All Forum Posts by: Prabhu Babu

@Angelica Morales @Randy Bloch @Scott Jensen is the IRA Withdrawal applicable for anyone or only who impacted with Covid-19 (directly or indirectly). I have to take a 30% salary cut this year. Would I be eligible for IRA withdrawal?

Thank you for your answers. 

I bought Rich Dad Poor Dad cashflow game. It is fun playing that game while learning how to manage money. My mother-in-law is also excited to play that game.

Hello fellow tenants & landlords,

I hope everyone is sound and safe. I recently moved into a Single Family Home in Mountain View, CA. My landlord has sublet a portion (upstairs) for another person. The other tenant is staying in that sublet portion for many years. Before signing the lease agreement, when my landlord told me that utilities are the tenant's responsibility, I thought he was referring to only my portion of the home, it was common sense, I accepted and signed the lease agreement. I received my utility bills a week ago. It was so high. I was concerned and so I checked if there are separate meters for Electricity/Gas and Water. But to my surprise, there was only one meter. Then I called my landlord to understand the details. He is initially claimed that I agreed to pay for utilities for another person too. I disagreed, why would I agree and pay for another person's utilities. Then he came down a bit, saying that other tenant's usage is very less, it is negligible, etc. He also apologized for the miscommunication towards the end of the call. 

Relationship between my landlord and me: This landlord was my real estate agent when I bought my first home (rented recently) 5 years ago. I never thought he would do this to us. I expected him to be very open and declare the details in the lease agreement.

My portion was vacant between Dec 16th, 2019 and Jan 31st, 2020. My lease started on Feb 1, 2020. I requested him to share the utility bills for the months before I moved in. So that we can understand the usage of the other tenant for all the utilities. He promised to send those bills in the next two days.

After reviewing the previous months' usage, for the next steps, I'm considering the following:

1. For every month, divide the total utility bills amount by total headcount (including the other tenant). Deduct the other tenant's share of the bill amount from my subsequent monthly rent.

2. Ask my landlord to create an addendum with the above details and attach it to our existing lease agreement.

I learned my lesson from this bitter experience.  I decided to be more alert, so please share any other suggestions, things to be careful, better ways, to handle this situation. 

Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Don't forget about bigger pockets podcasts. Very good source of information

@Greg Yunov Which cities are you planning to invest?

@Brian Formulak I'm also a new real estate investor. I'm from the San Francisco bay area. There is no way I can invest in the bay area, the prices are so high. When I look out of state, there are so many states and so many places. I don't know where to start. How to build my neighborhood list. Which cities to start with. Say in Indiana, what cities I can look at. Thank you for help and tips.

thx @Charles Carillo and @Scott Mac for your responses. I'll update this thread on how it goes.

Hello fellow Landlords,

Good evening. I'm a new landlord and rented my property 3 days ago. This is my first rental. My property is in San Jose, CA. My property is a townhome with a hardwood floor. The tenants and me signed the lease agreement already. The tenants have paid me the security deposit. I said ok to small pets. I didn't tell them about pet fees and security deposits. The tenants are planning (considering) to foster a pet (dog or 🐈) now. They asked me about the rules like renters insurance with liabilities etc. Since I'm new to this, I went through BP forums to learn about the pet policy and allowing foster pets. Along the way, I learnt that I can charge a monthly premium for a pet and a refundable pet security deposit.

I need your advice on the following:

1. Is there anything I should be careful about foster pet.

2. Can I charge a monthly premium and security deposit after signing the lease agreement?

3. Should I add anything specific in their renters insurance policy ?

4. I can add a pet addendum to my original lease agreement. Should I be any specific in that document?

Thank you for ur help and inputs.