All Forum Posts by: Ken Deboy

Might think about tile instead of carpet. More expensive short term but less expensive long term.

@Bill Schrimpf Heater is fixed, but I'm being told that a space heater is not acceptable, needs to be built in. Got an email from tenant today saying if we agree to refund all of December rent she'll leave us alone, if not she will take us to small claims court to get back all the rent she's paid since moving in. I'm OK with that. The only thing that really pisses me off is the way she handled the situation. IF she would have asked nicely, I would have just done that (returned the rent for December). Instead she tries to make a federal case out of it, accuses my wife and I of various things, does not give us a chance to make things right by installing a built in heater, etc. So tomorrow we'll mail her a refund check and hope we never hear from her again.

Zoning issues will be addressed as soon as we get our official notice from the city.

On Dec 18, tenant reported heater not working and frozen pipes. Replaced heater and fixed pipes same day.

On Dec 21, tenant reported heater not working. Checked heater and found it wasn't working because the power strip she had it plugged in to was turned off. Notified her that heater was working, left a second heater, told her we were ordering a bigger and better heater, and asked her to call me directly instead of emailing if there were any further problems.

On Dec 27, received from tenant that she'd vacated property because the "city has determined it's in violation of building codes" and asking for deposit back as well as full rent for November and December.

On Dec 28, contacted city and found she had in fact filed a complaint against us.

On Jan 1, spoke with a city inspector. He said the issues they found were (1) we had a portable heater instead of a built in heater (easily corrected) and (2) the neighborhood is zoned mixed use (meaning a studio behind the main house is "probably" OK) but if we want to do it we have to get our individual property "permitted" for multifamily by the city. Said that because of the holidays, we would probably not get our notice of violation until Jan 4 or 5 (it's sent certified mail). Decided to wait to contact former tenant until we got notification from city.

On Jan 3, got another email from tenant informing us that since we hadn't replied to her first email, she'd contacted county legal services and was preparing to file a lawsuit but "hoped" we could resolve this without going to court.

Today (Jan 4) I replied and told her we'd refund her full deposit (she did leave the place clean and in good condition) and her rent from Dec 18 - 31. I also told her I don't feel it's fair to refund all of December plus November rent since she didn't report any problems until Dec 18, and it's pretty hard for me to know about a problem - let alone fix it - if I'm not told about it.

So far, that's where it stands. I still haven't received a reply to the email I sent today. The main reason I want to consult with a lawyer is to find out how much of her rent I'm legally required to return. It seems like it would be from the 18 through the end of December, but since she's "lawyering up" I figure it's a good idea to get some legal advice of my own.

I need a recommendation for a lawyer that can give me advice and/or represent me (as landlord) in a dispute with a former tenant. I'm located in Reno, Nevada.

Thanks,

Ken

I use semigloss in bathrooms and the kitchen wall behind the stove because it cleans easier, but it's too shiny everywhere else and really highlights imperfection. Satin or eggshell is for everything else. Flat catches every piece of dust, so looks dirty really fast.

 So if something goes wrong, you lose nothing and the investor providing you with the funds is taking all the financial risk? You ought to be giving the investor 60% since they are the one with something to lose if the deal isn't profitable.

 Well, a really simple way to avoid it is just get the loan you can afford - the one with the $1300/month payment. If that's what you can afford, that's what you can afford. No matter what the banks "think" you can afford, they can't FORCE you to get a bigger loan with $2100 payments. Hence, they can't "suck you in" unless you let them.

With all due respect, how can you get "sucked in" to buying a property that's more expensive than you can afford? Is the loan officer at the bank going to put a gun to your head and force you to sign for a bigger loan?

@Kris Haskins ... I guess I worded it wrong. I didn't mean to imply there is anything wrong with private money loans, just that the interest rates 'can' be a cash-flow killer long term. My current fixer is costing me $750/month just in interest ($90K at 10%). I'm OK with it while the fixing up is getting done, but when I refinance at 4.5% my monthly payments (PITI) will only be about $650. I'm still thankful for the private lender - the house was in poor condition and probably not loanable by a conventional bank.

@Simon Aristizabal ... in my market, hard money costs more than 2/10 so I haven't used a HML. I assume the loans work the same.

Private money is too expensive for long term (buy and hold). In Reno at least, it's 10% interest for 6 - 12 months, plus 2% up front depending on the private lender. Depending on how much you're borrowing and what you can get for rent, the interest alone will eat a lot or all of your cash flow.

If you need it you need it though, but plan on making sure you can refi with a more conventional (i.e. lower interest) loan at around the same time your property is ready to rent.