All Forum Posts by: Jessica Beganski

Am Staff is a pit bull.

I say Yea (full disclosure - pit bull owner/landlord/realtor) but only if:

Tenants pay a fee.
You see copies of vet records showing vaccines, annual visits, etc.
You see rabies certificate.
You see dog license.
You see training certificate/get recommendation from vet/trainer.
They agree to pay me ($25) for each time my landscapers have to pick up dog doo.

Bonus points for them taking dog to day care 1-2x/week or getting extra liability insurance.

If they are willing to jump through these hoops, they are likely responsible owners and worthy of renting to.

The upside to you is this: most landlords will not even consider renting to a tenant with a pit bull even if many owners are responsible. You may save a dog from being put back in a shelter or put down.

You also get a fee for the dog, not refundable, and in my experience, a good tenant.

This is just my experience...not all homeowners policies have breed restrictions.

I've owned a multi-family for five years and have had the same insurance company for that time. Never one claim by the way. Late last year, they sent someone to the home to look at it and he came back with a 20 point list of repairs I needed to make, totaling about $10,000 and some of them pretty ridiculous. I've made some of the repairs but others are just not in my budget this year. I'm also a Realtor and have seen many multi-families in far worse condition than my own.

Any one come across this? I'm in CT.

Fannie Mae is making another bad, short-sited, feel-good decsion without thinking through the consequences.

As a Realtor, I show rental properties all time and think that having tenants in these homes will make it much harder to show and sell them. Therefore, Fannie Mae will be on the hook longer and for more money (and when I say Fannie Mae, I mean you and me the US taxpayer).

Fannie Mae is getting into something they know nothing about.

I am in the middle of rehabbing a cat pee house and wish I had taken a match to the place.

A few suggestions based on my experience:
Make sure the cats are gone. After the tenants were evicted at my property, they left their cats. They couldn't get into the house anymore so they stuck around and continued to mark the exterior foundation and deck. Now I have a smelly deck - not so bad except in the humidity.

If the basement concrete is damp, you'll be able to smell the pee when it's humid outside. We cleaned with multiple products and painted the concrete. Most of the time it's OK but in a damp basement when the humidity is high outside, you can smell the basement from above.

When in doubt, tear it out. We left a few areas of sublfloor and sealed with KILZ or something like it, bombed the house, painted every surface and put new flooring - we should have torn out all the subfloors, sprayed the attic and replaced all the heating registers.

Cats also pee on things like the boiler, oil tank, hot water heater - all your mechanicals in the basement. Don't forget to check those, too.

Does anyone have advice on selling a multi-family while I have tenants? I have a two-family I want to sell - I'm renegotiating the lease for one floor and they're staying month-to-month (their choice) but the other lease is up over the summer. I don't know right now if they plan on staying.

I haven't told either tenant I'm considering doing this because I don't want them to leave but I also don't want them to be mad if I resign the lease and then a week later announce I'm selling.

Should they both be on month-to-month leases? Or is it preferable to have at least one unit empty? Or does it not really matter if they are on year leases - from the perspective of someone buying. I think in my case, my market is more of an owner occupied situation.

I am a realtor but have yet to list a multi-family so I can really use some advice from other landlords.

And if anyone wants to buy a great 2 family that's been totally remodeled on the inside in West Hartford CT - have I got a house for you!