All Forum Posts by: Karl B.

I've had several inherited tenants who smoke. The first one ever (a couple) are the only ones who stopped smoking in the apartment after I told them to stop. Perhaps it was because their rent was and is still under market and perhaps it's because they're nice people. 

Every other tenant who was inherited and smoked failed to cease smoking. One O.D.'d on fentanyl (I had no idea she had been smoking in the unit - she was stealthy about it) and a few others were evicted or received a 30-day notice. 

I've got a few messy tenants and their cars are pretty normal-looking in the inside and outside. 

I had a few I evicted who were packrats and left the place gross and their cars were not at all cluttered or dirty.

My place I live in is nice and my car is a bit cluttered, I admit; but if you saw my work van you'd think I lived out of it as it's cluttered :-)

My lease reads all drain and toilet clogs are the responsibility of the tenant.

Definitely charge them for it - they created the issue. 

When the tenant knows they're the ones responsible for a potential repair based on something they might do they're 1000 times more careful. 

Evictions shouldn't scare you. The eviction is a superpower a landlord possesses. 

You let them get behind three months. Not good, but now is the time you correct this.

Learn everything you can about evictions; if you have a local Apartment Association join it. 

If you're one of those timid folk who would rather swim with crocodiles than head the eviction process yourself then hire a lawyer - I recommend finding one who will evict for a set rate so you don't end up getting some crazy, unexpected bill.

I evict tenants on my own (when I lived out of state my lawyer friend helped me do two evictions free of charge but the other two evictions I performed myself - they're a tad bit awkward, sure, but not as awkward as letting someone live rent free in your property).

I go by the notion of not raising rents unless a tenant pisses me off.

I'm selective when it comes to placing a tenant so most of my tenants are solid; they take care of the properties and don't do stupid things that cost me money or headaches. 

I have tenants I placed four years ago who have not seen higher rents because they pay on time, take care of the place and don't complain. Any request is a legitimate repair. 

The same goes for a few inherited tenants - I have a few who haven't received a rental increase and one couple has been there paying their original, cheap rent and I've owned that place since 2016.

I could up rents 15%-20% but I would rather not give them any ideas (to look for another place). 

If you're considering raising rent, do so on the headache tenants first and see how it goes.

Sue them. 

What's even better is seeing a cape rat that's lower than a good CD rate. It's hilarious: I see 3.75% cap commercial properties on Crexi and shake my head and chuckle. 

You're not wrong! A few years ago I refinanced a duplex and paid down points to 2% (original refinance rate I qualified for was in the high 2%). 

I moved out of that state but due to the insanely low rate (and the fact I rented out my side of the duplex and am now cashflowing a grand a month) it makes zero sense for me to sell unless someone came to me with a stupid offer, which is unlikely as they would have to be a cash buyer and I'm content holding as my refinance went from a 30 year FHA down to a 15 year and it's a great property and was custom built and not a junky tract duplex.

I definitely see the sellers who want to sell instead holding for several reasons:

-They don't want to sell and get into a high-rate mortgage

And/or

-They're currently in a low-rate mortgage (as you alluded to)

And another reason is due to low inventory they don't see a property they would even consider! Or perhaps they can't even get a new loan due to banks tightening. At any rate, we won't see inventory go up until there's blood in the water and people are desperate. I think STR will definitely be the first shoe to drop if the economy gets bad.

The PM is lazy. Removing coins is something I do every six or so weeks for my duplex and every two months for my 4-plex (the duplex does WAY more laundry, go figure). If you have two coin-op washers I reckon you wouldn't need to empty the coins more often than every six weeks, especially if they're one-bedroom units. 

I've got coin-op in three different MF properties (two 4-plexes and a duplex) and never once has anyone try to put fake coins in my machine. Nor have they tried to bust the coin box open (I admit - I thought they did one time but the coin mech was not working properly and that was the issue).

Tenants love having the laundry machines on-site and the profits help cover the water bill. 

Also, I probably average one repair total, per year, for all the machines I have in use. 

Definitely calculate the monthly payments you'd be making on the HELOC and any variables it might have (such as fixed-rate or not - I would only ever do a fixed-rate HELOC).

If you're cash flowing on the monthly rent VS the HELOC payment and you have some savings as a buffer to pay the HELOC in the event the unit is vacant or the tenant isn't paying on time then the HELOC definitely an option if the numbers make sense.