All Forum Posts by: Lynn McGeein

@Kaitlin Scutari does your lease mention how to give notice? You may have to send USPS certified or post on door stating rent increase beginning x date, mine usually includes an addendum extending lease term one year at x rate requiring signature. Usually I send notice 90 days before lease end to give them time to see they’re not going to find anything better at new rent or they can give notice to move. I start with email/text but will send certified letter if they don’t respond within a week as I have to give 60 days notice if I want them out, which I would do if no response.

@Brian Berry if you have no one in town to assist, then for this one you probably need to go and check it out. Then you need to find good property management or someone you trust to assist if needed. When I self managed from out of state, my son still lived near there so could run by to check it out if an emergency, and I had contractors who knew me well enough that they would enter on a contractor box left at the property if the tenant didn’t answer the door, then I’d send payment once done. Many contractors will not enter an occupied house using a contractor box unless they already have a relationship with you.

@Katie Van Koooten usually owner occupants will pay a bit more and you’ll have a larger buyer pool with more competition. Have you spoken with the tenants about their timeline as maybe they asked for 6 months but only need 4? Will they be ok showing while still occupied? If so, you could plan to market about 60 days before lease end or even sooner if their house is ready earlier, so you can close as soon as they are out. Maybe plan on showings only on certain day/time windows to accommodate their schedule.

Any conventional loan products for property in a flood zone (not sure what flood zone 9 is) requires flood insurance, which can be very expensive, and rates have been rising each year. Your lender can force-place it on your loan if you cancel it for any reason. So get an estimate on flood insurance and factor that into your calculations. Note there are expensive surcharges added (I think it's $250 minimum added to premium) for investment/business vs owner occupant. The only way we would buy property in a flood zone, and we have, once, is if it's cheap enough that we can pay off the loan if insurance rates get unreasonable (which they did). Ours never flooded in the 15 years we've owned it, even when surrounding areas flooded. It was actually mapped out of the FEMA flood zone years ago, but they never made that new map "effective." Our required flood insurance tripled in price over about 5 years, was higher than our annual landlord insurance, so we just paid off the mortgage and no longer have flood insurance.

@Maria De La Vega for difficult tenants I find it best to not schedule showings until they’re gone. While they have a right to be present, they can sabotage the showing, talking about their issues with other tenants or neighbors, wasting everyone’s time. Plus they might not actually leave when they’ve agreed, creating all sorts of issues if you have a new tenant scheduled.

@Michael Vilasi start the investigation. Best case, tenant really made a mistake, and bank corrects the error they let them make, but they also may have actually stolen from you then lied to you about it. Not sure how they thought a check in your company name was a refund for them, but that should be an issue for the banks to decide after they let them deposit it. If you decide not to proceed with the investigation because of their current situation, that’s your call, but I don’t see how you’d trust them in your house anymore.

@Paul McCoy is tenant requesting new flooring? If not, plan on replacing at turnover. Cost of moving furniture, potential damage to it, can be costly. I find most of my long term tenants just use cheap runners or area rugs to cover older flooring until they leave. Works for me. Then I can advertise new flooring at turnover.

@Matthew Slaughter are they still under an existing lease term from when you purchased? If so, most states require you honor those terms until it ends. If not, then make sure you know your landlord tenant laws and give proper notice to vacate. You can then negotiate from the position that if they want to stay, you require that they sign agreeing to your new terms or you’re happy to find others who will.

Just want to add that the Fed is planning to cut rates later in 2024, which should lower mortgage rates, so you might want to wait until fall for refi or HELOC.

@Timothy Eaton so for your $35,000 initial investment you want the first $480,000 received in any sale, then for any over that, you each get paid back the cost of renovations you contributed, then split any remaining profit 50/50? But he’s supposed to pay 1/2 mortgage from day one, more than market rent, to help you pay down that mortgage for your first $480,000, and contribute to renovations? If nothing is signed between you yet, maybe admit you didn’t think through how complicated and messy that will all be, and he can rent from you at market rent if he wants to but you’re keeping ownership. I doubt he understood you wanted the first $480,000 plus reimbursed for renovations before he sees anything. That seems a little aggressive on your part for a partnership with your brother.