All Forum Posts by: Ralph S.

Jon - just your trademark awsome post.

This isn't, IMO, a media frenzy. Having seen some of these and hearing the owners horror stories, I don't see how chinese drywall disclosures and cheap testing kits from Home Depot aren't in our future.

To add a different perspective however, one has to consider the human element in the picture. A good friend had a skunk-possum territory dispute in the crawl space under their house.

Despite numerous attempts to remediate the smell, my friend, the wife of the family, could not stay in the house for more than a couple hours before becoming sick. All of the other family members were fine.

I walked through a "corporate owned" REO that had a fire in only a part of the house, and was repaired using the chinese drywall. Essentially, one room, the family room, and mostly on an outside wall. After repair, the family couldn't stay in the house, and a lawsuit was finally settled when the insurance co bought the house. Despite a long period with no ventilation, and intentional holes in the drywall to expose the inside of the affected areas, neither my wife or I could detect the rotten egg odor. This thing can be incidiously invisible and it doesn't take a whole house of it to have impact on the occupants. And, of course, nobody was disclosing anything unusual. All we were told was that it was corporate owned (no disclosures at all), had a fire, and there were obvious holes in the walls. We discovered everything else when talking to the neighbors (one of my wife's favorite things to do) and searching the assessors and courts web pages.

That some are affected, while others not, and with nobody fessing up.... It'll continue to be discovered for the first time, for years to come.

Your problems are likely more than you realize. By your description, the water level gets higher than the concrete slab. If this has been happening for years you've probably got a rotted sill, which is the where the wood sits on the concrete.

The wood will wick up water above the water line, inside the wall and you'll get rot and mold in and on the walls.

I'm going to guess that over the years, erosion from the hill has left the ground level behind the garage higher than the slab elevation, and you've probably got a negative grade, meaning the dirt from the hill slopes to the garage, not away from the garage. You could try to remove enough dirt from behind the garage to create a downward slope away from the garage to the bottom of the hill, making sure you've got several inches of the slab exposed. Might be a lot of dirt, and you might want to consider installing a low retaining wall along the hill to prevent future erosion.

Create a shallow ditch at the base of the hill, at the bottom of the grade coming away from the garage, creating a channel for the water, sloped to either or both sides of the garage. It sounds like enough water comes down the hill that you'll need some type of drainage. If you can't channel the water around the garage, you may have to install a drainage pipe, given that you've got a downhill destination for the pipe.

Don't recall the recommended slopes for a positive grade against a building, something like 1 inch every 4 feet, or for a drain pipe, something like 1/8th inch every 4 feet, but these should be easy to find.

Also, if the roof of the garage contributes any water at all, install gutters. If your garage and your neighbors garage, or your house are close to gether, and the roofs slope towards each other, you could be getting a lot of the water simply from roof runoff. If there are gutters, make sure the downspouts are at the front of the garage.

I wouldn't suggest any type of outside sump pump unless you absolutely cannot find a way to let gravity move the water.

Otherwise, when you sell the property, advertise an indoor water feature. :D

You first say

ok. We're making progress. Now, what's your reference for your statement

If you're referring to the article you originally posted, if you can't deny them in any of a thousand different ways, then yes. But only in MA, one of the smallest states in the country. And, how often does it happen? Only enough to rate news articles when it does. And, only when a LL doesn't know the laws in his state and uses what the state has declared an illigal reason for denial.

No. As previously noted, adding a protected class for those on housing assistance does nothing to force the LL to accept anybody. It only says you can't deny based on that reason.

I have a sex. It happens to be male. I belong to a protected class. Hurray! I'm protected! Oh, wait a minute, every person on the planet has a race, color, religion, sex, national origin or family status, and is also protected. Hmmm. Every person on the planet. Maybe I'm not so special. Does that force any LL to accept me as a tenant? You say it does. It just doesn't. Adding public assistance as a protected class really doesn't do more than say, Mr Landlord, that can't be your reason for denial.

The answer for the LL in your article, and the phools in Philly who advertised on CL "no children" is to simply, and for the fourth time: Know the law, abide by it, and watch your P's and Q's when talking to prosepective tenants.

Simple. This is really much ado about nuthin. nuf sed. I'm done with this thread. If you still feel this MA law forces anyone to accept housing assistance, not my problem.

Jawsette. This is a joke, right? I’ve read enough of your posts to give you credit as a knowledgeable person. But, you’re really off on this one, almost to the point of refusing the obvious.

