All Forum Posts by: Janani Narayanan

Thanks Kyle and Brian. My house has been in the market for almost a month now and so I'm tempted to take them in. They have been making one of those "give an inch, take a foot" kind of requests. I plan to move-in myself in couple of years - so thinking off riding out the bad economy for now.

I have an applicant who has 3 dogs. They have an ESA letter for 2 of them and their ask is (before signing the lease), to not charge pet deposit and pet fee for the third dog because they will get ESA letter for 3rd dog (after signing the lease) too to waive off the pet deposit & fee. I declined to exclude pet fee for any pets if there is no ESA letter at the time of signing the agreement. Note: I'm a SFH owner in Bay Area who is exempt from allowing ESAs. If in the middle of the tenancy, can the tenant convert the pet to ESA by getting an online certification? This sounds like a scam to me and can I prevent that by including a clause in the lease to not convert (or dismiss request to convert) a declared pet to ESA?

This is more of a moral issue for me rather than the question of pet fee/deposit.

I'm debating between the following,

1. because I'm going to get a construction loan which will be disbursed in phases, should I rent out each unit as and when it is completed? Are there any liabilities I should be aware of?
   
2. I have received advise in some meetups that if it is > 4 units, it is better to get a commercial loan than residential loan. But can't remember why one is better than the other. Any thoughts?
3. Does anyone have a checklist they can share on number of reports/permits I would need to get at different stages of construction?