All Forum Posts by: Lisa Thiessen

I have not worked with this particular company, but I have done short-term leases with others. They are not going to pay you until you submit a W9. You also should not pay any contractors you hire until you receive a W9 from them. This is a standard tax form. 

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs..

If you don't feel comfortable using your SSN, you can apply for a Federal Employer ID Number (FEIN or EIN) for your business to use instead. 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses...

I have a concrete subfloor with glue-down luxury vinyl plank (LVP). I did not install this floor, so I don't know the age, brand name, or if the manufacturer's installation guidelines were followed. Most of the floor is in good condition, but in several places, the planks have popped and curled.

The glue under the planks remains sticky, but seems like it isn't strong enough to overcome the curl of the plank. I have attempted to apply new glue and restick the planks, holding them down with something heavy to promote adhesion. Unfortunately, when I remove the weight, the planks curl and pop again. 

Has anyone experienced this issue? Any advice on how to repair other than completely replacing a mostly good floor?

I would accept her proposal. You already know she's an excellent tenant, plus she is willing to pre-pay. You know you would have to make repairs if she left, so any increased profits would immediately be offset by the cost of repairs. 

We have a long-term tenant who is paying slightly below market rent, but he never asks for anything. I'm not about to increase his rent because I know I would have to make cosmetic updates to the property if he left and even if I did rent it for market rent, the new tenant may not stay beyond their lease term (net-zero; 1 month of vacancy after 1 year would equal the entire additional rent revenue), may not pay reliably, and may cause damage. I'm letting the sleeping dog lie. 

I have stopped charging charge extra for pets. People don't want to pay the extra rent, so they just have a secret pet. 
I just assume everyone has a pet and figure it into the rent. If a tenant does not have a pet, they get a discount. 

I use Apartments.com to advertise vacancies, screen applicants, and collect rent. I have been very happy with it. They do charge for credit/background checks, but the applicant pays for that. They do not charge to collect rent. It takes a few days for deposits to hit your account, but I plan for that and it works out fine for me. It is a win-win for landlord and tenant. It handles automatic rent collection and deposits for me, and reports on time (or late) payments to credit bureaus, which is a great incentive for tenants who are trying to build their credit. It also has features for handling lease paperwork and managing maintenance requests, which I have not used. 

I dealt with ALE Solutions in the spring of 2021. They needed housing for a couple who had been displaced by storm damage to their home.

I screened the tenants myself. Because the lease was short-term, they paid higher rent, paid a one-time fee for the couple's two dogs, and monthly pet rent. Near the end of the term, they requested an extension, which I granted. (This was discussed as a possibility at the beginning.) Then, they requested an early termination (of the extension). I declined the early termination request because I had delayed advertising the property for rent for their convenience. They did not complain about that at all.

It was a good experience for me and I would be pleased to work with them again. 

 

I use Apartments.com to advertise properties, do background and credit checks, and collect rent. I also advertise on Zillow.

I previously used Cozy and my account transitioned to Apartments.com seamlessly. All of my existing properties and tenants migrated and the interface is user-friendly. Adding a new property was a bit of a pain because I had to provide proof of ownership, but that's just good due-diligence on their part. 

Thank you for affirming my instincts Tchaka and Charlie! 

I am using Zillow Rental Manager for the first time to communicate with potential tenants. The inbox messaging feature seems pretty handy, but how do you identify spam? I have gotten several legitimate messages from actual people, but I just received one that raises some red flags. The listing is very thorough and clearly for a house, but the initial inquiry is a generic request for information about an apartment. I reply, basically repeating the description in the listing. The writer responds, offering a few unsolicited introductory personal details, specifically mentioning that he's a US Citizen, but currently working out of the country and moving back home because his contract is ending and he plans to stay here for more than 1 year. Then he asks some very specific questions that are already answered in the listing. This is obviously a non-native English speaker so I don't want to just discount him because he's not understanding the listing due to a language barrier, but I also don't want to waste a bunch of time communicating with a bot or giving information to a scammer so he can spoof my listing. Has anyone else had a similar experience?