All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I am moving my answer to my Market Place just in case..... 

First of all you should NEVER allow your tenants to work for you, or rent to family and friends.  That is rule #1. 

The reason for this is.... that when you do something like this, they think they are doing you a favor, even though you are paying them to do the work, or renting to them because you are a business.  Bottom line, they think they deserve privileges.  And it causes a lot of problems in court, not to mention, you lose a good tenant, and family and friends.  Trust me....this is 100% true!!!

With that said and done, if "ya just gotta", never deduct the work they do from rent.

ALWAYS TREAT THEM AS A VENDOR. !!!!!

Set them up as a Vendor.  Write up a bill for the work they did for you, (treating them as a vendor) and then write them a check.  ALWAYS WRITE THEM A CHECK

This is proof, in case you have to go to court, that you paid them for the work they did and that it was  not consider as them working off the money that was owed....e.g., rent!

Nancy Neville

Dear Tenant (enter tenants name)

Per your lease agreement I am enclosing a bill for $175.00 and a copy of the Plumbers Receipt, for damages done by a child's tooth brush being flushed down the toilet.  (A copy of this bill will also be sent to your Case Worker as well)

Sincerely

Your name

Now if Section 8 doesn't reimburse you for this bill (which they should since you have it in the Lease Agreement) then you will contact the tenant once again, and state the reason why Section 8 won't reimburse you for the bill, and give the tenant a deadline of when this bill is due, and if not paid, you will file a Money Judgment suit in your local courts.

Nancy Neville

The reason one would go the route of a voice message stating property info and open house showings,  is to free up your time from having to be tied to the phone all day long.  

Basically, when you run an ad for just one house that you have vacant can take up a few hours of your time in a day to answer the phone and show the house.  Gas cost money, and time is of the essence.  

But when you have 40 rentals as I had, I had several vacancies at one time, which meant that I would be glued to the phone all day long and not get any work done if I had to sit by the phone to answer every call, not to mention driving to my rentals to show our places. 

Plus, I hate having to repeat the same thing over and over and over again.  Thus the voice mail and Vonage phone. 

The thing about an Open House, and as my being a Realtor as well, one can rent or sell their property almost in one day by doing do.  I've done many times.  

People, as a rule, are competitive people.  You have a group of people wanting your home and saying so in front of a group of others wanting your home, has a tendency to make them go into a bidding war, wanting the house.  Therefore you can get your properties rented quicker by doing group showings.

When you do individual showings, you have pretty much a large turn out of "no shows".  

Just a little bit more info to explain my MO.   

Nancy Neville

Once the rental unit is ready to show, meaning the unit has been freshly painted, the repairs all done, the carpeting cleaned and everything shining, it’s time to advertise. And there are many ways to do it. There is

1.Phone Message Recording

2.Craig’s List

3.Rental Agencies

4.Realtors

5.Newspapers

6.Green Papers

7.Laundromats

8.Web Page

9.Word of mouth and

10.Flyers

When I advertise in the newspapers I keep my ad very simple. (the more lines you use the more expensive the ad). I say something like this.

7778 Archdale, 3-bedroom bungalow $700 call 

6127 Chopin, 2 bedrooms flat $500, call 

When caller’s call my office they get tons of information and I never have to say a word, and this is because I leave everything to my recording system which is “Vonage Phone”.

This is what a caller will hear when they call my office.

Thank you for calling Lakeland Rentals. If you are calling regarding our vacancies, you may tour them online by visiting our webpage at Lakeland Rentals.net. Our vacancies are:

7778 Archdale is a 3-bedroom bungalow located 1 block east of Tireman and 1 block south of the Southfield Expressway. For more information regarding this home, please press one now.

8254 Wisconsin is a 2 bedroom flat located in a 4 family flat and is located 1 block south of Joy Road and 3 blocks east of Wyoming. For more information regarding this home please press 2 now.

6127 Chopin is a one bedroom flat located in a 3 family flat located 5 blocks East of McGraw and in between Cecil and Tarnow Streets. For more information regarding this home please press 3 now.

If you are calling for Nancy, please press the pound key and leave your name and telephone number and I will call you as soon as I can.

Thank you for calling Lakeland Rentals.

If the caller presses one now, this is what they will hear.

7778 Archdale located 1 block east of Tireman and 1 block south of the Southfield Expressway is a cute and cozy three-bedroom bungalow. This home features a bright and cheery kitchen, a finished basement with a wet bar, a fenced in backyard and a garage and rents for $700 a month. This home will be shown on Sunday, June 22 from 2pm until 3 pm.

Please be advised that a $25 application fee, per adult person, is required upon filling out an application, but will be applied to the move in fee once you qualify.

Thank you for calling Lakeland Rentals.

------------------------------------------------------

If the caller presses two now, this is what they will hear.

8254 Wisconsin Street, located 1 block South of Joy Road and 3 blocks East of Wyoming is a cute and cozy 2 bedrooms flat located in a 4 family flat and features a nice size dining room and a huge walk in closet and rents for $500 a month. This home will be shown on Saturday, June 21st from 2pm until 3pm.

Please be advised that a $25 application fee, per adult person, is required upon filling out an application, but will be applied to the move in fee once you qualify.

Thank you for calling Lakeland Rentals.

If the caller presses three now, this is what they will hear.

6127 Chopin located in between Cecil and Tarnow Streets and the corner of Burwell is a cute and cozy furnished one-bedroom apartment and is truly a must see. This home features a sunroom and your own private entrance and rents for $500 a month. This unit will be shown on Monday, June 24th form 6pm until 7pm.

