All Forum Posts by: Jon K.

Why can't I delete what I post.

Delete.

For some reason they like to scratch crown molding. And wood window blinds.

Also, they can pee/spray/mark on baseboard molding, carpet, and everything else. And the fur everywhere. And litter box... literally tracking crap around. Ick.

Some people are responsible with well-trained pets who clean up promptly after pets. Even then, pets can get sick (from agedness, stomach "flu", bladder infection, etc.).

Oh my. Parents calling in sick for grown adults? Let me guess, they still live with their parents too? Yikes. Seriously, yikes.

Vacancies, potential evictions, insurance, repair costs, damages and wear and tear on appliances/carpet/everything else could eat into that $400 well.

But $400 a month isn't too bad assuming the repair costs are low and it's a newer house or renovated.

Do you mean a $2000 deposit?

Because replacing all the carpet and carpet padding in a few thousand square foot house could easily cost two THOUSAND dollars. Not two hundred.

That's assuming the cat hasn't also scratched up the walls, woodwork, windows, curtains, and anything else there is. Declawed cats are better, but pee can easily cost thousands of dollars to remove.

Not really, no.

Cats can easily scratch carpet, curtains, windows, crown molding, etc.

Declawed cats are better for landlords than clawed cats.

And cat pee I've found to... um.... be much harder to remove the smell of than dog pee. The smell of any of it is horrible. The pee can seep down to the cement under the carpet. It's a pain in the butt to try to remove and neutralize, plus destroys carpets/carpet padding.

I don't allow cats. No way, no how. "No Pets" means no pets in my lease with no exceptions.

I would not be telling tenants to unscrew washer hoses. You would be amazed at how badly they can screw that up.

My thoughts?

These are grown adults old enough to sign a lease. I don't want to have to coddle my tenants. They're adults.

Instead of an e-mail every cold weather time, perhaps a shortened "emergency manual" when they move in would work. The short manual could tell them how to turn off the house water line, etc.

Not right next door on visibly within distance from each other.

The next street over, sure.

I would not want the tenants one street over to know where my house is or that I live nearby.

I simply don't want to be bothered by tenants. And certainly not next door.

In a duplex situation, well, you're stuck. Otherwise, for houses I would rather the tenant to not know where I live and not see me in a bathrobe out getting the newspaper or have the chance to bother me whenever I step outside.

I wouldn't say that something is absolutely WRONG with a property if there is 2 weeks of vacancy, especially not during off/slow season. And, especially for high-end units where simply not many people can quality for them or afford them. Market matters too: renting out a property in rural Maine vs. Midtown Manhattan are two very different things (and time schedules).

Also, it depends on how much time you had in notice from the previous tenant (annual lease expiring? eviction) and what condition the previous tenant left the property in. And, of course, the season. If your property is vacant right before Christmas, it's going to be much harder to find a qualified tenant who is not desperate to move somewhere than it would be mid-summer.

If a property is sitting vacant for 30 days, then I would start to look at the condition, management company, amenities, neighbors/neighborhood issues, price, season of the year, etc. for potential issues. I've had 1 partial month vacancy in the past year or so, and that was self-inflicted-- I denied all the applicants I had that month. None were property qualified and/or not irritating. I wouldn't want a property sitting 60 days vacant unless it was a multi-million high-end rental that rented for obscene amounts of money and naturally had few potential renters. Otherwise, it seems like 30 days or less vacant after a make-ready should be feasable to find renters.

Wow. OP, you lucked out with this hateful nutjob choosing not to rent from you.

And, no, I would not believe a non-paying tenant's story that their landlord didn't have the deposit/etc. without verifying the landlord's negative reputation in the court system. The tenant was making up crazy tales to try to get into your unit.

Definitely always check previous rental history, not just the current one. Some landlords would probably say anything to get a bad tenant out of their unit.