All Forum Posts by: Ben M.

Hello, I have a property that’s a couple hours drive away so I am not able to stop by and check as much as I like. I have a situation where the lawn was not mowed for several months due to it being the winter time and grass not being long enough. The property manager has heard from the tenant that the grass needs to be mowed. Not sure if we should keep having to check with the tenant if the grass needs to be mowed but I also understand that it can be unpredictable when to mow the grass in the wintertime. Has anyone ran into this situation and what type of systems have you or property manager come up with to handle this? We have a regular 2 week schedule during summer and spring months so this issue is specifically occurring in the winter only. Thank you.

I am going through reports from my property management company and noticing some discrepancies with pricing from receipts. For instance, receipt for an item shows the total was $19.48 but I seemed to have been charged $20. I am noticing this with multiple items. Is this common practice? It is a few cents but that still could add up.. I will discuss with them to clarify but wanted to see if it's common practice for pricing to be rounded up?

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Yes I am working with a property manager. I just wanted to avoid the turnover and rehab costs while I'm only 5 month into this property. She is supposed to pay 400 today. A 3 day notice was already sent by the PM but we will see how she responds after this.

What would be some options for heating that’s safer and hopefully not too costly?

I’m on my 5th month owning my first duplex rental property. One of the tenants I inherited has been a tenant for 4 years. Per the last property manager she supposedly pays but always late. However, she is now almost 2 months late with various reasons for getting delayed. She does pay partial at random times but sometimes we don’t hear from her for a week or so. She seems to have the intent to pay but is having a hard time catching up. I know that it’s good to enforce rules and so forth but the fact that this is a 4 year tenant seems to give me a reason to want to work with her. Has anyone ran into a similar problem and what strategy did you use that helped the tenant to catch up with payments? Thank you.

Originally posted by @Bob Prisco:

@Ben M. thats odd, every property we are involved with is from 1910- 1950, all have furnace hot air.  PM cos get busy sometimes cant get back to owners the same day, I know we do not all the time. However the owner should not even be involved, PM informs you of the issues collects a deposit does the repair then contacts you again when done. Tenant should never contact you, heck they should not even know who you are . 

Good Luck 

Bob, I will have to ask about the heater. 

I appreciate the feedback and advise everyone!

Originally posted by @Bob Prisco:

@Ben M. well today is not over its only 2pm in Texas.  If by the end of the day you do not hear reach back out. Yes you should ( we do ) provide photos /videos of all repairs.  Also keep in mind, many times tenants are not cooperative in gaining access. 

PS why a space heater ? Why is the heating system not sufficient ?

Hi Bob, good point. I did not hear back until the next day. I just thought I should get an update the same day. 

Good point about tenants being cooperative. It's a duplex and he did have to coordinate with both tenants.

Space heater because there is no central heating system. It's a house from 1969.

Thank you.

Originally posted by @Peter Tverdov:

Why are they running a new circuit for a space heater? We ban those from our rentals. They're fire starters. 

Hi Peter, the property is from 1969 and does not have a central heating system. I believe you mean the space heater itself is the fire starter is that right and not the new circuit? Thank you

Hello, I am on my 5th month owing my first rental property in Texas City, Texas. We had a situation where an electrician has to run a dedicated circuit for a space heater due to the space heater blowing the fuse repeatedly due to it being on a shared circuit. Per my last discussion with the property manager the electrician was supposed to come take care of it today. The problem was reported 3 days ago. I sent a text to the property manager to follow up to see how the repair is going but no response. Am I being too much by asking about how repairs are going and also asking for pictures? Is it not standard process to get an update and status on repairs and to let the owner know when repair has been completed? I am new so I just don’t want to do things that may annoy the property manager. Maybe I’m asking too much. What is everyone else’s experience? Thank you.