All Forum Posts by: Michael Temple

@Nancy P. You wouldn't happen to remember what it is called would you?

@Will Gaston that is also a really good idea about asking tenants to opt-in or out of monthly spraying and charge extra for it if they opt-in. Unfortunately, It looks like most of these are ideas for next time so this time it appears I am just going to eat the cost.

@Chris Lohmeier Wow, that is a good price. I would have paid that no problem. That was Orkin in Toledo. Obviously, I need to shop around a bit more if I end up going that route.

@Jonathan Holmes Thank you! Very good suggestion.

@Jonathan Holmes very good points! Thank you.

This house is in a small town outside of Toledo in a very nice suburb. I don' think my town even has an inspection department. So typically it is not too terrible. They are getting a little worse in Toledo proper, but still not horrible.

Since I am going to put my own treatments down first, does anyone have any suggestions of stuff they have used and like and is not super lethal crap since they have small children in the house. Again, my pests according to them are spiders and "bugs" not sure what the "bugs" are, but I am guessing ants, stink bugs, etc. general annoying pests.

@Max T. I agree that is what I am going to try first. Since, like others have said already, I don't think this is an "infestation" by any measure. I think this is some needy tenants blowing a common issue a bit out of proportion. That combined with a giant pile of old firewood in the garage and warming weather is probably making the problem a little worse than normal, but still not an infestation.

If my treatments and moving the wood don't seem to solve the issue I will do a one-time "courtesy" treatment from Orkin. However, I can tell you for sure that this becoming the tenant's responsibility is going into my lease immediately. Can't do anything about that this time, but it won't happen again.

@Jennifer T. I told them to move the wood and I will go put some perimeter stuff down once the wood is moved. I didn't think about leaving the spray behind for them to deal with it. That is a good idea. These tenants are pretty good on paying (they aren't late, but push it to the last day before it is) and take care of the place, but they seem to text a lot for issues I don't consider that urgent. I seem to get at least 2-3 per month. I am thinking when their lease is up next year they are going to have to go if this keeps up.

@Nicole A. So I just exchanged some texts with her asking why she didn't inform me last week when I was there for the inspection that this was an issue. I got the response I expected of "it wasn't a problem then". I also got a whiff of some attitude in those texts so that is irritating me a bit. She did say they would pay for it themselves if I wouldn't do it. I am half tempted to let them.

One issue is they have a mountain of very old firewood in the garage that needs to go. I suspect that combined with the warming weather is driving a lot of the issue here, so I told them to get that out of there, ASAP. She promptly texted back that there was some in the garage when they moved in (January) but the cold weather was probably keeping them dormant. Now the weather is warming and there is A LOT more in there.

I checked with Orkin and they quoted me a price of $249 for a one-time treatment or $638 for one year with a money back guarantee. Either one seems a bit high for me to deal with some common pests that I think are in every house. 

I told them my first response is first, move all the wood out. Then I will come by and put some stuff around the perimeter. 

If that doesn't solve the problem to their satisfaction I am thinking maybe I will do the one-time treatment as "a courtesy" like you suggested and tell them it is up to them after that.

@Jonathan Holmes

Do you have some recommendations of how to "de-needify" a tenant? I am still a relatively new landlord (3 years) so I am still learning my way through this process.