All Forum Posts by: Pat L.

LANDLORD NEWS ACROSS THE NATION  
  
The City of Columbia, MO has just approved a new ordinance making the landlord at least partially responsible for enforcing city occupancy limit codes. Overcrowding can affect the public services, such as trash and sewer, as well as the property. It is also associated with higher crime rates. This new ordinance is also a tool that property owners can use with problem tenants. However, it can be difficult if your tenant has extra guests not listed on the lease. I would love to get input from other landlords about these types of issues! !!.

Up here Citizens Bank would do it for a SFH we have LTO.
I just wanted to strip the equity
But the fees etc were the killer, however, it was checking account access to whatever you needed to take out. Interest accumulated on the outstanding balance only.

During my IRS audit the mileage was a big issue.
I had complete documentation etc but she was preoccupied with allowing specific mileage as documented per property. Given the fact I was getting away with a lot I didn't pursue it. But it does seem to be a RED FLAG for them.
So I updated the recorded mileage as an expense against each property with a breakdown for the reason I travelled including hours spent there.
They allowed the updated changes.

Egress window????

Years ago (when I was a landlord) we had a school teacher leave our high end SFH a mess when she left.
She sued for the security deposit plus damages of some sort, we took pictures & had the neighbors as witnesses to the damage.
She also owed a water bill.
The Judge ruled in her favor so I appealed it to the Supreme Court (that was an experience as I did it all myself).
It was sent back to the lower court & the Judge was pissed that I had the gall to dispute it.
We did win but it was a tough lesson given all the evidence we had.

The wife has had hers for 25 years.
My son got his @ 21 but was interviewed as were the rest of the family. The Sheriff wanted to ensure there were no small children in the home, gun safe on-site & no 'outstanding issues' with any family members.
Now its a crap shoot as they are trying to eliminate CCW & 'possession' up here in NY State. We may need to move the weapons to our home in FL.

cash for keys...
did it for one we took back deed in lieu of
they left all their tools, lawn mower & appliances etc
we re-sold it as-is

Yes I create folders for each property &/or project
Then generate reports by tax cstegory etc for each, my CPA loves it.

I bought the small $99 scanner several years ago & scanned in a year of receipts during a ball game.
I also use my phone to take pics of receipts then import them into Neat

I have separate escrow/repair accounts by LLC EIN #'s @ the bank for each property. We had a vacating LTO withdraw cash from an account they deposited into for several years. In fact the assistant bank mgr approved the withdrawal because they were the only people he had seen use the account. We got it all back but EIN #'s make it safer esp when you have 40-50 accounts.

I scan all receipts & documents using NEAT as it has great reporting functions that also allow files to be imported into the more common accounting packages. The search filter is great.
When I sat through that 3 day IRS audit they loved the NEAT reports & rarely looked at the supporting receipt printouts. Admittedly I printed several receipts to a page making it a 'small print' issue.

I still use excel spreadsheets to run the income etc for every property from day one.
Meanwhile my wife still likes to keep separate files & hard copy accounting as a redundant backup (but it keeps her busy).

We did one where the 1987 OSB they used for flooring was too thin & sagged between the joists.
I used the same leveling compound they use for tile work laid a heavy pad & carpeted over the floors.
The foyer & hallway we just tiled after the same leveling.
If the joists have sagged it's a lot more work ESP if the flooring is the old tongue in groove pine with a subfloor on top.
But one of my friends many years ago used Fiber glass shards & resin to fill the voids, but he got it as waste product from the place he worked so it was minimal cost, but it seemed like a lot of work.
Good luck