All Forum Posts by: Mary Joe

Hi All,  

Anything that I should be aware of before renting my condo to a tenant with pet?  It is a small dog, and he has all the shots and immunization papers.

The tenant is willing to add another month of security deposit in order to move in.

I always have a NO PET policy but now thinking of being a little flexible this time,  bad idea?

My concerns:

1) My condo has always been treated with pesticides over the years, I am worried his dog maybe allergic to the pesticides used in the apartment. 

2) Accidents do happen and the pet may release herself  on the floor, I have very basic laminate floors and I am worried the whole apartment will smell like pet urine one day.

3) My insurance policy has a pet exclusion clause, so maybe that is another sign to say NO to the tenant with pet?    I don't want the dog to bite others in the building and then there will be 3rd party liability exposure attribute back to the landlord in case there is a lawsuit.

These are my concerns, am I worrying too much?    Other than the fact that he has a pet, the tenant looks EXCELLENT on paper.  Hate to let go of a good tenant. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry if this has been discussed before.

Can someone tell me if change in use will trigger tax consequences for the following scenarios?

1) Say I have a rental property that I no longer want to rent it out, instead I use it as my second home or vacation home. Will I be deemed to have disposed of the property at FMV the date I use it as a second home?

2) How about the opposite of the above, ie: if I decide to rent out my second home or vacation home one day?

3) What about seasonal rentals? say if I use the property for my own personal use 3 months out of the year, and rent it out the remaining 9 months. How will this affect my tax return?

Any deemed disposition rules that I need to be aware of?

Thanks

MJ

@George P. thanks for sharing this George. I also used Allure and lately I am starting to see certain areas not holding up as well as they should have, although not nearly as bad as your pictures.

Sorry if this has been answered already, but how long have you had the floors before they started popping up?

@Sharon Tzib THANKS for the list Sharon, very helpful !! Appreciate that.

@George N. let s say if I hire a licensed PM, and it turns out that the PM is totally incompetent and negligent in managing the property, I think the landlord is liable too. The layer of PM will not shield the landlord from liability. That's my understanding.

@Jerry W. @Account Closed THANKS all for the advice, really appreciate it.

Jerry W, yes I just gave your reply a vote. Thanks!

Can someone tell me what are some of the responsibilities of a PM?

I have been investing in out of town condos for many years now, so far I do not see the need for a PM. But maybe there is something I have overlooked, would appreciate knowing the specific responsibilities of a PM so that I can compare.

For me, I have been able to do the following without a PM,

1) rent - auto deposit, so I do not need a PM

2) emergency plumbing or electrical problems - tenants get immediate assistance from condo maintenance staff, it makes more sense for my tenants to contact the maintenance staff on site than to call me especially for emergencies.

3) Repairs - I always insist that either my agent or my contractor does a walk through twice every year to make sure the apartment is in a reasonable condition and attend to any repairs. I pay them on a per diem basis each time they do a walk through.

4) Extermination - provided by condo.

5) Electrical - once every 1-2 year I have a licensed electrician examine all electricals in the apartment.

6) Insurance - my insurance agents take care of that, and my tenants have renter's insurance with my name as additional insured.

7) Lease - my attorney takes care of that.

8) finding tenants - my real estate agents take care of that based on criteria I provide, and I use online screening sites to screen tenants background. The condo boards also do their own background check and pull credit.

This is basically what I do year over year, I do not see the need for a PM at this point, but please let me know if there are other areas that I have overlooked and should consider using the help of a PM.

Thanks !

I think it depends on the market too. For well over a decade I have used countless agents to represent me as a buyer in NYC, there is NOT one agent who would do the due diligence for me or point out things like you suggested such as code violation or issues with the title. It's not their job.

I have never come across a situation where my agent would tell me not to buy because of certain issues with the building or the neighborhood.

Say the rental properties are all under my name personally, (no LLC set up).

If something happens and the tenant sues, and the court rules in the tenant's favor, will my husband be liable in any way?

For example, if the court awarded $1M to my tenant, and I only have $500K of assets to my name, will the court seize assets owned jointly by my husband and myself? What about assets that are under my husband's name only, will those assets be seized too?

any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

MJ

THANKS All ! I see that we have some very hard working folks here, you guys all started your day around 4-5 am ?? that's impressive :)