All Forum Posts by: Karen F.

In my C/D rental area, I've found that an initial year lease, then defaulting to MTM after that, works best.  I want a year lease at the beginning, because we always have to do some work to a unit when it turns over.  So I want to recoup that investment in the property.  In addition, we often have a month vacancy when a unit turns over, as we refresh it and then show it.  After the initial year, we like MTM because if the tenant starts to give us trouble, we can raise the rent, which encourages him to depart.  In our area, it's almost impossible to collect any judgement against a tenant, so if they decide to leave early, the most we have is the security deposit to cover us for the vacancy.  On the other hand, if a tenant who is under a year long lease gives us trouble, there's not much we can do to get rid of them.

Our tenants tend to like us, because we charge slightly under market, and we maintain the properties really well, are very responsive.  So once we get in a decent tenant, they stay and stay, and we hardly ever raise the rent on them if they're a good tenant.  After the first year, a year-long lease is more to protect them than us under these conditions, so all our properties go to MTM after the first year.

We have learned the hard way to say "No" to any alterations the tenant may want to make.  You don't have to give them a reason.  Just say "No".  I won't go into the stories, but believe me, every time a tenant has asked to make an alteration of any kind, it's had a bad outcome.

If your tenant has a Ring, he can track your comings and goings, and those of your visitors, too.  He would have a video record of everything that you do within the field of the Ring, including when you access his unit.  You just do NOT want that.  Trust me, just say, "No."

Just out of curiosity, if she had put so much into the building, and she had an established successful business there, why didn't she just buy the building from the heir?

And look, you just changed your moniker, too!  Too bad you can't go back and change the posts - a good sleuth could probably figure out the location from the info you've already given.

What are you talking about, "playing Devil's advocate"?  You describe how you helped your MIL to vengefully destroy the owner's property, because you're angry that she asked for her rent to be paid.  Then you say you're just kidding?  Tell you what, why not give us the address of the property and the contact info for the owner.  She can read the thread, view her destroyed property, and she can decide whether you're "just kidding".

We used to charge a higher REFUNDABLE security deposit for $325.  But I realized eventually that we weren't making extra money on it, and that if we wound up in court over the ruined carpet/floors/woodwork, we'd probably lose in my area.  So I figured that an extra $50/month would cover re-doing the flooring after 2 years, and just charge an extra $50/month with pets.  It doesn't seem to put anyone off.  Of course, we don't allow the breeds prohibited by our insurance, or an unneutered/unspayed cat.

Hmmmm.  Why have you changed your location from Lockport IL to Quad Cities Iowa?  Afraid that someone is already scanning the listings of daycares for sale or rent in that area?  If there are pictures up on the listing with the murals, you are SO......

Nothing you say is going to justify what you did.  You deliberately vandalized and destroyed the owner's property. Honestly, I don't think you're going to have to worry about the civil lawsuit - what you have described has risen to the level of criminal vandalism.  The owner is going to get her money because you're going to be paying her back as part of the criminal penalty.  We had a tenant once who deliberately vandalized a property.  He now has a criminal record, and he was paying us back for YEARS through the courts - we never had to sue for a penny, because the courts collected it all for us.  And don't you realize that you have left a discoverable trail of evidence right here on this thread?  You think you're the only person in real estate who knows about this website?

Your only hope is that the heir isn't savvy enough, or motivated enough to go after you and your mother in law for your criminal actions.  Yes, you'd best consult a lawyer other than the family lawyer, and pronto.  And if I were you, I'd be talking to two of them - a commercial real estate lawyer, and a criminal lawyer.  You're probably going to need them both.

I allow pets for the above reasons.  However, I cannot allow prohibited breeds, and there are people who show up with an ESA letter for a pitbull or two (ya know, you gotta get a few litters of them to sell to the neighborhood).  So I DO check on social media, and if it's obvious that they have a prohibited breed, I won't return their calls.  Also, if their social media is ridden with ghetto/gang talk, I won't rent to them either.  And guess what?  If someone is posting on neighborhood groups about how evil their landlord is for actually expecting them to pay rent, I save that info, to.  It's easy, since all our rentals are in one town.  Of course, I won't rent to anyone who has ever brought a slip and fall lawsuit, or has been in housing court, even if was THEM suing the LL for not taking care of a mice problem or such.  Yeah, I do a lot of screening.  But my return on investment of my 32 units class D properties has been excellent, even though I sometimes have a property sit vacant for a month while I wait for a decent applicant.

If the lease had the clauses that mine does, (no alterations, and if you do, you have to leave them in place), I'd sue you for every cent needed to restore the property to its prior condition.

I bet it was more work for you guys to destroy the place, than the pennies you're selling the fixtures for. Did the landlord's heir do something horrible to you, that you would want to do this? And don't think you're gonna hide behind her being an LLC. The LLC didn't vandalize the property - YOU and SHE did. Frankly, if it were me, I'd call the police and get you arrested for vandalism and theft. You better hope she doesn't have pictures of what it was before you made it "uninhabitable".

You must have realized this, or you wouldn't be posting this question halfway through your destruction of the property.  I recommend that you STOP immediately, and have an attorney contact the owner, explain what happened, that you're very sorry, that the mother in law is old country and didn't know the laws, and come to a settlement with the owner of the property for the destruction you've wrought, before the owner tries to have you arrested.