All Forum Posts by: Jill F.

1) Call your insurance company and tell them a tenant reported an injury. Ask insurance company (who will be representing you if tenant sues) if they have a contact for the tenant and/or if you should discuss the matter at all.

2) In my city you can look up police reports by address, if that is available put in the address and see if there was a report.

3) Let your insurance company deal with it.

@James Canoy I really feel for you. I suffer from SEVERE claustrophobia with panic attacks. Any situation where I feel physically stuck brings on a panic attack: when a ski lift stops and does not immediately start back up, I don't ever step foot in an elevator, even in a stairwell if I try a door and it doesn't open I will start hyperventilating. I have problems getting dental work done. They have to put me under to do an MRI. 

When I get stressed the panic is much, much worse- throughout my life there have been periods when it's better and periods when it's worse but I have found that repeated successful experiences do make it better. Once I've been in a stairwell a couple of times and not gotten stuck it gets easier. I had cancer a while back (treatable) but I had to get radiation which meant laying very still on a table and having them close a big door; the radiation techs were very understanding and would talk me through it and somehow I managed and after six weeks of daily treatment I barely had any panic. 

If your wife is on board, maybe she can help reassure you. I hope you can find a way to not let the fear rule your life and stop you from doing what you want to do. It's so hard sometimes.

Kwikset master control smart key locks (model 816) they cost about $30-35. We install them everytime a unit turns over on all the doors. Worth it. One key for tenant and you can move the face of the lock up for the landlord lock. Both locks use the smart key technology and are super easy to change.

First, are you sure it's not just frozen? Sometimes you can free it up with a lever. I would send my handyman over to check on it. Unless I had some reason to expect abuse (such as multiple problems with the same appliance) I would fix it even though my lease does not warranty disposals.

@Tim Milazzo, @Ryan Kurth, @Ken Jernigan

Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I had to leave town for a funeral and just now saw I had replies!

My lender is Wayne Savings a community bank in North East Ohio. They funded our last deal in April which was for 13 units in the same neighborhood. I haven't worked with any other commercial lenders because I was hoping to establish a relationship with a local lender that I can count on-- and this bank was easy to work with and gave us reasonable terms last time: 20years - 5year adjustable at 5% with 25% down. The underwriter sent us an email with the amount we'd have to put down plus the equity they were willing to use from our other properties and in bold font it said that this assumes the property appraises at or above the purchase price. I think these properties will appraise because in April we bought a number of units just down the street for $3500 more per unit. The apartments we are looking at now were built by the same builder but they are much newer (2004) and they have 2 car garages instead of 1 cars but they have much less land per building than the units we purchased in April. I think our biggest down side is that we have more credit card debt (20K) than we did in April due to funding the move for another retail business and funding some renovations on recent purchases but we told the bank we could pay it down if need be-- however we would prefer not to because for the rest of this year it is cheaper for us to use credit so that we can defer additional retirement withdrawals until after the 1st so they'll be in the next tax year. We also have greatly reduced our IRA funds because we are spending them on apartment downpayments.

The DSCR for the deal (calculating expenses at 50% of gross rent-- which is probably a little high) is 1.32% which is slightly better than the 1.25% the bank told us they required.

IF they don't fund the deal, it sounds like it might be worthwhile to try a different lender or possibly a mortgage broker? Only two more days. Still waiting nervously.

I will let y'all know how it goes thanks again for your insights.

I just had a big section of an old iron main replaced. They tied it off in the attic, cut out a huge section and replaced it with PVC. That part of the repair was 1550.00. I didn't want to pay plumbers $95/hour to tear out ceilings and walls so my husband and  our handyman tore out the two layers of ceiling drywall over lathe and plaster and a metal mesh. Today they installed a joist mounted ceilingmax "suspended" ceiling with these molded looking tiles

It looks real nice and future access to plumbing will be a breeze. Our tenant was real a trooper too.

I like my low income properties. They cash flow well and my tenants (mostly) make me feel appreciated. People in every income bracket want a nice place to live and want to be treated fairly. This is sometimes hard to find at an affordable price point. My lower-income tenants appreciate that I try to do a good job and provide "best in class" housing at an affordable price point. They appreciate having a published late policy so that they don't have to worry when they are occasionally late. They appreciate prompt service when repairs are needed and THEY APPRECIATE THAT I AM IN THE LANDLORD BUSINESS TO MAKE MONEY NOT TO DO CHARITY WORK. Nobody wants to be a charity case.

We are working on a deal for a commercial loan for a 20 unit property. This is the first time we have tried to buy something this big. Our loan officer and underwriter said they will be taking our deal to the loan committee next week and we should have an answer by the end of next week. I am (as always) biting my fingernails hoping the loan is approved and then it came to me... there are loan officers and underwriters on bigger pockets that might be able to shed some light on this mysterious (to me) process. When a loan officer goes to committee, how often does the committee shoot down the loan application? Does the loan officer take any semi-reasonable deal presented by a customer or do they screen heavily and only take those deals they think are good ones? Are they "graded" on how many deals they can get approved? Should I be encouraged that it is going to a committee or does this always happen? 

We started out with 8 units and selected Buildium for both online rent pay, screening, and accounting capabilities.

 Hi Brian,

Wayne Savings, headquartered in Wooster, OH, is our lender. I believe they are a regional lender. We did a 20y, 5y adjustable at 5% with 25% down back in April. We are working on another deal now.