Please be advised that a $25 application fee, per adult person, is required upon filling out an application, but will be applied to the move in fee once you qualify.

Thank you for calling Lakeland Rentals.

Once again the caller gets all the information they need to know.

Notice that I mention a $25.00 non-refundable application fee. This is the fee I charge to run a credit check on the applicant. The credit bureau that I use charges me $12.97 to run a report and sometimes more depending on the type of report I’m requesting. You may charge whatever amount you want for a credit check, (according to your State Law) but be reasonable. I find $25.00 is a fair amount. And you ALWAYS WANT TO DO A CREDIT CHECK!! NO EXCEPTIONS!

Also notice that I say if they qualify it will be applied to the move in fee. YOU do not have to do this. I prefer to do this because it encourages every adult person who will be living in the dwelling to apply. Whereas if you don’t say the application fee will be applied to the move in fee, the main applicant may lie about how many adults will really be living there. But this is entirely up to you.

It is very important that every adult person who will be living in the dwelling be on the application as well as on the Lease /Rental Agreement. NO EXCEPTIONS! Whether they work or not. There are many reasons you do a credit check. Not only to see if their credit is good but also to see if they have any Landlord/Tenant judgments or evictions against them. Plus, it tells you what type of character these people have. If they have rotten credit, they’re not very responsible people. I want to know what type of people I’m renting to.

Not only do you want to know if your new tenants will be decent people, but you need them to be ‘COLLECTIBLE’. This means someone you can sue. If they don’t make any money and are on Section 8, they are not collectible.

If a tenants has been employed for more than a year, they most likely won’t leave their jobs. They are “collectible”.

Keep this in mind; you are entrusting your home, worth thousands of dollars to a stranger. So screen thoroughly and make sure your tenants are collectible. You can sue them by putting a Judgment on their income tax returns, and their properties, (according to your State Laws).

By having every single adult listed on the application and on the lease it also assures your chances of getting money owed to you. The more people held responsible for back rent or damages the more chances you have of collecting your money through garnishments, or collection agencies, etc.

If an advertisement states “perfect for couples first starting out”, is it discriminatory?

The answer is YES

It could be a violation because the ad could imply that “couples first starting out are childless and therefore, families with children may feel excluded.

Starter home or first time renters would be a better choice of words.

Which terms are acceptable to describe a prestigious community location of a listed rental?

*Exclusive?

*Gated?

*Private?

*Restricted?

The answer is: Gated is the only word you can use!

If an ad refers to a church or synagogue as a geographical point of reference to help people find your rental property, can that be discriminatory?

Yes. This may be interpreted as recruiting persons of a particular religion at the exclusion of other faiths. You should use words like “Walking distance to shopping”.

A security deposit is not given to anyone until the rental unit is completely vacated by all.

A security deposit is to protect against damages upon move out.  Since only one person is planning to move, the rental has not been vacated, but still has occupants.  

Therefore, if one of the tenants decides to move and wants their security deposit back, it is up to the others that are left to hash it out with the tenant that is leaving.  

Of course, they won't want to give this guy or gal his or her security deposit back, so the tenant that is leaving will have to wait until all the occupants have left the unit.  

You may say, well I'll do a walk through when a tenant moves out and if there are no damages or money owed at that time, I will give this person back their Security Deposit.  That would be fine and dandy if there were no damages or money owed. No problem. 

However, there is always some damages done when a tenant moves out.  Try proving that this person who is leaving did the damages.  You can't do it.  It's impossible.  He or she will deny it and then it becomes a "He said She said" scenario...no evidence.  

So the Security Deposits are returned when the place is empty and then if there are damages and money owed, it is deducted from the Security Deposit at that time.  It is at that time that  you will write a check for the balance owed to them, if any. 

Nancy Neville

If you are a landlord than QuickBooks Pro is for you. You will need to tweak it, but there are books out there to teach you that. 

If you are a Real Estate Agent and want to use QuickBooks you will need to tweak it to your Industry. I don't know if there any particular books out there to teach you how to use QuickBooks for REI.

Gita Faust may have a book for that, I'm not sure.  She usually browses this site.  So contact her. 

Nancy Neville

You look so young and innocent to be taking on properties in Detroit.  I was a landlord there for 30 years and it takes a pretty tough cookie to handle stuff that goes on there.  If you are taking care of properties outside the City of Detroit (the subs) then you are somewhat safe, but if you are dealing with inner city properties, I don't recommend this job to you at all !!!

Why would someone be offered a job to someone in Arizona when they could hire someone from here.  Must be a reason, right?  

Just sayin!

Nancy Neville

(had 40 properties in Detroit-sold them in 2009, after 30 years.  Why would I do such a thing?  Think about it)

Dear Tenant:  

Thank you for contacting me with a list of the repairs that are needed.  I, or my crew, will be over to take a look at these repairs tomorrow.  In the meantime your rent is still due, therefore if rent is not received in my office by (the allotted time frame per your state law), then we will file an eviction against you for non payment of rent, which will go against your credit rating for a very long time.  

However,  if you feel you do not want to pay your rent until the repairs are done, then you must place your rent in an Escrow Account, to show that you have good intentions in paying your rent.  However, it must be placed into an Escrow Account within 24 hours or we will have no choice but to go ahead with the eviction process. 

Sincerely

FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY!!!

If a tenant takes you to court and tells the Judge they are not paying rent because you don't take care of the repairs, then you ask the court to have the tenant place their rent money into an Escrow Account.  This makes the tenant put their money where there mouth is.  

Nancy Neville

To view the following screenshots in a larger format, please click on each screenshot below.

Just some screen shots for you

• nancy178