All Forum Posts by: Samantha Klein

@Eddie Memphis Common in this area to include water/sewer/trash. There's also one meter. I could charge but 99% of landlords include it so it's basically expected.

Thanks everyone. The girlfriend has enough income herself to qualify by herself and has no criminal history. I think I will just add her to the lease and not charge any extra at this time but make them aware that if water usage exceeds x amount, rent will increase by x amount. I want to keep everyone happy.

I agree that raising rent right away was not a good move because if it takes a month to fill the unit, it will take over 1 year at the increased rent to break even and that isn't including any turnover costs. You should have ran the numbers with the rent at 1250 and only offered based on that, any higher rents are just extra icing on the cake. 

One of my tenants wants to move his new girlfriend and her small children into my 2 bedroom apartment, it's only him there now. Am I legally allowed to increase his rent a little to cover the extra water usage? 

Hi everyone,

I need some advice on what property I should go with. Details below

Property #1:

Duplex

Purchase Price - $132,450 (Off market property, sellers are getting good price without commissions and don't want to pay all of my closing costs) Property has had some updates, needs about 5k in rehab, very light cosmetic things

Gross rents - $1650

Insurance - $50

Taxes - $205

Repairs - $165

Capex - $165

P&I - $535.82 

Vacancy - $132 

Cashflow - 397.18 per month

Total out of pocket - $38,112.50 

Property #2: (Needs $500-1k of work, very maintained and updated. New metal roof and furnaces in last 2 years)

Duplex

Purchase Price - $100,000 

Gross rents - $1400 

Insurance - $40

Taxes - 197.33

Repairs - $140

Capex - $140

P&I - $396.91

Vacancy - $112

Water - $50

Cashflow - $323.76

Total out of pocket - $26,000

I'm leaning towards property #2 except it's about 15 min away, property #1 is 2-3 min away. What would you do? I'm thinking the one with less out of pocket and similar cash flow.

@Linda S. Hi Linda, thank you for giving your advice. My insurance does not cover dogs at all. I have a commercial policy with all my properties on it and I've checked into it before and no coverage for dogs. I usually require renters insurance with a 500k liability that does cover dangerous breeds, the only company I have found that does this is State Farm. They are currently on a month to month. They pay $525 and market is $675-700. This property has amentities that most others do not such as garage parking, central AC and very large units of approx 1400 sq ft each, most 2 bed units are 700-800sq ft. I would like to keep them but I feel like they don't respect the rules since they snuck the dog in.  

I'm interested in a 2 unit property on the MLS. I tell my agent and he sent over the leases. The leases indicate there is a no pet policy but in the MLS photos, a dog food bowl and bucket a water can be seen in the laundry room so I do some more digging. Since I have the leases now, I know the tenants names so I do a facebook search and low and behold they have a large rottweiler dog and obviously never got permission. They are also paying under market rent. They have been there since 2013. I'd like to purchase this property but I do not want that dog in my unit. As far as I can tell from the photos online, they have taken care of the unit and it's in good condition. I just don't want the liability. I am seeing it in person this Sunday. Would you have the unit delivered vacant even though it would be right in the middle of winter or keep the tenants? These tenants do the lawn care and shoveling and do a nice job.

I'm about to install Lifeproof LVP from Home Depot. It is $2.79 a sq ft but seems to be very durable and has a lifetime warranty. It comes with an attached underlay as well.

I agree that cheapest is only cheap at the moment, but may cost more in the long run. I'd rather lay one floor for many years use than one floor then replace every few years. I can't comment on installation price since I install myself. 

Collect high pet deposit and charge a pet rent on top of the normal rent. Use only pet friendly flooring products such as vinyl plank and get rid of carpets if you can, they will just keep getting ruined. 

Just a piece of advice, I use water alarms under all sinks, vanities, and anywhere water could end up on the floor. You can get them for $12 each at HD and they do work. When it dedects water, it sounds a very loud alarm until you remove it from the water. Works great next to an old water heater too.

It has saved me a few times due to slow leaks from faucet connectors, ect and I then instruct the tenant to turn the water off until I can come take a look, usually same day.

I also use scrap pieces of vinyl flooring under the cabinets that way water leaks onto that and not my cabinet. I warn my tenants about the water alarms in case they have a water leak at 3am.