All Forum Posts by: Linda S.

@Mary Jay,

I want you to remember my favorite quote-- "There is ALWAYS enough time and money for what's important to a person."   

The tenant looked at your bill, and said "nah, I'd rather pay my cell phone bill, and then again.. the next month "nah, I'd rather pay this bill."  This happened up to $5K!?- they looked at your bill, your livelihood as a landlord-- and said "nope, not paying them-- this isn't important."    Paying you was never important to the tenant.  They had 5 adults-- that's 5 people bringing in money, and they chose to give you the middle finger.  They took advantage of you and saw your weakness.    

 Of course, they are being nice, you aren't kicking them out and they are living for FREE-- well no, YOU are paying for them to live there!  100% try and get the money!   Just wait until you see how "nice" they are to your place, it will be trashed, and you will see how "nice" they are... your house is likely destroyed, so be ready for a big rehab too...   Never once have I kicked someone out of a house for non-payment, and had it not be trashed.  

We both know that unless you do a garnishment, you won't get a dime-- but it's the principle, cough it up as a very expensive learning lesson.    Life is about choices, they chose different bills instead of paying you-- they picked this.

@Alex Place,

Security Deposits are like underwear for landlords--it's what will cover your A$$ when your pants are down and you realize they've trashed the place.   

Don't think if someone is a friend or a good person-- it's naive.  I guarantee a blind will be broken, or they will leave excessive trash that you have to pay someone to pick up.    When that happens, you will feel like the biggest shmuck, and FYI this is coming straight from experience working with a charity-- those people TRASHED my houses.  No feelings in business, people have accidents and make mistakes, most of the time innocent, some of the time it's friends coming over, who cares-- it all ends up the same thing-- your security deposit is the only thing you can grab from when someone stops their lease, they are 100% removed from the situation.      

You aren't doing them a favor, you're doing yourself a disservice. 

@Nick Weisend,

One thing I've always been a proponent of a month-to-month lease, because it gives the landlord power to take their property back without a problem. 

I always thought, with S8, if for some reason I wasn't happy at the end of the annual lease, I could simply not renew with a 60-day notice.. .. I thought you could get out if it wasn't working... well, I had a tenant who is S8, and causing a lot of problems and obviously trashing the place (broken doors, busted door frames, broken cabinets)   I spoke with my lawyer, and he said no-- since it's a government backed program, it's not that simple, and there are protections to prevent landlords from terminating leases.   It's something to be aware of, as if they are trashing your place, you have to take them to court, or convince them to leave willingly, there isn't an easy way out.    If you take the government's money, it's their rules.   I have some S8 that are great, so don't put everyone in 1 bucket (for good or bad), but just realize it does come with more red tape.  

@Mark Berge,

100% NO.  Unless you're doing customized rentals are getting an insane amount of $$$, 100% NO!!

   If they don't like how it looks, pick another place.    In all of my experience, I have NEVER been happy with anything any tenant does.  I guarantee you will see drips, you will see outlet covers painted, baseboard painted, and then when they move out-- guess what?  You have no leg to stand on because YOU ALLOWED IT.  

Don't hate yourself later-- say no NOW!  If you do allow it (because it sounds like you haven't been burned by people yet, don't worry-- it's coming!), at a minimum put the charge of at least $250-400 in your lease to professionally repaint it. 

@Cassandra Vickers,

If you can wait until the lease ends,  you should IMO.    Not having a kitchen means they can't cook, and I GUARANTEE they will let you know of what a pain and inconvenience it is, and how much money they spend on food, how stressful it is on their kids, etc...   If you can wait, do!  It's not worth the headaches, not to mention the amount of lost rent because you'd absolutely need to comp them, and then lose $$!  

One time we had to replace the faucet in the kitchen, and a tenant was so angry because "she couldn't wash dishes" and I told her "the bathroom sink works fine" and she got so livid and angry with me, told me she was going to take me to court to pay for all her meals because the kitchen didn't work.    1000% not worth the stress  

@James Carr,

Expect the worse in people,  every now and then someone will surprise you for the good--- but as a new landlord--your rose colored glasses will get really foggy really, really quickly when reality hits.    Being a landlord makes you jaded, and if you don't feel that way, you haven't been a landlord long enough.

@Nikki Nicole,

I'd strongly suggest meeting/networking with investors, find someone who is doing what YOU want to do-- and figure out how you can help them.       The more specific you are, the better you'll be long-term.    As an example, I do low income rentals, it couldn't be further away from flips if you tried.   I'm of no real value for flippers, but those wanting to do low income  LTR-- no one can do it cheaper or better than me.     Figure out what you want first, and find the person you want to be like!

@Ryan Bird,

100% no, do NOT give gift cards IMO.  You are NOT a friend/buddy, you are their landlord, and trust me-- make no mistake about it, they don't like you as a person, they like you for charging them X rent only.   People think tenants like their landlord, no they don't-- remember you are the greedy MOFO taking 1/3 of their hard earned income each month, that's how they see you.   Imagine if your mortgage company sent you a $25 gift card, I personally wouldn't care-- I'd just think "thanks, you're obviously overcharging me if you need to redistribute $$ to customers."

If you want to "Thank" them-- ask them how you can upgrade their house?! Put a new security light in, or powerwash it to make it look better-- do something that will show them you appreciate them by reinvesting and LISTENING to what they want in their house.   I do this with all of my tenants, at the annual inspection, I ask "how can I upgrade your house and make it even better for YOU?" --- a lot of times it's something small and overlooked, like maybe add stepping stones so their feet don't get muddy when it rains.   The key is listening to what your tenants want.    This is 100% tax deductible, upgrades your house long-term, and improves the relationship.

@Patrick Britton,

If you always hire the cheapest/lowest end, of course, you should expect your experience.   I remember hearing "If you think a good lawyer is expensive, try a bad one"  and it's so true.. if anything is the cheapest-- they are going for volume, not quality.     People are all out for their own best interest, in any profession.   Humans are humans-- self-serving.   It is interesting how you are an appraiser, and say they are the best--- I've had good ones, and bad ones, hard workers and lazy ones-- just like with any other profession.

People will charge you what they think you can pay.    I had a trash guy give me a $8500 quote to gut a duplex, meanwhile another trash guy gave me a $900 quote.  I wish that was a made-up story, but it's reality.

@Stephen Jones

As someone who does C/D properties, let me tell you upfront-- exterior  work is the beginning of the work needed.   You need to evaluate if you can handle the scope of 43 properties, as I guarantee they weren't managed or taken care of like a B property.    You should expect deferred maintenance, and a lot of shady work. 

A lot of people get googly eyed when they see C/D property cash flow numbers, but don't really stop and think about the actual amount of work and maintenance needed.  I have "B" properties I forget I own.    If it's in the worst part of town, you need to expect a lot of problems, and most importantly-- be able to handle them financially and be mentally ready to invest a lot of $$$ to make them better.   I think of it like houses are dying, and they need a lot of $$$/energy/effort to get them back to normal, kind of like house CPR.    As long as you go into it ready and expecting the work/$$/energy and realize it's not apples/apples with a B property, you will do great!   It's different managing a house when someone is paycheck/paycheck vs. doing well,  and how they live/lifestyle, it's just different!