore that.

I also started using avail, which I like. However when it publishes to websites for marketing it isn’t obvious that I’m renting rooms not an entire house so I get a lot of dead leads. And one of my tenants can’t figure it out the pay rent feature. 😂
 

It’s actually working really well and has been very helpful. Wish I had the skills to build a spread sheet but computers aren’t my strength. I’m much better with pen and paper 😂

@Rodrigo Campos

Let me know how it works! I wouldn’t be opposed to switching banks since mine merged and I’m not a fan of the new bank.

@Courtney Duong

Someone on BO actually shared their spread sheet with me and it has been super helpful. I’m not an excel guru and could never have built a spreadsheet. The problem I was having with Stessa and Rentastic is that it only tracks what’s in the bank account not what I get from the PM, so the numbers are off and I have to go in and correct it all. Was a lot of double accounting which was cumbersome.

@Alison Evans

I could not imagine managing 48 doors! That seems like a bit of a nightmare. I’m struggling with 3, in part because they are being rehabbed out of state and just keeping all the expenses organized is a lot of work.

Let me know how you like baselane. I think I’m going to try it.

What software do you use for leases? I’ve toyed around with avail and rentredi and apartments.com but haven’t settled on one yet.

@Alison Evans

Hi Alison,

I’m just get started and on my have 3 properties and am trying to figure out the best way to stay organized! How many do you have? Spreadsheet sounds like my own personal hell. I’m terrible with excel. 😂