All Forum Posts by: Matt Ryan

John Anderson Ryan Murdock thanks for the responses...from my reading there is no "qualification" for a service animal anyway, besides for documentation from a health care provider. I am concerned that I may suddenly get additional requests for service animals, but I just want to make sure that proactively notifying other tenants of a service animal would not be any sort of privacy violation for the tenant with the animal.

I have an applicant with a service animal that is interested in my property, which is a 4-unit building that doesn't allow pets. I understand that a service animal is not a pet, but I do not want the other tenants in the building to think I am not enforcing the pet policy, or being unfair to them by not allowing them to have a pet when they see an animal around.

Can I send a notice to the other tenants in the building, notifying them that a service animal is in the building in compliance with Fair Housing laws? I do not intend to identify the tenant, unit, or animal in the letter.

Any suggestions or advice? Thanks in advance!

I'm in Columbus, as well. I've been able to find much better rates using an independent agent, as opposed to "the big guys" (Farmers, State Farm, etc.). They shop your policy around and get you a better rate, and you're not paying for the large advertising budget of the big companies. My policies obviously insure the building itself, but also include liability coverage in case someone were to get injured on my property and they also include loss of income coverage. In a scenario in which the building were to become unrentable for a period of time, the insurance policy would replace the rent income to pay the mortgage while the building was being repaired or whatever. An additional consideration for rentals is whether to insure for "replacement value" or "actual cash value". Most people have a replacement value policy on their personal residence because, even in a total loss, they want their home rebuilt. Replacement value will replace/rebuild the building in the case of a total loss. Actual cash value will only pay the value of the building, not necessarily enough to rebuild it. You may have to just pay off the loan and sell the land in the event of a total loss. Many older buildings would be much more expensive to replace than they cost, so replacement value policies are more expensive. Good luck!!

Personally, I don't believe it's my responsibility or place, as a landlord, to try to teach my tenants a lesson based on MY values or principles. Obviously, if they've chosen to lie, cheat, and steal from me, our values differ anyway. Why would I put myself through added expense, stress, and time simply to attempt to prove a point to a tenant by legally evicting them, which they will probably take worth a grain of salt anyway? How many applicants have you seen with multiple evictions? They apparently didn't learn their "lesson" along the way, although landlords have spent plenty of time and money trying. I'm watching out for MY business, which means getting rid of a bad tenant as quickly and cheaply as possible, which most here agree can be accomplished many times with cash for keys. As for the next landlord, prudent screening will eliminate this kind of tenant regardless of whether or not they have an eviction on their record - there will always be other signs or problems - could be as simple as moving every year for the past 3 years.

@Michael Boyer @Steve Vaughan @Jonna Weber @Marcia Maynard All great suggestions. I've been doing a small gift for the holidays and that seems to be a very pleasant surprise to my tenants. One of my buildings has a common foyer area and I have been thinking about installing a small bulletin board there to post with reminders, tips, etc. Would be easy enough for me to swap it out each month when I stop by to pick up the rent.

Greetings! Like many BPers, I own a few rental units (2 4-unit buildings) and manage them myself. I run my business professionally, I take good care of my properties and like to think I treat my tenants well. I believe being a smaller scale landlord allows me to do things and offer personal touches they wouldn't get at a large apartment complex, making up for the lack of swimming pool, workout room, etc. they may find there. I'm curious as to what types of personal touches other small landlords do for or offer to their tenants, just because we operate on a smaller scale. We all know decreasing tenant turnover helps the bottom line, so what extra free or low-cost things do you do to keep your good tenants happy? Thanks for your input! Matt

In my experience, no bank will loan your newly-formed LLC money without a personal guarantee from you, which means they are really approving YOU for the loan. The banks want to see you have "skin in the game" and are able and willing to repay the loan. It sounds like you're getting your 20% down from an unsecured loan. The banks will probably not go for that. They want to see that you have reserves and are well capitalized to operate the property. Just my experience from a traditional financing perspective. I know there are people that have done all sorts of creative things with financing, so you may be better served looking into those alternatives if you don't think you'll qualify with a bank. Good luck!

I've had good luck with HD carpet install. Can't beat the price anywhere and no problems.

I won't charge my lockout charge on the first instance, unless it's a total inconvenience to me (holiday, late night, etc.), but I make sure they know they will be charged the next time. As for changing the lease, that's something we revisit at renewal - unless you'd rather they only have one pet. They may decide to get another pet if they are already paying for it. It may be worth it in the long run to collect less pet rent and save some potential damage to the property.

I've had to deal with similar situations on a couple of instances. First, I never want to accuse something of anything, unless I'm certain I have my facts straight or have witnessed something first hand that I'm sure of. For that reason, there's usually some documentation I need to collect before I can do anything.

When I'm approached by a tenant with this situation, I ask them to document exact dates and times of when they've witnessed the problem, and specifically what they see/smell. This usually buys some time and in the event that one tenant is just trying to get the other tenant in trouble for one reason or another, it puts a little more burden of proof on the reporting tenant. I then approach the other tenant with this information. I've found the conversation goes better when I can cite specific times and examples of what happened. They still may try to deny it, but if I've got dates and times and specific examples, they know that I'm already starting to document a case against them.

I have successfully remedied this situation for me with a simple conversation with the tenant, warning them that if the behavior continues it would escalate into written documentation of a violation of their lease, which can potentially lead to eviction. Usually the tenant will shape up once they know I'm on to them. No legal advice here. Good luck!

Matt