All Forum Posts by: Julie Marquez

@Matt Joplin When you go to rent it, don't get discouraged if it takes a couple weeks to get a good tenant. My mental mistake it listing a property and expecting to get a qualified person on the first day. Never happens and I think I should lower my prices, but that won't help, it just needs more time. And after waiting a couple of weeks, the right one comes a long. Or maybe they come right away and you're lucky. But either way, don't get discouraged, your really nice home will command a higher price and a more select tenant.

Do you have a heloc now on the home? If not, get one now while it is still owner occupied for the best rates.

I enjoy being a member of RHAWA because they help with these issues and protect us landlords. I haven't looked into these issues personally, but I hope that there are smart people that can fight for us!

Hi Matt - I'm also an investor in Skagit County. We are turning out backyard ADU of our primary house into a legal duplex, and it is going to cost $35,000 in permits and fees (to the City for an additional unit, for an additional water meter, new electrical panel and PSE fees, CNG fees) for the City of Anacortes, but we think it will be worth it because we want to move on and have to separate units, but it does seem really expensive for not much actual work completed.

I think both of your options are great, but if I were you, I'd hold it. I'm a buy and hold investor and I think long term wealth is in holding units. I'm not really clear of what you are going to do with the money if you sell it. Also, I don't think it's a bad idea to rent out the entire place with the ADU for more money. There are plenty of families of multigeneration who would like that situation. I think you could get more than $2050. Anyway, interesting situation and there is no wrong answer, but I'd hold and rent it the entire thing for $2400 and state no subleasing in your rental agreement.

The tenant who lives in our backyard studio just went on a 6 month deployment and left us with checks until July. It's turning out to be a sweet situation as we are doing major renovation work while she is gone and still collecting rent! 

@Bill B. I hear ya there, and probably what's kept me from asking him to leave already. I'm not going to lower his rent and I'll reiterate that he can move if it's that much of an inconvenience for him, I don't care if he leaves.

@Nathan Gesner Thanks for your straightforward response. I'm waiting for it to get a little warmer to be able to open up and dry out the entire south wall - it's not going to be a fun fix

@Bjorn Ahlblad Yeah, I was thinking of giving him a couple months notice and even tell him that the repairs will be from the inside too and that he will have to move out (given how much water was penetrated over the 4 years, it could be some inside repairs too)

@Wesley W. Reducing rent is definitely not the precedent I want to set. I give him kuddos for asking, but I will tell him NO. @Michael Peters Yeah, I should have ended the rental agreement last month....

@Joe Villeneuve Yeah, the water issue is probably really bad, not looking forward to the repair. I definitely would like him gone and won't go out of my way to keep him.

@Ralph R. Thanks for all the help and info. Yeah, the water leak is an unfortunate thing that we'd like to do in the summer so we can get the entire side of building open and dried out. Second, I'm not a good manager and it's all a tough lessen to learn but I love your tough advice here, thanks!

Due to a bad window replacement and siding job back in 2016, water was been coming in around the south facing windows every bad rain storm (like once a week in the PNW). We tried caulking up the area but that doesn't seem to help. We plan on taking off the siding and redoing everything in the summer to really fix the problem. Ugh, I hate water issues.

Anyway, resident understands that the fix isn't immediate and asked if he could get a reduced rent for his subpar living conditions (collecting the water at the two windows, cleaning it up, keeping belonging away from the windows, etc.). I told resident that he could move without any penalties, but he said he is not in the position to move right now. He does not have renter's insurance, would that help in this kind of situation?

I understand that is apartment is not to standard and will be that way every time it rains hard until we fix the issue. What do I do to compensate for that? BTW, he's not my favorite tenant, has a history of paying late, bounced checks, and lying to us to pay rent later. Some days I'd rather just kick him out (aka give hime 20 day notice him to vacate on his M2M agreement). I am not going to change his rent amount, I could just give him $40 and say deal with it. What would you do?

@Richie Thomas As I get order I understand that death is a natural part of living, and I'm not as frightened by the idea of it happening in a home (totally normal, that's the way I'd like to go - peacefully at home). But the murders and bad deaths, and all the media around them, are what kept me from originally going forward with that particular deal. Some houses have such bad stigma that they get torn down!