All Forum Posts by: Russ B.

Sounds like your PM company might be the ones who are really at fault here, if they moved in so many bad tenants in one go. 

Did they do normal screening on these guys? Other than the 3x income rule (which S8 applies for you), they should still meet all the other requirements that a normal tenant does. 

You might go a little lower on credit score, since poor people get hit harder by things like car repairs and medical bills, but the ones who never paid a bill in their lives are gonna be a disaster no matter who covers their rent.

First time - 

"Hey - can you please make sure nobody smokes in here? It's very important to me, and it's in the lease. Thanks."

Next time - cure or quit. 

If you are nearby and want to save the neighbor from being placed in the middle of it, you could swing by, and then say that you were the one that smelled it. 

In my case, I've only done simple stuff - houses that had sagged in obvious places due to way too much weight being concentrated onto one or two floor joists. In these cases, just a floor jack or two was all it took to start reversing the process. 

This won't necessarily get you all the way back to new-house straight, especially if the house sagged a lot over many years, but it can make a big improvement for little work. 

I did once see a friend level a floor in his house by taking out the subfloor (down to the joists) and sistering them all with ones that formed a level plane for the floor. It looked like a lot of work, but it turned a horribly sloping floor into one that was perfectly straight and level. 

He's probably talking about a 1031 exchange. This is where you sell a property and buy another with the proceeds shortly after, and get to skip the capital gains tax on it. It is definitely something you'd want to do if you were "trading up". 

That said, while that is a great book to help get you thinking like an investor (at least the parts of I that I read were), I'm not sure I'd rely on it for anything beyond the most high level info on how to actually proceed. From what I have read, many of the stories in it are fiction.

There are much more detailed (and more current) books that are specific to whatever type of investing you want to do. 

I haven't had any experience with any of these gurus.. I just thought that stood out as a pretty insane thing to make people agree to. 

Are there actually any non-professional tenants in NJ? 😅

Not sure if I'm in a bad mood today, or if this story just rubbed me the wrong way.. but here goes 😅

If you can't accept it without getting in trouble yourself (ie, the condo board, or insurance), then it's not a "reasonable" request for accommodation - in fact, it's not a "request" at all given the circumstances. 

This person asked you if he could move a pet in (and called it a pet at the time), was denied, snuck one in anyway, and then when the neighbors complained, got a doctors note that he almost certainly purchased online. All this is documented.

I may be wrong (gotta insert a standard "ask a lawyer" in here somewhere.. so definitely ask one), but I think the chance that the government would ever pick a complaint from this guy as the hill they want to die on is about zero. There would be little chance of winning, and a bigger risk that the judge does their job for them, and narrows the rule way down. 

Personally, I'd want this person out just for being a PITA - which is not a protected class. I would probably give him a cure or quit, and if he tries to argue, remind him that a 100% chance of an eviction action on his record + some chance of getting in trouble under state law (Florida has a law against service animal fraud) is gonna hurt way more than a 0% chance of you catching a FHA case.

Not knowing the layout of the building, it's hard to tell you where to look, but the short version is that something sagged or settled. The "speedbump" in the second floor is probably a wall on the first floor. 

Sometimes, this happens when you have a wall (especially one that's also holding up the ceilings, roof, etc.) with nothing under it - or with something inadequate like a doubled-up floor joist. The effect is that you have a lot of weight (maybe a couple tons) effectively sitting in the middle of the floor. Oftentimes, the problem shows up at the top corner of a stairway, since there's a lot less floor there to carry weight to the walls. I've seen this in a ton of old houses, and it's often simple to fix (or at least improve) by using floor jacks / adding some support right at that one spot. 

Another possible explanation is that the outer "shell" of the building has settled into the ground a little bit since it was built (this is totally normal), but the slab hasn't moved. The effect is that the walls on the first floor are now pushing the second floor up in spots. This one obviously has no easy fix.

Good advice above - make sure the outgoing tenant knows that he is on the hook for anything and everything his unauthorized sub-lessee does, including simply squatting there without a lease. 

It might also be worth pointing out that he would be named on any eviction that got filed, which will turn up when a future landlord does their background check. It's awful hard to get in anywhere when you have an eviction. 

Disclaimer - I don't have any section 8 rentals myself.. I've just been doing a bunch of reading on it / may try it in the near future. 

As I understand it, renting to a voucher holder is as simple as showing the unit, taking an app, and if they look good, filling out their packet and giving it back. From there, the local section 8 office will contact you to set up the inspection. If they find anything, you'll need to fix it before move in. 

The government does not cover security deposits - so you still need to collect that from the tenant. 

You can get a copy of the inspection form that will be used from whatever office handles S8 in your county.

Aside from the inspections, it's really not too different from a regular rental. Tenants range from good to horrible just like always, so you still need to screen (just with reduced income requirements).

The biggest complaints I hear are of tenants trashing the house (and causing failed inspections), running up high unpaid utility bills (especially lienable ones like water), complaining about many trivial "problems", or moving in unauthorized occupants.