Complaints filed with HUD are investigated by the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). If the complaint is not successfully conciliated, FHEO determines whether reasonable cause exists to believe that a discriminatory housing practice has occurred. Where reasonable cause is found , the parties to the complaint are notified by HUD's issuance of a Determination, as well as a Charge of Discrimination, and a hearing is scheduled before a HUD administrative law judge. Either party - complainant or respondent - may cause the HUD-scheduled administrative proceeding to be terminated by electing instead to have the matter litigated in Federal court. Whenever a party has so elected, the Department of Justice takes over HUD's role as counsel seeking resolution of the charge on behalf of aggrieved persons, and the matter proceeds as a civil action. Either form of action - the ALJ proceeding or the civil action in Federal court - is subject to review in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

I’ve had a couple occasions to attend public state real estate board meetings here in Virginia. I was amazed at the number of fair housing complaints they hear – charging state licensees (brokers, agents and PMs) with various violations. Every one had a similar flow. The claimant makes their claim. The defendant denies the claim. The board asks what evidence the claimant has to support their claim. They have no evidence. Case dismissed for lack of evidence.

Getting a housing voucher does not require the individual to prove any fitness of any kind as to their ability or fitness as a tenant. No guarantee that the recipient of a voucher is a good citizen or responsible in any way. They simply meet the financial and family size requirements. Ask any housing office if they guarantee a quality tenant and they will tell you that properly screening a tenant is the landlords responsibility. Since my earlier link to the HUD website was obviously not referenced, here’s a cut and paste:
Eligibility for a housing voucher is determined by the PHA based on the total annual gross income and family size and is limited to US citizens and specified categories of non-citizens who have eligible immigration status. In general, the family's income may not exceed 50% of the median income for the county or metropolitan area in which the family chooses to live. By law, a PHA must provide 75 percent of its voucher to applicants whose incomes do not exceed 30 percent of the area median income. Median income levels are published by HUD and vary by location. The PHA serving your community can provide you with the income limits for your area and family size.
During the application process, the PHA will collect information on family income, assets, and family composition. The PHA will verify this information with other local agencies, your employer and bank, and will use the information to determine program eligibility and the amount of the housing assistance payment
If the PHA determines that your family is eligible, the PHA will put your name on a waiting list, unless it is able to assist you immediately. Once your name is reached on the waiting list, the PHA will contact you and issue to you a housing voucher.
Once they have a voucher, this is how it works. Again, direct from the HUD website:
The housing unit selected by the family must meet an acceptable level of health and safety before the PHA can approve the unit. When the voucher holder finds a unit that it wishes to occupy and reaches an agreement with the landlord over the lease terms, the PHA must inspect the dwelling and determine that the rent requested is reasonable.
Note the phrase above: VOUCHER HOLDER ….. REACHES AN AGREEMENT WITH THE LANDLORD. Caps intended. I meant to yell.

Nobody is being forced to do anything. No agreement with the landlord, no deal. States can’t change that. It’s a federal program.

Now, along comes MA. They say it is against the law to discriminate based on a prospective tenant receiving housing assistance. It simply means you cannot do what the fools did in the article. You can’t deny based upon them receiving public housing assistance. Just like you can’t deny based upon any of the other federal protected classes.

Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act) prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

You can’t say no, I won’t rent to you because you’re Hispanic.
You can’t say no, I won’t rent to you because you’re Black.
You can’t say no, I won’t rent to you because you’re Catholic.
You can’t say no, I won’t rent to you because you’re a man.
You can’t say no, I won’t rent to you because you’re a Canadian.

And now, MA says you can’t say no, I won’t rent to you because you receive public housing assistance.

That’s all. Nobody is being forced to do anything they don’t want to.

Can you deny based upon their 5 evictions, or the 4 kids they want in one room of the two bedroom unit, or the three drug possessions, or the fact they’re awaiting sentencing on two violent felonies, and have a partridge in a pear tree? Yes, you can.

Can you deny them based upon looking like a freak, being dirty, their 5 cats, failing to fill out the application completely, FICO score, astrological sign, bankruptcies, or that they’ve lived at 5 addresses in the last two years? Yes, you can.

Can P NW choose to only allow MTM and refuse a lease? Yes, and you can, too.

Even in MA. You just can’t refuse "because they are on public housing assistance."

And Steve, just read your last post. The example you describe is called “steering,†and it is illegal. By not offering all available housing opportunities to all, that LL denied the prospects their choice in housing. Not limiting peoples choices in housing is the whole shebang when it comes to fair housing, don’t you think? It wasn’t his decision to choose. It most often happens a different way, called racial steering.

From Wikipedia:
Racial steering refers to the practice in which real estate brokers guide prospective home buyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race. Racial steering as defined by the Yale Law Journal is often divided into two broad classes of conduct;
Advising customers to purchase homes in particular neighborhoods on the basis of race
Failing, on the basis of race, to show, or to inform buyers of homes that meet their specifications.

