All Forum Posts by: Monica Johnson

@Douglas Graves That would definitely be an option as well! I think some more government assistance will be coming down the pipeline for those in sticky situations in addition to unemployment but I want to do my part as a human being in the meantime. I think there’s a lot of options out there and it’s just good customer service to sit down and figure out what would work for the tenant and what would be acceptable for the landlord since many of us (including myself) aren’t wealthy corporations. 

@John Barrett thanks for the great quote! I had to write that one down. I did go back to the thread Jay referenced and someone made an excellent point that the cost associated with evicting over a missed payment due to lost employment during this time may exceed the cost of not receiving one months rent. Obviously no one would want to make that a habit it but it was a good point that I will weigh out should I need to evict as a fairly new investor.

@Scott S. I’ll have to go back and look at that thread, sounds entertaining! I hope we all make it out of this ok. Tbh I know a lot of ppl think I’m an idiot for this but I would rather lower the rent by a couple hundred dollars for a few months than lose a good tenant. 

@Shawn York yes to everything you said! Some landlords tend to not treat their tenants like clients but they are literally the reason we are in business. I love that you go the extra mile. I’m fairly new to the business but have been leaving a bottle of wine and a gift card for a local pizza joint when tenants move in. I’ll probably add Christmas to the list too. I thought about driving by and leaving a little care package with some toilet paper, sanitizer, and snacks but I have too much going on with the outbreak at my regular job to get that together lol. But please let me know if you end up working something out with a tenant. I’d be curious to see what worked in case I need to implement it now or in the future.

@Julie Marquez Thanks Julie! Let me know if you have any other solutions. I may need them for in the future. 

@Jay Hinrichs 1000 votes for this comment! Very well said and I’m going to use that saying all the time now!

@Jay Hinrichs As someone who has rented in the past, I have always been confused by the rigidity of renting. Any other bill, companies will work with you, electricity, water, cable etc... but landlords largely remain inflexible. I hope this does unite us and I’m glad to hear others feel the same way as me!

I need to terminate my property management agreement on one of my properties and need some advise on how to go about the transition. The PM company was a nightmare to begin with. They don’t pay me my portion of the rent until nearly 2 months after the rent is paid, they send me a different amount every month (significantly less than what it should be), they never answer the phone and when I inquired by email about the amount being short they said they had a plumber come to the property for a clog. They didn’t let me know there was an issue beforehand and I’ve asked repeatedly for the receipt which they have not provided. Our contract is over in June (tenants have until July 31st). I want to offer them the 10% for the next 3 months as a buyout as I would actually save money since they have been shorting me. Our contract is very generic, some crap they printed off the internet but it does say if they don’t perform I can terminate. What’s the best way to handle the logistics of talking to the tenant about the switch? Or any tips on dealing with this PM company? I’ll need to get the keys and deposit and I’m concerned they will be difficult. 

I wanted to put this out there to my fellow landlords that we should check on our tenants right now. The school closings could be devastating to some especially single parents with young children. I say this as someone who would have been in a very difficult position 10 year or so years ago had this happened when my son was a toddler. Fortunately, my tenants all reported that so far everything was good but I had a couple options prepared were that not the case: waiving the late fee for 30 days, charging 50% of next months rent and allowing them to do a payment plan to pay the remainder, or doing a payment plan for all of April’s rent depending on how dire the situation was. Customer service is important as a landlord!!! It is far easier to have a current tenant (especially a good one) resign a lease than search for a new tenant and they will remember that you checked on them during this time when it comes time to renew.  

West Lafayette would not be considered the Indianapolis area so I’m not sure about investing there. If good school districts are your priority then Carmel, Zionsville, Fishers, Noblesville, maybe Greenwood and Avon as well. But I wouldn’t discount areas within the city for good school districts either like Broad Ripple, Meridian Kessler, or the area around Kessler and Michigan. You probably aren’t going to get as high of a rate of return in those areas though.