All Forum Posts by: Sarah Brown

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'm gonna go with having her sign a new lease and pay him out his portion of the deposit.

@Bryan Feltman She was actually the breadwinner, so she can afford the home moving forward. Are you recommending that I don't renew the lease for her and find a new home?

@Theresa Harris It's just a little confusing because we are still a month away from the lease ending. Also the wife and kids will still remain in the home and the security deposit is usually a retainer in case of any damages and if they leave the house cleaned up. Since the husband is only moving out, everything will still be there. I feel like it doesn't make sense for him to get the deposit back until they all move out?

@Thomas S. I get your point, and feel this makes the most sense especially since she and the children will still remain. but even if I re-issue a brand new lease to the wife only for the next year, I shouldn't give either of them back the deposit until the whole family leaves?

I'm renting my home out to a family who are in a middle of a sticky separation. They are unfortunately not being very civil at the moment and as their landlord, I'm somehow caught in the middle of it. The lease ends in one month, but they can't seem to wait it out until then to make changes to their living situation. The wife and children would like to remain in the home for another year, and she has already kicked the husband out. In addition, she had also changed the locks in the home to prevent him from entering. The husband would like to get his portion of the security deposit since he's been kicked out and no longer living there. The wife has agreed to pay for his portion of the deposit and will continue to pay rent on her own. Is this the right way to go? I asked if they could wait until the end of the month for us to do a walk through inspection of the home and re-issue a new lease, but they can't wait that long. What should I do?

Thanks everyone for the advice. Our initial goal to invest in Portland, OR is so we can grow our money to afford a decent home in the current neighborhood we're renting at versus a tiny house/condo in a sketchy neighborhood. 

We would prefer to buy a primary residence now in California, but the issues we're having are finding nice decent houses in good neighborhoods. Currently, the Bay Area is highly competitive and finding homes are like gems being sold for over asking price from about $100k-200k. There are many people like us who are scouring the internet 20 times a day and homes for sale are pending within a week! 

We're currently renting a house with rent control paying $3k and we REALLY want to stay here. It's a prestigious neighborhood, with great schools, shops/restaurants, etc. Rent in our neighborhood runs from $4k+ and homes for sale start from $1.5 million - 2 million.

If we decide to buy a home now somewhere in the Bay Area, we'd spend about $4500-5000/month in mortgage in a sketchy neighborhood. 

I'm wondering if we purchase a PR now, equity and our savings will potentially grow faster and we can move back to our desired neighborhood a lot sooner. Because owning a PR will have greater tax benefits than if we were to buy in Oregon.

Also who knows how the cost of housing will be in the next 2 years. If we decide to purchase in Oregon, and continue to rent, in the next 2-3 years, housing prices may go even higher and we'll be back asking ourselves the same question.  

My husband and I are debating where to put our money in. Currently renting a house in San Mateo California and work nearby. In case we're to change jobs, they'll most likely be in San Francisco or in Silicon Valley. Staying around San Mateo is perfect for us. ATM, we're not able afford to buy a primary residence in our area. Houses within our price range are in Oakland, Berkeley, Hayward or San Jose. Areas which are either quite far or cities unfamiliar to us to settle and start a family.

My husband is from Portland, OR and owns a condo as an investment property which has worked really great because mortgage is practically being paid by the tenant. We are thinking of possibly purchasing a house in Oregon, either a fixer upper or renovated home and rent it out while we continue to rent in the Bay Area. In 2-3 yrs we'll sell it with hopes to have enough equity to afford a house we want in the San Mateo area.

a) Buy a primary residence in the Bay Area. Also how much more of a great tax benefit would we gain from the primary residence?

b) Buy a rental property in Oregon and cont to rent in Bay Area (tax benefit not so much)