All Forum Posts by: Ken Chud

Quote from @James Peters:

I know this may not be popular amongst many but it has worked for me very well. I don’t worry about security deposits from voucher tenants usually. In fact I use that as a way to attract them in some cases, depending on the location of the home. 
If they seem like a good tenant I use that security deposit to secure my tenant landlord relationship.
Play the nice guy and cut some breaks for those struggling. 
I also will use a no security deposit as negotiation tool for securing a longer lease with the tenant through the program. 
The only time I get concerned is when the tenant has a large rent portion they are responsible for. I tend to look harder at this scenarios. 

Turnovers are expensive 

James. I know you are in Baltimore, that is maybe why have to attract tenants with 0 deposit. I am not doing business in the City on purpose, but the County. It is because of the extensive damage to all of my properties 90% of tenants do and expensive turnovers, I have to charge security deposit.

With this tenant, Section 8 (BRHP in particular), gave me grief about entering into side agreement with new tenant requiring repayment of security deposit. It is against the rules. I tried to be helpful and help that family out. Her prior home was sold, she had nowhere to go, she had little money, and there was a bit of shortage of available housing. But I will no longer be helping anyone out and will require deposit paid in full before letting anyone to get the keys. Lesson Learned. 

James. I know you are in Baltimore, that is maybe why have to attract tenants with 0 deposit. I am not doing business in the City on purpose, but the County. It is because of the extensive damage to all of my properties 90% of tenants do and expensive turnovers, I have to charge security deposit.

Wanted to give everyone an update. This particular tenant has moved in only 3 months prior and turned out to be major pain, with OCD, nickeling and diming me on maintenance. I ended up having close to 20 service calls in about 4 months she stayed there. Her rent portion was 0. She flooded the ceiling in living room by having her kid spray water and not closing curtain, and tried to put the blame on me. I threatened her with filing Breach of Lease due to maintenance abuse, and worked the phone heavily with the Section 8 program, so together we were able to convince her to give her 60 day notice. She did not go out without some pain. She fought me on return of whatever security deposit balance she paid into, even though she caused couple of grand of damage to the house after only living there for 4 months. Worst tenant in my 8 yr practice, even I prescreened her properly, and her prior rental and judiciary record was impeccable, and she seemed so nice. Ungrateful POS

Quote from @Ruth Lyons:

@Daniel Alfandre I had a tenant with a BHRP voucher a few years ago. The rent was always paid on time by the County, and I was able to charge a little higher than market value for the rent. The tenant, on the other hand, was a nightmare. She sublet to two men who smoked pot, irritated the building residents, put major stains in the carpet and broke the sink faucet. She denied all of this, of course. I am not generalizing, by any means, about the tenants in the program. I’m just saying that you have to do your tenant screening carefully, of all tenants. Do not assume that the voucher programs does any sort of screening for you.

Regarding protected class. If one voucher program does not approve prevailing rent amount, I strongly believe that it is OK to state that the Landlord is not working that particular program because of that.  BRHP has their Opportunity Search tool where you can gauge how much rent they will pay for your property.  From my experience, they have matched rent for a 4br property in a non-oppty area in the County (West Side) to amount of vouchers I was seeing from the County Housing Choice Voucher Holders. I chose BRHP because do not like annual inspections and being bogged down with additional maintenance.

8 years of experience with BRHP here. After Pandemic, they had experienced staffing issues and fired all of their Inspection Dept. All Inspections are now outsourced to a third-party company. 

Positive: 1) easier to get ahold of and speak to someone than, for example, Baltimore County Office of Housing; 2) will pay slightly above market for properties in the Opportunity area; 3) do not require annual inspections, unlike Baltimore County Office of Housing. First inspection for new voucher holders is after 6 months, and it is every other year thereafter; 4) generally, good amount of applicants, and relatively easy to rent out (really depends on the property and location)

Negative: 1) tenant quality is the No Uno pet peeve. Because of that you may get harder time getting their Tenant Portion on time, getting your water bill reimbursed, you may get more damage done to the house. There are a lot of brand new voucher holders without prior rental experience, that are unemployed and do not know how to care for a house, and also have disregard for things they get completely free of charge, 2) quicker turnover - sometimes after 2 years in the Opportunity area, some of them want to move to another area closer to family, 3) Landlord wont get paid HAP for 2 months after move-in; 4) staffing changes and outsourced inspection are causing staff to make mistakes when processing RTAs and recently suffered new move-in approval delays. 

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Ken Chud:

Give her 14 days to pay the remaining amount or you will report her to HUD and start the eviction process.

Never let a tenant occupy until all funds are paid in full with certified funds, utility accounts are switched into their name, paperwork is signed, and whatever else you require.

 Thank you... hard lesson learned after doing this for over 5 years...but the strategy you suggested sound more like a scare tactic. This tenant is on Section 8. When I reported to Section 8, i was rebuked because they do not allow any monetary agreements outside of the Lease/HAP agreement. I am looking for a solid base for a court filing here that is to end with court order against my tenant to evict premises. So would my situation fall under Breach of Lease or anything else?

Hi folks

I have made a mistake of allowing a voucher-assisted tenant to move in when she did not have the full amount of security deposit during Lease signing. Had her sign an impromptu agreement I drafted myself, which spells out exact terms of how security deposit will be repaid and when. Gave her 3 months to pay back the amount. Tenant kept the first installment but missed the 2 other ones, and I am looking for options. Can I legally evict her for not holding up to the agreement? Would that be considered a breach of lease? 

@Ozzi so on the example you have given me, your investor is all in on at under 180k. Thats a 1500-1700/month mortgage. Your Arv of low 200s is telling me this is in a cheaper area where rents top out around 2000/ month for a 4 bedroom unit. This is a flip deal but not buy and hold deal

is anyone still able to find a good BRRR deal in the Baltimore County these days? What are the numbers and where do you source the inventory? Million dollar questions lol

As far as what? The only constraints are with your bank and insurance company; there isnt anything on the books stating that one cannot own over 3 rentals

Hi folks

I am dealing with a problem where my Metro Service charge component of property tax shot up to almost a grand per year.

I do not think there is smthg wrong with the house. There have been a couple of insignificant leaks at the property that were fixed: leaky water heater, drip from the pipe, bad toilet flapper, ie nothing that have resulted in a pool of water. Had the house inspected by licensed plumber, he did not find any problems. I suspect careless tenants. We are in the middle of annual lease term. Per lease they pay for water but dont pay for sewer. Come July the tax man cometh and i dread another increase. 

Balto County Metro Finance refuses to make adjustment for leaky toilets.. i cant make them to adjust. Would anyone have any past experiences or recommendations on dealing with the problem?