All Forum Posts by: Mike F.

I've used wifi based thermostats for years before nest came around, nothing special about nest other than they spend a lot on marketing. Have always liked the ability to turn on the a/c or turn up the heat while returning from a trip while still at the airport so the house is nice and comfortable by the time you get there. Would also be a great thing to have for a vacation property.

The wifi security camera system I like is the Y-cam, mainly because it's the only one I know of that stores your files on the cloud for free.

Lighten up Roy, you're making a lot out of nothing.

Now you're broadening this to the whole world? Next it's going to be whether it would be insulting to give a new tenant a gift of a can of Lysol with the left or right hand...

^^^ If you think my comments were polarizing wait till that one gets them going.  I've seen over and over again landlords/(people interested in real estate) thinking they'll gain their tenants good will through gift cards at Christmas. Surprised some aren't putting on a santa suit and coming down the chimney.

We are not referring to markets here, we are referring to people (tenants).

People don't change over a potted plant, sorry.

People aren't going to receive a mop, a bucket and some windex as a welcome gift and suddenly go...."Hmmm... while I've never been one to clean anything before in my life....you know, that free windex there sure is getting me in the mood to clean a window..." these thoughts are crazy, and I stand by my statement that anybody thinking these things has not gotten any real world experience yet, cannot actually own any property.

Like I said when your first tenant moves out and you're rehabbing the property getting it ready for the next tenant and you find the spots in the carpet and the other damages and you're adjusting the amount of the security deposit to deduct for these things, I guess your thoughts are going to be, next tenant I'm going to give them not just a toilet brush, but a vacuum cleaner as a welcome gift too! That will make them clean the carpets more!

At only 33 6% returns are extremely conservative. At 33 its possible to diversify at the very least a proportion of your stock investments targeting higher gains. Just looking into dividend champion stocks you could increase your risk a little bit for better returns. 1/3 index, 1/3 dividend champion stocks, 1/3 growth stocks/mutual funds. At 33 I was striving toward 25% returns at a minimum in the stock market. During the great recession I saw returns over 600% weren't unusual. Like I said the economy is cyclical, taking advantage of those cycles will greatly increase your returns instead of just watching your money go up and watching it go down and averaging out a meager return over the long run.

That is absolutely one of the craziest notions I've ever read if it's coming from a real landlord with properties and tenants. I can't do anything but shake my head at a statement like that.

I hope everyone who believes things like that is actually committed to it and you don't have any written leases with your tenants. Please follow through with these beliefs. After all if the tenant let's their dog poop repeatedly in the common area and the HOA is sending you letters and fines about it, the solution is probably to buy them a pooper scooper with their name monogramed on it with a bow wrapped on it and maybe a gift certificate the Applebees.

Tenants aren't inferior human beings, they are on the inferior side of the business relationship. Inferior might be too harsh for some, another term is they are the insubordinate in the relationship. 

Again if you think you're going to turn a slob into a neat freak because you gave them a toilet brush as a gift, you're.... well the polite word is naive.

If someone want's to give the tenant a gift go for it, if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy more power to you. If you think you're influencing a tenant in anyway you just haven't rented your first rental yet or you've not rented to a real winner of a tenant yet. There is a reason people rent and don't buy, the sooner you admit that and understand basic people, what motivates them, why they say one thing and do another, why somebody complains about the rich (you the landlord), how they perceive themselves as victims, how they can complain they can't pay their rent on time because they don't make enough money but will spend their time on the weekend surfing facebook instead of getting another job, or smoke cigarettes spending $300 a month on them but can't pay the rent,  the easier this all gets. Renters rent for a reason. I hope the gift givers aren't too shocked the first time their tenant has to be taken to court for eviction. You can say to them... "but I gave you a plant when you moved in, how could you do this to me????"

This is the same silliness as giving tenants gift cards at Christmas, or discounts for paying their rent on time. Tenants who find suckers for landlords like that love those landlords right up till the moment they screw up and can't pay their rent and then you stop being their friend and have to start acting like a business owner, then they forget about the rubber duck and toilet paper you gave them when they moved in and start looking at you like the problem in their lives because you won't go away and are starting legal procedures.

This is what proper screening is for and in that failure your lease.