All Forum Posts by: Jean H.

Thanks for the advice.  After finding out about the dog, I agreed to let the dog stay with an additional $200 security deposit, so I can't evict because of that.  They are on a yearly lease which runs out in February.  I do not plan to renew. I do not think I can evict them now since they are not, actually, late with rent; I had agreed to the dog; and from what I've seen, they do appear to be taking care of the property.  The security thing is annoying, but I don't think it's evictable.  

@Yvette May I actually required them to get renters' insurance as a condition of the lease, so I will look into that option. Thank you. 

@Vic French and @Adam A. I hadn't thought about the possibility of opening myself up to liability. That is a concern.  One possible solution is to try to spot treat the termites, and then wait until the lease is up in 7 months to tent the place.  The termite tenting people say it would cost about $600 to spot-treat, with no warranty that the termites won't come back. Tenting would cost $1300 and would come with a 1-year warranty.

Thanks for all the advice!

Although I had my rental house tented for termites before the tenants moved in, I recently went to inspect the property and found some evidence of termites.  I called the termite tenting people and they confirmed I do indeed have termites.  Tenting requires that the residents leave for 3 days and 2 nights and to take out all food and pets.

As the landlord, do I just tell them the house needs to be tented and to have them schedule the tenting while they are out of town, or do I need to offer them an alternative place to stay while it is being tented?

The tenants and I are not on the best of terms.  They've only been in the house for 6 months and have consistently tried to pay late every month (I have insisted on on-time rental payments, and they have complied, but grudgingly), brought a dog in despite a "no pets" policy, and are generally stand-offish (the first thing they did when they moved in was install a security system, and when I come by the house even with an appointment, they call me while I'm on the front steps and say that they're not in the house). 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, all!

I just wanted to introduce myself.  I am a newbie real estate investor from Miami, Florida.  I am interested in buy-and-hold residential real estate in the South Florida area.  I have been interested in real estate investing for a long time but have only recently felt that I had the wherewithal to pursue it. After my brother introduced me to Bigger Pockets 6 months ago, I have been listening to the podcasts, watching the videos, and reading real estate books galore. 

When it came time for us to move from our starter home to our new home, my husband and I decided to keep our old house as a rental.  I used a lot of what I learned in Mike Butler's "Landlording on Autopilot" to find a tenant, with the exception of "the Rent Talk," where you sit down with the tenant before you hand over the keys and go over the lease agreement and agree on who's responsible for what.  I do not like confrontation and it just did not seem necessary since both the tenant and l had real estate agents representing us and I had assumed that one of them would go over the contract and expectations with the tenant.  This has come back to bite me in the behind with the tenant trying to pay late every month (BP has helped me to stay firm on this point and I am still able to get the rent on time every month, but it's always a fight with the tenant calling me "unprofessional" for not letting him drop the check off "sometime next week"), and a dog despite everything in the listing and lease agreement saying "no pets" (I let this one go with a Pet Addendum and an extra security deposit because the dog was small and seemed well-behaved).  So, lesson learned.  Don't skip "the Rent Talk." 

My new home also happens to have a detached guest house on the premises.  I have fixed it up and listed it on Airbnb as a short-term vacation rental.  I've had two sets of guests so far, and it's been going really well (more so than the long-term rental).

Despite my experience with the bad long-term tenant, I still believe that I can be a successful real estate investor. I am treating this as my business. To that end, I have created an LLC and plan to use it to buy more rental properties.

I hope that gives you a sense of who I am and what I'm about.  I'm looking forward to meeting all of you and getting to know you all better.  

Jean