All Forum Posts by: Stephen Shelton

So let me get this straight. You own a property, and you're preparing to rent. Along comes a grown adult who wants it, HOORAY!  Everyone's happy and then suddenly a bureaucrat from West Chester pops up and says "I'm from the city and I'm here to help!" and then the ever-helpful bureaucrat declares "This is a college student and we did not bless this property to be inhabited by college students so you cannot rent to them"

I find college students to be as annoying as the next guy, but this seems to either be a violation of the Fair Housing Act or pretty darn close to a violation.

And what do they consider to be a college student? Full time? What if a resident attends one class at the university 6 months after they sign the lease? 

My weird work hours always makes it impossible for me to attend these events, even the one last week that was walking distance from my house. I would love to attend one of these events whether alcohol is served or not LOL, but I won't go during work hours.  Soon I will have Wednesdays and Fridays off!

BTW the interesting thing about West Chester is that it is so close to urban areas and very rural areas too. I think you have a big variety of places to find properties there and remain close enough to manage yourself. My uncle owned some houses in Norristown.

Maybe, but college students are notoriously p*ss poor at making wise financial decisions.  I just got another alumni magazine from WCU and I flip through it just for laughs. Nearly the entire thing is dedicated to the university's virtue-signaling programs. A student wasting their future on a worthless degree will not hesitate to pay rent to get out of the dorms.  Oddly enough it's probably cheaper than the dorms (Goshen Hall was mine)

On the one hand college students will likely rent for 1 maybe 2 years max, but on the other hand they probably couldn't care less about countertops, crown molding, and other pricey things that would matter to people treating your place as a home. They probably aren't as likely to complain too. Just build it bulletproof! I'm considering this for my next rental because I have the private university of Stetson a few miles from me.

I rented on S Church St from '96 to '97 with 3 friends. $900 a month for all of us. I saw on Zillow that place had an ad from 2015 for $2425 a month!  I couldn't imagine paying that much but then I wasn't a Theater Major back then either lol!

The tube. YouTube that is. I was watching videos on real estate investing and this came up. On the other end of the real estate spectrum I have wasted too much time watching a prankster call landlords about issues like turning his living room into a swimming pool with a big liner and digging a basement from a ground-based apartment where he refused to allow the landlord entrance because it technically wasn't part of the apartment complex and was his. I laughed to the point of having years inbox the eyes!

Ripping up vinyl is a PITA if it doesn't peel up in a big sheet. In my last rental I removed vinyl flooring in the bathrooms by just peeling it up by hand, but in my rental prior to that the 3 bedrooms with vinyl flooring chipped off in individual molecules if I remember right. I rented a POWERED tool that ate it up like Rosie O'Donnell at a Krispy Kreme. If the property is nearby I would definitely DIY it and make sure you are open to renting a specialty power tool if it's even remotely difficult.

I once heard it phased like this: did the damage to the item occur from a one-time event caused by the tenant or is the damage the result of normal wear and tear? If it is gradual wear and tear then I would expect you the landlord to pay for it otherwise I would expect them to do it. Example: if this were a door that no longer operated properly is it because the door has gradually deteriorated over 100 years or did they kick it open in a drunken rage? For a floor it seems likely it has just worn out and should be your responsibility to fix. If it truly is time to be replaced then replace it. You don't want the tenant to start resenting the house and you for failing to replace something that has worn out otherwise they might start getting revenge against you by damaging the property entirely. How much could it cost anyway? I love tile: it's durable and an easy DIY project, but I only work with concrete slab houses (Florida is loaded with these) but your property may be suitable for something else. I've heard that even vinyl looks awesome anymore and is easy to install.

Hi there. I used to live in that area and even graduated from West Chester University in '97. Are you considering renting to college students?

It really surprises me, and disturbs me a little, to think that you could call an employer out of the blue and say "Jane Doe works for you, right? So how much does she make a year?" and actually get an answer on either of those questions! I would sincerely hope employers would keep that information private, we live in a world of stalkers and other various creepers and it's just unsettling to think that anyone could call a business, and say they're a landlord and get personal information like that. Am I missing something?

I'm a bit of a private property absolutist and while I might not like what's on the other side of my property line I deeply respect the fact that what's on the other side of that property line is not mine. I think your offer to pick up the tab and provide a solution for her in regards to a fence extension is absolutely fantastic on your part. Kudos for that.

I also think these tenants declining to rent there is complete BS. First of all, its not like this is some dilapidated "Breaking Bad" RV that looks like it's used for cooking crystal meth. That dried up gray fence is far more of an eyesore than that RV! Second, it's highly unlikely that a prospective tenant would know that this is a permanent fixture. 

The tenants were hoping to get the rent lowered, rented another place and wanted to sound nice to that landlord, or they were being honest and someone missed out renting a place to what is likely a highly demanding privileged little princess of a tenant.

BTW my 3rd SFR rental has a house next to it with an RV in its driveway. The tenants and I commented about it among ourselves a couple times but aside from the novelty of that it has not impacted anything whatsoever.