All Forum Posts by: James Mc Ree

You told your tenant they could move back into a newly rehabbed home if they move out immediately. They did so and moved into some pricey temporary housing, based on your offer. It looks like you have a verbal agreement. Your attorney will advise if that is a contract and enforceable. You may be stuck with it or dealing with a lawsuit that could hold your property hostage. Some leverage you have is requiring the tenant to pay the cost of repairs. You could let them come back with reimbursement or let them go with discounted or no reimbursement.

It might be too late now, but I would firmly show your tenant how generous you are being. Your tenant nearly burned down your entire house with their negligence. They are out because of their own actions, even though they were accidental. Your are out money because of their actions. Your life is impacted having to manage a rehab you weren't planning on because of their recklessness. Tenant, "DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME YOU DON'T LIKE WAITING A COUPLE MONTHS!" Ok, I'm fired up for you. 8-) You want to position yourself favorably in this whole thing. They created a problem. You are fixing it and letting them come back into an awesome, like new home. Be grateful or go away, tenant.

I had a small fire in a property about a year ago. Physical damage was negligible, but smoke damage was throughout and electric/gas were shut off because wires were burned. The tenant started the fire with negligent use of a candle in the basement, which was acknowledged. Fortunately, the tenant quickly acted to put it out which is the reason damage was limited. I told the tenant she had to move out due to health concerns and my need to renovate the place. She wanted to come back, but I didn't promise anything as I didn't know if I wanted her back. Rent was generally reliable, but she was hard on the house prior to burning it.

A week before moving out, she gave me the "Why are you being so mean to me?" line while complaining I was putting her out. I firmly explained to her how she nearly burned my house down and killed her own family, risked her neighbors smoking one of them out of their house, and is causing me to spend a fortune to fix the damage she caused. I pointed out she has no renter's insurance because she chose not to buy any which puts the full financial impact on me (dumb mistake on my part). I also pointed out I was giving her damage deposit back to help her get into a new place and told Section 8 she did not owe me anything. Her voucher would have been revoked if she left owing me money. I wanted her out, but not homeless. She had no money.

I then laid out what "fair" looked like: evicted due to damage as written in the lease, loss of her voucher due to debt owed and a lawsuit for damages she couldn't possibly pay. Homeless. Those actions would be devastating to her and her family with an impact lasting years. Instead, she landed in a new home with her voucher and no lawsuit. I then asked how she could possibly ask me why I am being mean to her. She thanked me for being generous and apologized as she's just under a lot of stress.

It looks like the stress you are experiencing with your tenant is the result of a difficult situation for both of you. Apart from the fire, it looks like they are a great tenant with decades of reliable payments, according to your account. I'd try to keep them. Position yourself favorably, but firmly, helping them; get them on a new lease with market rent and require renter's insurance if you don't already. Good luck!

I think tenants expect the lights to come on when they turn the switch and don't think too much about where the electricity comes from. You might get a marketing benefit by offering a "green" home, but that will likely be more than offset by you charging more for it. That depends on your market. It will be good for the right tenant if the tenant is paying for it.

It looks like this would be more of an investment for the landlord's benefit. You would pay an up-front cost and maintenance to cover a portion of your combined electric bill for the property. You should calculate the ROI on that to determine if it is worth it.

From a tenant's perspective, I think the tenant will look at your property for a price, including the utility surcharge, compared to other comparable properties at their price. They will choose the best value (features, condition, cost, etc). 

@Lois S.I have two thoughts for you to consider: (1) What happened with your expenses over the past year for the property? (2) What is the market rent for the property compared to what you are charging?

My guess is your expenses probably went up this year. The folks who you paid probably weren't concerned about the optics. They provided a valuable product or service that you wanted or needed, or took your taxes. You are one more business who is charging more for your product, just like so many other businesses. If you feel a need to justify yourself, you can cite rising expenses.