You can exchange race for any of the protected classes. Steer the Chinese to China Town, that kind of thing. There is probably more to the story you describe, but it does display the second class of conduct. Do you know what happened to the landlord? I spent just a couple minutes on the Philly (fhcsp) site and their monitoring seems to be focused toward “an ambitious program of monitoring and community education, with an ongoing commitment to eliminate housing discrimination and achieve freedom of residence for all.†Don’t see anything about fines, arrests, jail time or even forcing anyone to take Section 8. Since the websites are all dotcoms and not dotgovs, I think these are likely local do gooder organizations. I did get a kick out of the press release on their front page, and it could be a result of their work, or it could be like I mentioned in my earlier post, HUD monitoring advertisements for fair housing violations:

Press Release: HUD CHARGES PHILADELPHIA APARTMENT OWNERS AND TENANT WITH DENYING HOUSING TO FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that it has charged the co-owners of a Philadelphia condominium apartment, and their tenant, with unlawful discrimination in refusing to rent to families with children. HUD alleges that the owners and the tenant violated the Fair Housing Act when the tenant posted an advertisement on craigslist.com, stating "No dogs or children," and subsequently refused to rent to a tester posing as an applicant with a child.

And, for the third time in this post alone, I say, know the law, abide by it, and watch your P's and Q's when talking to prospective tenants!

Simple it’s not. Mix simple and federal government and all you’ve got is an oxymoron. I’m done with this soapbox. Believe what you will.

I got an early model High Effic. Furnace once for $100. Luckily, it fit the plenum and intake from the old one without modification, and the only new part was the PVC exhaust as I was replacing an 80%er. Got a guy to install it for $150. Then I had to get another guy in when the fan motor appeared to burn out (froze up and wouldn't turn). He fixed that with some kind of bearing lube, but found several other items and had to get parts, had to redo the exhaust from the first guy and in all, I might have saved $300-500 over the cost of new High Effic. Not worth the trips and what felt like Chinese water torture trying to get all the bugs out. It's worked flawlessly since, but still wish I'd have just gone new.

HUD's Contact List identifies the counties and cities who have received the NSP grants. Click on your state to find out where your tax dollars are being spent.

http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/neighborhoodspg/contacts/index.cfm

Has anyone participated in any of these? HUD's NSP funds, part of the Recovery Act, are passed onto the states and local municipalities, and there seem to be a lot of state/local control over how the funds are used. For instance, the state of VA seems to want to use the money to buy REOs, rehab and sell to investors. Milwaukee, WI, on the other hand, makes forgivable loans, matching investor dollar for dollar on rehabs (up to $17.5k per unit on rehab), for investors to buy and rehab foreclosed properties in certain hard hit areas (just one of three ways they use the money), where the "catch" seems to be a 5 or 10 year holding period where the tenants cannot make more than 120% of the areas median income. That doesn't seem to be a bad deal, other than the red tape they require. In areas where investors are eligible for such things, are any of you doing so? Know of anyone doing anything like this?

HUD's got a list of criteria for areas the money can be used, but like I said, how to spend it appears to be up to the state or municipality. Any really good programs out there available to investors? Your kids are paying for it, might as well take advantage of it if you can!

The result of a lot of 2nd or vacation homes and vacation rentals being foreclosed on in a state with a high percentage of retired.

Advertise pet friendly, and soon the yappy dogs and poop on the lawn will frustrate and drive out the non-pet owners and all you'll have is pet owners. Granted, apartment dwelling is not a SFR and I would agree that one is more suited to pets, but it's just nature that renting to anyone that is legally descriminated against by others (smokers, pets, whatever) will attract those simply through supply and demand.

And, no, it won't be a flood of applicants, unless you advertise "pedophiles and drug dealers ok!" It happens over time.

I know, too, that there are exceptions to every rule. I'm sure there are some very good people listed as sex offenders or have drug dealing convictions that were either poorly represented, prosecuted by an over zealous prosecutor or have truely changed for the better. I simply choose to not to put myself in the position of judging degrees of what I will or will not accept in these categories. Just a risk I don't want to take.

Wow. The conspiracy theorists are working overtime in this thread.

Whazis? It doesn't even make sense. See:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/FHLaws/yourrights.cfm
HUD (FHEO) only responds to complaints, they're not out there trolling, trying to entrap LLs/Pms. Their methods of responding to a complaint are clearly spelled out and entrapment isn't one of them.

I don't think so. I read the article, too. If a state adds a new class in addition to the federal classes, it does not force anyone to do anything. It only prohibits you from descriminating for that particular reason. And if any state adds a class to it's particular law, it doesn't automatically bleed over to all states.

Some number of years ago, the feds were reading real estate advertisements and taking action when the ads suggested preference for various things, like "great for the young family just starting out" was deemed to discriminate against age. So you change your ad to read "great for the first time homebuyer!"

See my first post in this thread. Know the law, abide by it, and watch your P's and Q's when talking to prosepective tenants. :roll: