All Forum Posts by: Bob B.

Good advice here.  "Your house, your rules.  Just say NO."  

The last I heard 53% of the population are renters.  I'd bet you can find a tenant that will meet your guidelines.  

As a retired banker I can tell you co-signer loans were a pain to collect and in 18 years of land lording I have never had a co-signer. 

@Matthew Rembish If you follow BP you will see a trend where the tenant falls behind, strings the LL for months and then eventually has to be evicted.  You need to start eviction today and plan on loosing more money.  In the future you need to train your tenants and make sure they understand you expect the rent on time and if not they will be evicted.  

@Juan V Lopez  My hat's off to you.  I know there's good margins in donuts but I can't imagine how many you need to sell to just pay the rent and not to mention how many hours you have to work. The LL holds all the cards. I'd say you have little to no negotiating power unless you can get him hooked on your donuts.  I assume you're a young guy so maybe you will have a chance to buy the building one day.  

Your situation is a little different than most since the tenants are also your neighbors.  Asking for a $100 increase on a $500 or $600 rental will ruffle some feathers.  They might opt to stay but I'd bet they will not be happy and will not make pleasant neighbors.  I always raise the rent annually (never 20%) and while the tenants complain they get over it and I don't have to interact with them on a daily basis since they don't live upstairs. If it's difficult to find good tenants in your market then you might be stuck with the ones you have.  On the other hand if there is a shortage of units and good tenants are plentiful I would raise the rent $50 or so and put the tenants on a month to month.  Then when you are comfortable start replacing them with market rate tenants or get them to market rate over the 2 years.   

When you say 

• "Give him notice to pick up his stuff by a certain date and rent it to someone else?
• Did you let him move in without having a signed lease?
• Cut your losses now and realize you will have more problems with this guy in the future and he will continue to make your life miserable.  
• You will probably need to evict him and based on what has already happened I'd bet it will not be a walk in the park.  Get an attorney involved tomorrow morning and let him handle it. 

You will get better responses if you share where the property is located.  

I also would suggest you hire a property manager.

How often did you visit the property during the rehab or is this a long distance deal?

@Or Laor Stern. What happened?

Because they have been lied to by wholesalers, the property will not pass inspection or that don't want to deal with the hassle.  

This is a classic example of why you need to enforce the lease from the beginning.  Sure collecting an extra $50 late charge each month is nice, but it's usually just the beginning.  Unpaid water bills, pets, long term visitors, wear and tear.  One thing leads to another and you are loosing money.  Evict and explain to the next tenant that you will enforce the lease.  

 If he stole from you and now isn't paying the rent, it's time for him to find another place to live.  Don't loose a minute sleep about regaining creditability with a tenant that lies and steals.  Don't take any excuses. If the property is in Marietta you should not have a problem finding a new "good" tenant.  Post the pay or quit and stick to your guns.