All Forum Posts by: Henry T.

Are you in Oregon? If so, you lost control of your property a long time ago.  All of your points are good considerations. Before making any decision, I would dig deep into the laws and make sure you are not missing something in lease vs month-month. Talk to an attorney or a local rental professional agency.  There could be a danger in month/month that you don't see. 10 years, you probably know them pretty well, and maybe monthly would be ok. My suspicion is that they are planning to move and don't want to be tied for the year. Otherwise, why change what has worked for both of you? Call their bluff. Let them go.  I had this same situation, I simply told them verbally to sign the lease, if you want to go I'll let you go. They bought a place two months later. AND that was ok with me. You could tell them sign the lease, just don't leave in Winter or I'll enforce it. Good luck.

You need permission to enter. But entry cannot be denied. Jersey is tough, you'd better know the law. If she doesn't give you a time to enter,  serve a comply or vacate notice. Have this paperwork served by an eviction attorney, DO NOT do it yourself, because when you get to court(if it goes that far), you don't want to start all over because of a technical mistake.  This tenant sounds expensive, I hope you're doing REGULAR rent increases. Good luck.

Radiant heat is wonderful, but darn, that is expensive.  I know you have a plan, but for costs and ease of maintenance I prefer electric in-wall forced fan heaters. And elec water heaters (no venting hassles). Go electric and do it for 1/3 the cost.

how about....EACH applicant income must be 3x, 4x, 5x, total rent.

EACH applicant must have a credit rating of 800 or higher.

Only one vehicle is allowed on the property, landlord uses the other spaces.

That should weed them out.

Oh sure, they're everywhere.  I've been baited for  Race, Kids, Gay, Disabled.  You can always tell, they're quite obvious. I've had and welcomed all the above tenants so it's not a problem for me.  They go thru their routine then go away.  Still, I think this kind of entrapement should be illegal. Same with other types of entrapment. Except for politicians, I'll ok that.

Never paint an occupied unit. And dont let them do it either. Paint it, then she'll claim you gave her cancer, asthma, damaged her priceless antique, etc etc.

Do not provide a lawnmower.

Screw Zillow, I've used it , but I always seem to get my applicant from craigslist. I prefer being in total control of my ad, and the privacy that goes with it.

  I've never liked how your listing is saved either,,,After I'm done with the listing I go back and "correct it" by eliminating most information, and changing the house pics to wilderness pictures. My reason being that I know assessors (in fact) use these pics to evaluate and raise your property taxes.