All Forum Posts by: James DeRoest

 Wife was a cpa.

In our state/county you won't lose homestead, but when you come to sell your home you will be required to recapture the depreciation, which will be a pain in the rear end. So we don't bother.

Not sure about expenses, but we don't unless the expense is 100% business. 

 Didn't we just run straight into Fair Housing? Handicapped dad?

HUD (although doesn't apply here) gives 2 beat per room + 1, so you are probably way under occupancy iirc.

The fact the person seeking to move into your house is handicapped, personally, I'd refer this to your realty lawyer for some real advice, and not let the internet make guesses for you.

 That's what happened to us last year. Neighborhood in the region of $80, property actually worth in the region of $120, house piled high. House needed about $12k of work. Picked it up for $19k. No one can see past trash.

110cubic yards of trash.

Yeah, we bought a triplex and the old landlord had the pipes snaked once a year for $200 to clear roots. She'd been doing this for 3 years now.

I spent $2,500 and had every waste pipe in the building replaced. Everything to the road. 

There's only so many times you should let the tenant flush his toilet and it comes up into the bathtub.

HVAC cooling is law in North Carolina?

Are you sure? It's not even a requirement in Florida!

(Heating is, cooling isn't).

Yes, I genuinely enjoy it.

But you have to get past the idea that all problems are bad, and that it's going to cost you money. 

A problem just needs fixing. Simple as that. It's not going to fix itself no matter how much you ignore the texts from the tenant. So you can either be proactive about it, or dread the call that isn't going away.

There is a payoff for fixing problems or at least looking attentive to the stuff you won't fix ; tenants have a very high opinion of their landlord. To the point today that we have not advertised in months because our empty units get recommended by our tenants to other people. We even have one tenant right now, some bad memories about the home they lived in our (one of our houses), want to stay with us - they are literally waiting for a property to come out of rehab.

We were managing some friends properties, quite a few in fact, but we placed them all with a PM. Less than a year later we were being asked by everyone (tenants and owners) to resume managing, people like property managers/landlords who give a crap.

And yes, it's going to cost you money, but when you get involved with the problem then it may cost a whole lot less than it was.

Cops in Florida won't do anything about it, maybe they'll file a police report but usually this will simply be filed under landlord tenant dispute and you'll be told it's civil. 

$650? Pick up washers on CL for $50. Less heart ache and usually more repairable.

 In our market, everyone has a pet, simple as that. If we do the no pet thing then the property will be on the market for a month or two longer. Putting no pets on the ad really drops down the initial calls, and with less calls, we have less potential applicants, and a much narrower choice of suitable tenants.

Dog vomit and crap on hardwood floors is nothing, wait till you have a house that has carpets and a tenant allows their dog to crap on the carpets - and not clean it up. (Inherited tenant we soon got rid of). 

Unpaid rent is the problem if the soon to be ex owner. 

Personally, I would move closing to the first of the month so no one has to hassle over unpaid pro rated rent, the deposit needs to more to you at closing, and take it from there. If the tenant pays rent, then great, if not, give whatever notice to start the eviction.