All Forum Posts by: Jon K.

If this woman loved her cat and planned to keep it, she should have found a pet friendly home.... not knowingly moved into a no pet property.

She lied on the application and is in violation of her lease.

I would not change my pet policy or non-smoking policy for one tenant. My policy is my policy-- if they don't like it, they can live somewhere else.

Plenty of rentals allow small cats (usually de-clawed). This woman knew she had a cat (for 7 years) and chose to move into a no pet property. Not a smart move on her part, and now she has to face the music. She easily could have avoided potential eviction or rehoming had she just found a pet friendly property.

Yeah, I wouldn't have called the pound either.

I would not let the cat stay, but I would tell her it has to go immediately and she's in violation of her lease-- either she goes or the cat goes.

Calling the pound is pretty dramatic and wastes resources of the city/animal shelter. So you call the pound when she stands there saying "that cat is mine?" That's really not a good way to handle this.

She can just go to the pound and pick up the cat, bring it back to her house, and violate the lease all over again.

Cure or quit notice on the cat is sufficient-- if she keeps it, evict. I have no sympathy for her for knowingly moving into a no pet property, but I also don't call the shelter and waste their time/money to pick up a tenant's pets. I would not let the cat stay either.

This lady broke the lease.

If it's a no pet property, it's a no pet property.

Either she needs to get rid of the cat or move in 30 days.

I wouldn't allow a cat if I said "no pets."

Cat pee is terribly difficult to get rid of, and cats scratch everything-- and I'm not going to have a tenant violate my pet policy. If they do, they cdan leave.

Evictions can be messy and time consuming.

Why wouldn't this woman just temporarily re-home the cat with her friends/family? How much longer is left in her lease?

If an area stops finding tenants, property values in the ghetto go down. Then, corporations buy them and gentrify them, turning the former ghetto (now vacant) into upscale neighborhoods. Now property values are strong again and we've gotten rid of the hoodlams, thugs, drugs, and ghetto lazy people from that area.

Short-term, there would be evictions for those formerly section 8 people who don't have a job and don't go out and get a job. We would have some vacancy in section 8 rentals for a while and either 1) current occupant would get a job or come up with some money to stay there 2) we would find other tenants since rent prices might be a little less or 3) get a tax write-off during the vacancy. Some tenants would take in boarders or family/friends to try to come up with rent money. If there are homeless shelters, they would flock there and continue to not bother to get a job.

Some poor ghettos would be demolished altogether (not necessarily a bad thing), and the thugs would relocate to other ghettos. The other ghettos might eventually get bought out and urbanized into a nice neighborhood of working adults. The worst schools would close and be replaced by decent schools with the new influx of higher property taxes.

And, of course, welfare recipients would have to actually A) get a job B) be homeless or c) live with friends, family, or in shelters.

Like I said, it will never happen.

WAY too much entitlement in society these days.

People want everything but don't want to work for it. Hence, welfare and section 8 reliance for decades.

That will never happen.

Not with the current entitlement mentality of people who choose not to work for what they have and leach of taxpayers for decades (short-term in dire need trying to help themselves excluded).

There's literally a snowball's chance in ##LL that welfare and entitlements like section 8 will cease to exist here. One can dream, but it ain't gonna happen.

You can't charge more for someone moving in the family. Not in my area either. That's discriminating against families.

Unless you're paying utilities on your own, perhaps.

You can require all adults 18+ to be approved by your standard rental application.

This.

Seems like any sort of paint or something over laminate will get chipped, dinged, and worn easily. Even laminate coutnertops get the above.

I would paint the cabinets a dark color or white and get modern knobs. I might even leave the counter tops alone. I would remove the granny curtains and donate them to some granny.

Market value for rent is based on supply and demand in a neighborhood or city-- how much your property is worth compared to nearby rentals. Market value is not based on how many renters you have in one property.

I don't see how that is *not* discriminating based on family status (single vs. however many adults). There can be max occupancy per bedroom per your local rules, and you can make each adult occupant be required to fill out an application/credit check. I think you'll land in hot water trying to charge more based on their familial status (4 adults, 2 kids).

My lease specifies that all adults 18+ have to meet my rental criteria to move in and it states the max occupancy per bedroom and guest "policy" (someone staying there more than half the month is a tenant). Beyond that, I can't charge more if they want to live with multiple people. Not unless I'm their roommate...

True.

Confidence can help deter a random pickpocketing on the streets, but only up to a certain extent. If you're in south Harlem and have a 2 carat diamond ring, no amount of confidence is going to help you. If someone wants it, they'll take it.

If you get attacked AS a landlord, it's usually personal. The person attacking you wants something and knows they can get it from you-- money, revenge, hatred, whatever. Or, your tenant or prospective tenant is on drugs, mentally unstable, or whatever else. You're not always dealing with a rational person here and you're not a random victim where they have another target.

I do think that most people who have some sort of training overestimate their skill level and ability to defend themselves. Escaping is always the most favorable outcome in an attack.

If someone wants to steal from me, take it. I'm insured. I can replace my crap.

I certainly don't live as if nothing will ever happen, but I'm reasonably cautious. I know that I can't win a fight against a thug despite my training/pet/partner, and I know the odds of getting attacked as a landlord are slim (well, outside of a war zone anyway). I avoid the ghetto areas in general and am well aware of the shady **** that goes on there. I would never buy property in those areas.

I don't flash cash, nice phones/cameras, cars, clothes, etc. I blend in. I don't keep much of anything in my wallet. I pay attention to the people and how they act, even as they're walking to the door. If I was sketched out at their appearance/car, I simply wouldn't let them inside the property. But, that's never happened. A quick court search and judging them based on what they say and how they say it in their e-mail has worked for me. I'm also careful about accepting cash rent payments, especially at night.

I'm not naive nor do I overreact and, say, require all potential tenants to apply before seeing my property or giving me their IDs/license plates/resume/whatever. I do a quick court record search on them before giving out my property address so I know who I'm dealing with. I don't reply to e-mails that don't tell me something about themselves- name, occupation, when they're moving or what they're looking for. If they can't tell me anything about themselves upfront, they're wasting my time and probably not qualified anyway. I'm not paranoid, but I'm not "oh it will all be fine no matter what I do/don't do" either. In general in life, I mind my business, stay out of the ghetto, am aware when dealing with mentally whacko people or drug addicts, and don't do do-it-yourself evictions. I don't engage in shouting matches (what is this, Jerry Springer ape show?) nor do I let tenants get all up in my face. I had a tenant try to get in my face once. I calmly replied, repeated the facts, and walked away. Walking away until they become stable (or calling the authorities on them) is the best method to handle them.

The odds of being attacked as a landlord are still very slim, but I still use common sense and reasonable deterrents so I don't become a statistic.

Ah, so you're an equity investor then. I wouldn't imagine most people would buy and maintain a home for $100/month profit unless you got a huge discount on the property to get the equity.

Equity is nice.

I like properties that double in value of the life of their mortgage just because the value of the location has gone up. I would happily sit on one of those for $100/month cash for the long term equity build.