You mentioned your rent is below market. Show this to your tenant. I just sent a traditional tenant a notice of an increase. I included a mention that their new rent is the cheapest of all the similar properties in the area and the next closest cheaper renting property is in an area that is not nearly so nice. No one likes paying higher prices, but when your tenants are presented with the alternative, they may very much appreciate their current situation. Don't assume they already know they have a great deal.

Clean well water can be a wonderful thing, especially if the city water is less clean. Here are some things to be aware of:

1. You should invest in a water softener if you have copper pipes. Well water typically has more minerals than city water and will corrode your pipes and leave buildups faster. Test your water to confirm.

2. No power = no water, unless you have a generator backup. City water would keep flowing. Toilets will flush, but will only refill with water from above in your pipe network (upstairs drains down through the supplies). Tell the tenants to conserve water in this situation.

3. It's a finite resource. You have as much water as there is stacked in your well. You may never run out, but a heavy extended use can exhaust the supply. No issue in that you can just wait for the well to refill, but that isn't obvious to a tenant.

4. Your well pump will probably fail before your well does. That means no water. Be sure to know exactly where your well is. It's great if you already have a service pipe to access it; otherwise, your plumber will need to dig. For sure, your pump will only fail in February during a blizzard. Tenants should conserve water just like a power outage.

It's nice not getting a monthly water bill.

Your posting appears like you had an informal discussion with the local board and they said, "No." Is that the case or did you formally apply for a variance and your application was denied? If the latter, I think the board must provide a reason for the denial. Hopefully, you went to the hearing with an attorney who can help. If not, consult one as you should have an appeal available to your local court system.

In my area, all official lots are considered buildable or they aren't lots. CT may be different in that regard. If not, you should have a good chance for a dimensional variance, but it obviously wouldn't work if most of the lot is a swamp. The challenges on the lot or reason for the board's denial is lacking here and is very important. 6000 Sqft seems plenty large to build a house if it is all flat, dry and unimpeded. A caveat is that it would be an interesting discussion if the minimum lot size is 5 acres in that area, for example.

As to other uses, first check the approves uses for the property's zone. It is difficult to imagine how another valuable use would fit, but a house would not. Donating or selling development rights or the entire lot to conservation groups is an option along with selling to your neighbors.

Consider contacting a roofer to obtain a written report on the roof's condition. A report that says it is old, but solid may be sufficient for the insurance company to stop bothering you.

Ask them to cite and provide a copy of the specific regulation in advance stating you cannot inspect your property. Be sure it comes from a recognizable organization and follow up with them to see if it is legitimate. They probably won't be able to provide a legitimate order from a hospital or ordinance, but it is good to ask. If they do provide something, ask them how you should proceed with installing the radon system considering this order.

Cite your lease giving you the right to inspect and any advance notice requirements and tell them you will be there at X time/day. Cite a rejection as a breach of your lease.

I wouldn't worry too much about damage if they haven't given you indications they will damage the property. Doctors make good money and are still responsible for damage after they move out. You can always sue them, but that means you have to chase them too.

Check zoning to determine if a mobile home park is allowed there. Also, check minimum lot size and street frontage as you may need to carve the mobile home park out of the existing lot versus pile onto the existing lot, so if you are trying to preserve the existing structure, you may lose some lots considering setback requirements and access.

Your local government may require public water and sewer for a new mobile home park, so be sure to check the requirements and distance to the nearest connections.

@Russell Brazil Isn't the price a partial outcome of the condition? I've seen appraisers make +/- comp adjustments to price in the comp tables when comparing to properties that are +1 or -1 in condition to my property. I don't want to be one tick short of a C2 and miss out on a better price if I only knew what was missing. Feel free to tell me that isn't how it works. I only know of appraisals as the client, not the appraiser.

@Nathan Gesner Do you need to take any precautions upon re-entering the house after treatment? I assume you open the windows afterward to air out the place, but I am thinking of the time from entering the door to opening the windows, then presumably getting back out.