All Forum Posts by: Bettina F.

Been there, done that, don't want to go back.

Hubby and I used to own a large house with an awesome view overlooking Puget Sound.  It was a daylight basement style.  Once the kids left home, there were weeks where I did not even go downstairs.  

In 2011, we bought a much more modest home in Northern Idaho, on a small acreage, for cash.  In 2013, we sold the Puget Sound home and paid cash for an apartment building, also in Northern Idaho. Yippee!

I miss the pretty views of Puget Sound.  I do not miss the high property taxes, insane traffic, and high maintainence of a large home.  Fancy homes and neighbors also require fancy cars and other lifestyle choices that no longer appeal to me.  I prefer the simple country life with space, time and cash for hobbies. 

Our apartment building is a gold mine that just keeps producing.  Our Idaho property has increased 54% in value.

Start reading the blog "Dr. Housing Bubble".   I suspect your biggest problem is that you live in the SF Bay area.  Leave California and start your life.

Take a photo. Unplug the extension cord. Notify the utilities and the police about the stolen electricity. Notify the police of the suspected crack house. Offer to let the police put a camera in your upstairs window to monitor the situation next door. In some jurisdictions, lack of electricity renders a unit uninhabitable and it will be condemned. Let the HOA and owner know of your real concern -- that it is a crack house.

Was your unit broken into or are they stealing electricity from an outside outlet?  Can you turn this outlet off at the breaker without losing power to your porch light or security system? 

I don't understand why you were hesitant to report the truth to the owner in the first place.  He is probably owed rent, his place is probably trashed and you are out a good tenant.   Are you afraid of the next door tenants?

Thanks for the replies. I do plan on talking with my agent. I find it odd that the $1 million policy is for things, not liability. Liability is what costs. My entire farm is worth less than $250K, let alone a TV set or linens. I don't want to put my entire retirement at risk if someone gets scratched by a piece of barbed wire. Maybe STR are not for me.

Anyone have a way of contacting AirBNB directly?  What do you do if you have a problem?

I love QB Pro.  I use the desktop version.  Unless you have employees, you do not need to upgrade every year. That saves money, hassle and brain cells since you do not need to learn the new features!  I am currently running QB Pro 2013 with backups to an external hard drive.  Files to  A ZIP drive to give to my accountant at tax time.

I love the fixed asset tracking!  We only have one apartment building, but we have upgraded units and i did not think to use QB for tracking upgrades.  I currently track that in a Word document.

My tenants are customers.  I use the Notes feature to record every time I have to issue a notice, get late rent, phone call, etc.  I date/time stamp my notes.  If I ever end up in court, I will just print out my Notes for that tenant. 

You can set the calendar to remind you of lease expirations.

I also have customized invoices for rent due reminders. They are emailed to the tenants on the 25th of every month, with a BCC back to our LLC's email account..

We have a seldom used guest apartment on our small hobby farm near Coeur d'Alene, ID.  I had planned to list it on Air BNB, and was on the website last night reading their terms of service.  It appears their terms of service have changed, in the past month, and it no longer states that "hosts" have the $1M liability insurance coverage through AirBNB.  But on the "cover page" to the hosting website, it still lists the liability coverage.   What gives?  Is there automatic liability coverage or not?   I would love the extra income from short term renting of my property, but not if I am left uncovered.

I searched the discussion forums and found a post that one host's homeowner's insurance has threatened to drop her if she AirBNB's part of her home.  The answer from AirBNB was not satisfactory -- basically find another insurance company.  I could not post my question on the AirBNB discussion boards without signing up.

I also could not find a "contact us" email link or phone number for AirBNB management.  I do want to sign up for something if I cannot contact them with a question or a problem.  

Is Air BNB responsive to their Hosts?  Or is it all slick marketing website with pretty pictures but little service?

Great idea to use a college's lease as a template starting point.  I have also recommended that you see if you can get a copy of a lease from a large apartment complex in the area.  These complexes have legal teams that would have reviewed the lease.   But, there is no substitute for knowing the law.

I always give a 60 day notice of rent increases, even though my state only requires a 15 day notice.  That gives tenants time to shop around and realize that they are still getting a good deal.  They have time to adjust to the idea, and they pay the increased rent without complaint.  I have lost tenants due to moving closer to work, and to new romances.  I have never lost a tenant to a rent raise.

Next time, do not put your tenants on the spot, or leave yourself open to negotiation.  Decide on what your rents should be,  give the notice of raise with sufficient time for your tenants to shop around.   If you are slightly below market for your good tenants, they are highly unlikely to move.   

Even if you don't want a vacancy (who does?), don't let the tenants know that.   Your position should always be "there is always some turnover when a building changes hands, .... ho hum..... part of the business.... no big deal."    If  they do move, you clean up the apartment, raise to market and rake in the dough!

I have never heard of a "property record", other than a tax record and that has nothing to do with police activity (at least in my locality).  I have heard that sometimes cities will condemn properties for repeated and on-going drug problems - crack houses - type places.  I doubt a single call to the police would trigger any negative repercussions.   As a pro-active step, you could go to the police sergeant, explain the situation, and ask their advice.  Police usually know of the drug hot-spots in a given area.  They might be able to do increased drive bys or park a unit outside at night.

If you can handle sun on snow, try Northern Idaho.  We have the most beautiful lakes and whitewater rivers.  But you have to promise to vote conservative!  But face it -- anywhere you go will be an upgrade from LA!

My husband is retired from a career in mental health case management.  Through the years, he had many RSOs on his caseload.   Evaluate the neighborhood.  The RSOs tend to congregate in certain areas because only certain areas meet their conditions of release from prison, i.e. far enough away from schools, playgrounds, child care centers, etc.   In Tacoma, there were certain apartment complexes that met the criteria, that were renown for taking RSOs and ex-cons.   These would be class C/D  areas.   I would not want to buy into an area like that.  

Apparently, those that do can make good returns.