All Forum Posts by: Gerald K.

On the other hand, having several different locations could be good for diversification.

It depends on your lease. Is it spelled out? Some leases have a clause in them that spell out that the tenant is responsible for a fee of $50 (or whatever) for serving of lawful notices.

You should probably contact an eviction lawyer and let them handle it if this is your first time. The law is very strict about following it exactly to the letter. You don't want to go to court and have to start all over again. The Lawyer probably has process servers to handle this. This first step shouldn't be too expensive.

@Marci Stein ,

Sorry to hear about this. Not a good way for a new tenant to start off with you.

Call an eviction lawyer tomorrow morning - have them serve the 3-day notice to pay or vacate.

It's always best to have already thought out this scenario before it happens.

In fact, you should explain to your new tenants at lease signing, rent is due on the 1st, late fees start on the 3rd (or whatever it is) and the 3-day notice to pay or vacate will be served within 5 working days of rent not received (or whatever you decide). Stick to your plan. There should be no surprise to them when the notice appears, and you won't have to think and rethink what to do because you have your plan in place and you jus follow it.

If the tenant paid both last month's rent and security deposit, and you have a long history with them and they have always paid on time or if late, they paid when they said they would and also included late fees, then I would be less concerned. However, 10 days is long enough. Another 10 days is too long and they would likely end up late for the next month's rent. Good luck.

@Kris Belco

OK, I read through your post and didn't fall asleep ;-)

Seems like you're definitely on the right track. You might also try to find a local landlord association in your state. If you have one, they can be very helpful with regards to the latest laws and upcoming changes - they may also be a good resource for rental applications, leases, lawful notices, etc. and also a good resource for local services.

One other thing. You might set up for inspections of the property at least every 6 months so you can check to make sure it's being taken care of as you hoped. In addition, you'll want to pass onto them the HOA rules. You will also want to spell out how you want the place taken care of, what you expect returned to you when they move out, etc. In addition, it would be good to have an upfront process in place for dealing with things that are not being done as you expect, and what is done next to have them correct it. If you have a process in place, you don't have to think about how to deal with issues when they come up and it should be no surprise to them either. Just stay cool and follow the process.

@Brett Van Leeuwen

Welcome to BP. We're down in Kirkland. Lots of great info and knowledgable people here. Check out the learn tab up top and dig in. Hope to see you around the forums.

@Tina She

Lots of ways to deal with it remotely. I assume you don't have a handyman you can trust. One way is to make sure you have a list of trusted service people for the various mechanicals of the home and if your tenant calls with trouble, you call the service person and get the ball rolling on the repair. The tenant would need to be there to let them in. Another way would be to have a friend, relative, realtor or other trusted person step in and manage it for you if needed while you're away - perhaps with some payment for their trouble. If you join WLA - Washington Landlord Association, they have a service I believe called "vacation watch". just for this specific purpose. Lots of other great resources there for WA landlords.

Welcome to BP by the way. Lots of info and knowledgable people here. Check out the "Learn Tab" up top and dig in. Always nice to see a local join the community.

Welcome @Jason Munck and @Gregory Vanderford

Nice to see there's some activity going on in the Eastern part of the state. Prices have started moving higher on the West part of the state for the last year or so which is making it harder to find buy and hold deals - maybe better for wholesaling, flips, and new construction. Spent some time in Eastern WA some time back but haven't been out here recently or since the housing boom and bust period. I imagine there may have been some new construction going on out there during the boom (bubble?). How's the market over there?

Hi @Chris Gillins ,

Nice to see another Washingtonian jump in. We're up in Kirkland. Rich Dad's book turned the light on for quite a few of us on BP. Glad you jumped in. Sounds like you've got some good skills to go along with real estate investing. See you around the forums.

I've heard the same thing. Never experienced it myself, but I believe someone on one of the Podcasts here mentioned the same thing - I forget which Podcast it was. Maybe someone else remembers, but if I ever find myself bidding at one of the auction sites, this is a great tip to know. Thanks.