All Forum Posts by: Wesley W.

Hello folks,

Okay, here's an issue I would love people to provide input on.  In our rental agreements we give a 5 day grace period before late fees and pay or quit notices are generated.  We only accept payment through a dedicated sweep account so tenants can either walk cash in to the branch, pay by check at the branch, or execute a BTB transfer.  We do not accept any form of payment made directly to us.

Our regional bank was just bought by a much larger bank, and our accounts were ported over to this new nationwide bank.  Previously, tenants who paid on the 5th at a local branch had their payment posted to our account immediately so that (a) we could see that they paid, and (b) we were given provisional credit on that money that we could use to pay for debt service, etc.

This new bank now processes payments much more slowly, and this has created the following concern illustrated in this example:

Tenant pays rent the morning of the 5th (a Saturday), but the money wasn't available to us until the 8th.  This is not as favorable as our previous bank, as we must wait this cooling off period which further extends the period where that rent money is not usable by us.

So, to those of you that have grace periods, when do you consider the rent "paid?"  The date their check is deposited (regardless of when those funds show up in your account), or when the funds are available (e.g. "if you are paying after the 3rd, payment must be in cash.")

I'm curious as how people handle this, as well as any unforeseen consequences of this new financial arrangement we have yet to experience.

Thank you in advance!

Being a slob is not a protected class. Not sure there is any state in the union that would see this as unlawful discrimination.

Run this by your attorney, but you might be able to add a clause to your lease with the prospective tenants to exercise a right of rescission in the event the closing doesn't take place.

Hi folks!

Here's the situation. We bought a building last year with this particular inherited tenant.  She was on a year lease and paying under market, so when her lease expired in the spring, we raised her rent $30 (she is still under market by about $20) and put her on a MTM (which is what we universally offer to all our tenants).  She's been living at the property for about 6 or 7 years or thereabouts.

She recently asked if we would paint her apartment as part of "upkeep."  I have not responded to her request as of yet.

I'm looking for feedback on what you would do in this situation.

Some factors to consider:

(1) I am not willing to offer a year lease to her (or any of my tenants) in order to lock in a higher rent in exchange for the paint job (which will probably be very costly - we're in NY and it's a large apartment - about 1000 sq ft).

(2) Raising the rent to market in exchange for painting increases my risk because it's a MTM tenancy.  There is no documentation about the move-in condition of the unit so I will most likely have to give all of her security deposit back unless there is something significantly damaged that I can document as occuring post-acquisition.

(3) I'm not keen on painting the apartment while occupied because if I am going to invest that cost, I will want paint prep done to improve the quality of that investment over time.  The job would be lengthy and difficult with the unit occupied.

(4) There is no guarantee that if she moves out 6 months after the painting I will not have to re-paint portions to make it look move-in ready again.  I also anticipate a moderate amount of updating upon turnover (whenever that may be).

(5)  She pays her rent on time, but as an inherited tenant, her relationship with us has not exactly been problem-free.  "I would not label her as a "problem tenant", but she is at least one standard deviation lower than the mean on that continuum.

What do you think?  Thanks in advance!

Hi All,

Do you require your lawn service to carry their own insurance?  Prudently, I'd think yes - but I am finding that the insured folks are priced ridiculously high (I just got a quote of $100 per service for a property with about 300 sq ft of lawn).

We carry a commercial umbrella policy.  Would this cover an independent contractor?

@Account Closed said most of what I was going to say.

Also, I'd recommend asking pre-screening questions in your ad.  Here's what mine says:

1.) Your name and contact information
2.) Total number of people that would occupy the apartment
3.) Proposed pets (size/breeds)
4.) Monthly pre-tax income for household
5.) Brief rental history
6.) Date you wish to move in

This way, prospects are compelled to play an active role in seeking housing with me.  You can pre-screen your email responses more efficiently this way, which will allow you to skim the cream off top more easily.  You may still get a high volume of responses from people swimming over their head or mentally ill, but at least you can move on from them and identify the good ones by using your "delete" key.

Good luck!

@Mark Forest  Have you posted it on other sites (i.e. CL)?  In my market, my experience has been most of the leads that come from Zillow (and their affiliated sites like HotPads, Trulia, etc.) are "lookie-loos" and tire kickers.  My signal-to-noise ratio coming from Zillow et al. is not good.  They have this "1-click inquiry" feature that people use without bothering to scroll down and read the ad.  I get lots of automated responses from the Zillow prospects that either (a) ask questions that are clearly answered in the narrative, or (b) don't actually ask anything (i.e. "1-click inquiry")

For all of its criticisms, CL still works the best for me.

If you've tried other sources of marketing, please disregard my input. ;)

You also should thoroughly research the T/L laws in Mass.  I've seen lots of Mass landlords on here complaining about how restrictive it is to reposition a property that they own with tenants in it.  I'm going on secondhand information, but some of the anecdotes that have been shared have truly defied logic.

@Stephen E. Couldn't you ask for a deposit to hold the unit (one month's rent) and then run your credit checks?  I make my applicants sign a doc that says if they bawk they owe me pro rated rent for the unit.  I also keep showing and marketing the unit until I have a deposit in guaranteed funds.

You'd be surprised (or not) that what prospective tenants will tell you is not always congruent with what they will actually do.  To me, their words sound like Charlie Brown's teacher until they give me cash, then it sounds like English.  Save yourself some time and aggravation and continue business as usual until they have skin in the game.

Act of goodness?  Those in need?  I'm running a business! 

My HA doesn't pay market rents, they insist on year leases (I only rent MTM), and our Sec 8 inspector is over-the-top:  I was once failed for some loose veneer trim on a vanity, and a shower head escushion plate that wasn't caulked to the wall.

If HUD really wanted to encourage property owners to accept Section 8, they need to look at where they are creating a competitive disadvantage for themselves in their local program.