All Forum Posts by: Patrick M.

There is a grey area and you can never base your labelling completely off another's. Look at the useful life of the item being replaced and base it off of that. Appliances are a CapEx, just at a more accelerated depreciation.

Some people are comfortable playing in the grey area... and some of those get more creative as they go. It sounds to me that you know what is what- just remember, they get you coming or going. Expense will come off today, CapEx will come off in depreciation or at sale.

A rental crunch is exactly what my market is going through right now- no inventory and rents continuing to rise significantly.

There is a great deal of anxiety amongst all of us when it comes to vetting. NJ went from pro-tenant to pro-really crappy tenant. Many landlords, even of c properties are simply trying to price the problems out... It is unbelievable the amount I see units going for.

As business people we all have to have a number in our head or on paper that makes sense for us to walk away from an asset, even if that asset is producing... there is a number. We have a confluence of things happening- assets not producing or at risk of not producing and premium prices being offered.

I think for many, many people it makes sense and we see a lot of SFR being sold to first time buyers at unbelievable prices.

Rental crunch

Venmo just sent out an email telling consumers that they can win rent cash if they tag their roommates.
So they are 100% targeting rent payments.

@Margie Kohlhaas @Alecia Loveless

All of my other tenants are on Zelle- I gave them the heads up to switch over. @Mason Hickman is on the money.

I spent the other day chatting with Venmo and point blank asked them if it would be applicable to rent. They repeatedly stated that it is 100% on the payees side, that if they (the payee) mark it as a payment for services then the fee will be imposed to "protect" the payee. They gave me a lot of run around to get to that point and would not address my question directly. 

This goes 100% against what has been reported in the WSJ and elsewhere: That Paypal is very concerned with revenue generating and as previously stated, the "business designation" was a dud. So- I would foresee them looking to hit rents.

As @Joe Splitrock mentioned- we all knew that this was outside of the intended use. I allowed it as a convenience to some of my tenants, but they will be told to switch over to Zelle like the rest beginning with the August payment.

Any concern here amongst those of us who accept Venmo?

"3) Effective July 20, 2021, users who receive payments that are identified by senders as for goods and services will be charged a seller transaction fee of 1.9% + $0.10."

2 home 3 in office for many, 3 home 2 office for fewer. It is currently an employees market and the best and the brightest have a lot more control.

The "time to get back to work" shows a complete lack of comprehension of what workers have been achieving from their homes. They are working far more productive hours, the time is task targeted and they are saving their respective companies a fortune on overhead.

Hybrid is here to stay...

I use Landlord Locks and just have spare tumblers and keys... Never send anything back and it is a cinch to use. 

It is fantastic for multi-families - I have 22 private apartment locks (knob and deadbolt) and a few "shared" doors: entrances, laundry room. Each key will only open the specific apartment door, but they will all open the shared doors... very nifty. You get a master key and a master key that removes the tumbler.

I can't say enough good things about Landlord Locks

There are signs all over the place. Nobody can compete with the feds.

My state's governor just announced a $40 million dollar fund to provide unemployment to undocumented workers...

You want to kick start the economy, turn off the spigot. 

Since you have never done it before and want a set "guideline" moving forward- I would suggest you look to the old rent control legislation that made its way into many municipalities in the 60's and 70's.

Base it off of consumer price index + 2-4% since many expenses are not in there.

So you would look at the yearly increase for the 4th month prior to your renewal  month:

https://www.bls.gov/regions/ne...

So let's say your renewal is 7/1, you look at Feb '20 - Feb '21 = 1.4% + your factor of 2-4%. Let's say you use the low 2%
$1500 x (1.4%+2%) = $51.

Your factor does not have to be 2-4% and you also don't have to raise it by the set amount- but it is a formula which will keep you honest with yourself and you will be able to tell any prospective tenant that "rent increase are based on a product of the CPI plus 2%"

I will usually include the formula in a footnote to show the tenant the actual formula and increase. This may sometimes reflect an amount greater than the increase which I give. 
also- as I am in NJ - the property tax increases are a separate factor, as they would be under rent control.

All of this is something to consider if you need to discipline yourself to implement a yearly increase and also a formula to give your tenants guidance.