All Forum Posts by: Ralph S.

I dunno, Duece.

Me, I'm a more simple thinker. Govt prints money. Supply up. Inflation. No banker in his right mind will loan less than the rate of inflation. Banks raise rates. Spread between fed funds and bank rates make bankers rich. Fed says, hey, I want some o that action, after all, I printed all that money to begin with. Fed raises rates.

Sarcasm aside, I'd like to see the prime rate graph Jon shared, with the inflation rate plotted with it. I think currently, all that printing is being gobbled up by deleveraging. Once the deleveraging ceases, lookout, inflation, and rising bank rates followed by a higher primate rate....

I remember the fun in '80-'83. Inflation, Interest rates. and unemployment, all in the mid to upper teens.

I got burned by "acceptance" once, and had to evict a second time. Just days before the court date, I got a check in the mail. Didn't even open it, and carried it into court. Judge ruled since I didn't immediately return the check, I had accepted their settlement and dropped the eviction.

Tenant dramas. Normally they fall along the lines of "but it's not my fault the dog ate the rent" but the Hatfields and McCoys are also in the mix. You really have to rise above it and let them know it's not your problem. If it doesn't involve not abiding by the law, their responsibility to you, or your responsibility to them, just don't get involved. The one exception is if you feel they are unbalanced, angry and anti-social and the dramas will continue in other forms and with others. I do believe I have a moral responsibility to the neighborhood I invest in, and have a "good neighbor" clause in my lease, but in many cases, I just don't get involved unless I think it's going to lead to violence. You are not their mother, friend, life coach, judge, referee or anything else, and you will never change a tenants mind about anything. Letting their lives and relationships impact yours is just blood pressure you don't need.
Is the neighbor an owner or renter? The former going away is unlikely, and I would have concerns about keeping the peace with other property owners, but that's about it. If the neighbor is a renter, I might just wait and see if the problem goes away on it's own (let the neighbor move).

Also. If they are currently on a lease, but, "going month to month" then you don't have to wait until after the lease expires to give notice. You can give notice to vacate at the end of the lease, but with what you've written here, why put yourself in the position of a possible eviction, vacancy and the like?

I wonder if you're a landlord, or running a boarding house, or something in between. There is a difference, and different laws and rules for each. Generally, as a matter of law, a "tenant" is granted certain rights and priveledges, like exclusive use, privacy, etc. A landlord, on the other hand, is required to give notice before entering the property. A person in a boarding house would not be granted these rights. It would be more like a motel. Just pick your stuff up at the front desk on your way out. If you fall in between, such as not renting the minimum number of rooms to be considered a boarding house, and not granting the rights granted in a true LL/Tenant arrangement, it may be a grey area. Don't know.

But, if you don't stick to and enforce your agreement, what good is it?

Bump.

Oh, where oh where is the Chairman of Tenant Relations?

I'd just be glad to hear he hasn't been shot.

Bienes
In WI, the state court cases are on the internet. I screen the tenant even before showing the unit. It shows everything from traffic tickets up and goes back many many years.

I've found just asking for their full name while doing the phone screening is an effective screening tool by itself.

By the way, is this you?

http://www.wisconsinrealestatesupply.com/ordering/index.cfm?action1=prod&action2=details&prod_id=619

I think I bought that same "off the shelf" railing for a porch. It worked fine for the stairs, but didn't work for the horizontal railing. It was my first "OMG, you mean the big box stores sell stuff that doesn't meet code" experience. It failed the 36" height requirement AND had too many inches under the lower rail, and yes, the inspector made me secure the upper ends of the rail cause the railing, standing on it's own as you have it, was too flimsy at the top. If someone were to fall against the railing, they, and the railing, both might go over.

Congratulations, John.

This is just my 2 cents, here.

Don't start the relationship with your new tenants with a lie. Nuf said.

Second, I agree with Mitch. Bad idea to make the rent one amount, then discount for yard work. IMO, even worse to charge the higher amount and cut a check. Simply make the rent the lower amount and put the yardwork in the agreement as the responsibility of the tenant. Protect yourself, as Raymond pointed out, failure to shovel snow, keep the grass cut, etc. could come back on your, so have a clause that charges the tenant if they fail to keep things up.
The problem with cutting a check, is that the tenant becomes your service provider, or even worse, an employee. You don't want that. Better they just do it as required by the lease.

To be honest, what's the big deal about the rent? A seven year tenant that does the yard work. Count your blessings. I bought a 4 unit, booted one non-payer and was remodeling the vacant unit. The other three "saw the writing on the wall" and all bailed and I found myself with an empty four unit. Tenants get skittish when a new landlord shows up on their door. You don't mention a tenant in the lower floor. If it's vacant, I'd focus on filling that before making waves with the upper.

Good luck.
Ralph

Another test of tenancy will come into play. A visitor has another, permenant place of residence. If dad doesn't or can't show he has a perm residence elsewhere, he'll be considered your tenant.
There are a couple other reasons you want to include dad in the eviction. One, he'll share the burden of paying any back rent or damages you are awarded in court, and two, if you only evict the daughter and don't include the "et. al." in the court filing, you could end up on eviction day with him saying he wasn't evicted, and the Sheriff's won't remove him or any of the stuff he claims as his.
Not a lawyer, and none of this is legal advice, but I would always include the names of all adults that I know are staying there, and the et.al. for good measure.

There may be another option. But just a may be. Alan, you state that you bought at a trustee sale "this morning." If you actually put down a minimum amount, and not the full $75K, you can back out, forfeiting whatever amount you did actually pay at the time of the auction.