All Forum Posts by: Nicole A.

Yes, I think I will put the early termination fee in there, but not expect it to be paid....perhaps it'll just be a stronger deterrent. I'm not dealing with the highest caliber people here, so like Aly mentioned, some times I'm actually happy with them leaving!

I do love the suggestion of no grace period. I double checked MD laws and it looks like a grace period is not required and even now with my grace periods, I can still go ahead and file Failure to Pay Rent the day after it's late...I earlier thought I had to wait out the grace period. But if I know a tenant won't pay, why waste time waiting out the grace period...I'm going for it. I was really getting tired of people treating the end of the grace period as the due date anyway.

And I do have a rent court date set for 28 Oct for the non-paying renter in the downstairs unit.

I noticed this duplex go up for sale last week and I'd love to seriously look at it...but don't think it's the best idea financially right now.

Call George and tell him that Nicole sent you. He is out of town until the 25th or so. Hopefully you don't need him prior to that.

I call him to have his crew do pretty much everything on my rentals as well as my personal home. They do good work and have probably the best prices around.

Plomari General Contractors, LLC
George Mathios
202-715-9245
1304 Travis View CT
Gaitherburg, MD 20879

The past couple of days has really been a test of my ability to do this and handle the stress....or better yet, not let it consume me so much. Now my renters (2 roommates) above the non-paying renter I mentioned earlier have got into a big fight seemingly out of nowhere.

One roommate calls me and says the other must move out because he thinks he's doing cocaine because he found "white residue" on a knife. They fight like teenagers, but are grown men much older than me. I can't just kick someone out on a suspicion...especially first complaint, ever. I guess their fight boiled over that night and he locked him out. The police came and said it was okay to kick the door in!! Great.

So the roommate who said the other was doing drugs said *he's* now moving out and would leave the keys with the renter downstairs (the one who's not paying). I said "no, you're not leaving keys with someone who doesn't live in your unit. Leave them in the kitchen." Well, this jerk then tells non-paying renter downstairs that I don't "trust him"....and non-paying renter magically is able to get in touch with me and leave me some angry voicemail about "slander". Yet, he could never find a way to call me about his missing rent.... funny how he determines his priorities on finding a way to contact his landlord.

His rent court date can't come soon enough.

How do you guys keep your stress down? How do you quiet your minds from these issues? Just mentally train yourself to not worry?

I don't like to pay by the hour. I pay by the job.

Yeah, our LLC has two 20 year mortgages (they call commercial loan because it's for the business). Personally guaranteed. 25% down; they don't require the funds for the downpayment to be vested. Both loans are at 4.77%

@Jon Holdman I think I will also take your advice of doing month-to-month leases right off the bat. I've already started using those for roommates that rent the extra bedrooms in my house....why not for the rental units too? Then when it turns out that even my screening didn't prevent a bad tenant, I can just end the lease! And if they're good and like the place, they stay. I say it's win-win for both renter and landlord...especially in the type of rental market I'm in.

Just as a heads up, I chatted with him last night and he is flying on Saturday to Greece for about 11 days!

You're absolutely right, Joel. I have learned a lot about how to negotiate buying properties, how to verify things, and how to deal with bad tenants. I definitely do follow the golden rule of filing right when I can. Too many times they are just lying to you anyway; "oh I mailed it, it must have got lost" and a number of other excuses. I've also learned when to say "no" to "repair" requests. One of the tenants saw how much I was improving the property and then started requesting the smallest things be replaced such as a doorknob with a slight imperfection in it.

Thank you everyone for your input and for listening. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting happens.

Hi Jon.

I just went over ever single expense as well as savings for repairs, vacancies, and property management fees (even though I am the PM right now), business expenses such as UPS box, etc. I split them into the two categories you said and I do fit within the 50% rule.

All of the renters were all existing when I bought the properties (from the same guy both times). I've learned that the previous owner just lets anyone move in. I've been slowing ridding of them as their leases end or one I asked to leave or I'd evict, and they left two days before the eviction after saying they weren't going anywhere. I lost a few months' rent because of that. Then I had a vacancy for 3 months. Several repairs to keep the place from becoming a slum.

I'm covering all the expenses and savings areas, but I guess with the drawbacks, it's taking longer than I knew.

In Baltimore County, after 5 days, you can file the Failure to Pay Rent. This schedules court probably 2-3 weeks later. If they haven't paid by then, they get a judgement. After I think 5 business days after court and still no payment, you can file for eviction. To stop eviction they must pay everything including court fees.

After four court judgements, they can be evicted without "Right of Redemption". So even if they pay up by that point, they're out if the landlord chooses.

So you're saying if I can't get in touch with them, go ahead and file on the due date rather than waiting out the grace period? I can do that.

I know these things happen; it's still frustrating. It just puts me a little behind on my goals, that's all. I'll still reach my goals, just not quite in the timeline I hoped.