All Forum Posts by: Steven Clark

@Vann Calhoune As a new landlord my self I have learned a few lessons very quickly. I have a 3 family owner occupied house. 1st tenants are pros and know the rules in CT I cannot charge a late fee until the 10th so they always pay me on the 9th no matter how many times ive told them rent is do on the 1st and a late fee will be applied on the 10th. 2nd give them an inch they take a mile! Id tell your tenant if she keeps on smoking you will be charging a fee for breaking the lease and causing excessive wear and tear.  Ive found it to be hard to find the line between being nice and getting walked over.

Best of luck

@Kimberly Kesterke whats your thought about having it in writing via text message? As my tenant does not use email sending somthing in the mail seems like a delayed response. I would like to act quickly on this so it doesn't become an going issue. 

New landlord hear so need so advice on the best way possible to handle this problem.

Currently living in a 3 family owner occupied home. Went home for lunch from work today. When I left to go back my car had bread, hard boil egg and I noticed the house had jelly coming out one of the windows. I called my tenant who has an 11 year old that I have caught ripping bushes out before and said hey I noticed there jelly coming out your window.... ect. Im not saying your childed did this however I think its very weird that all this happened and its go to stop. Tenant swears it wasn't her childed but will clean up the jelly. She thinks its one of the neighboring kids. 

How should I handle these issues in the future? What should be done to prevent them from keep happening? Ive only owned the place for 3 months. 

Hello,

I currently have a 3 unit all 2 bedroom multi family house with 1 central water heater. The water heater that currently is in place is definitely undersized (55 gallon) and 13 years old. As the landlord I pay the gas bill of $90/month. I was looking into replacing within the next year or so and thought about switching to 3 electric 40 gallon water heaters. Each installed would cost me $1k ROI would be 2.7 years. I dont want to go gas on the water heaters as I currently only have 1 gas meter in the house. (All units have there own oil furnace)

Whats your thoughts on this plan? My intention for the property is a buy and hold while currently house hacking.

Thanks BP

Hey @Adam Carskaddan,

First Id like to say welcome and congrats for trying to find a house hacking situation and not being broke for the rest of your life! 

I wanted a 3-4 family in the Hartford area and it took me 9 months of aggressively looking and had put 2 offers on house's and missed 4 or 5 by ONE day. Things go fast! I ended up with a 3 family owner occupied place in Manchester and I live for free.

My recommendation with the market so thin is 1st find an agent that understands what your looking for 2nd go get certified on a loan so you know what you can buy. Talk with a loan officer for all your options CHFA has some great options. 

https://www.chfa.org/homebuyer-mortgage-interest-rates/

Best of luck
 

Hello,

I have my first section 8 tenant so not exactly sure how late fee's work. Question her rent is $850 section 8 covers $700 and shes responsible for the rest. If shes late on her portion can I charge the full late fee since I have in theory accepted a partial payment of $700 from section 8? 

@Thadeous Larkin bravo on the post! This is probably the best hypothetical lawsuit situation ive ever read here on bigger pockets. Have you ever thought about writing a book on "non legal advice" Just listing hypothetical scenarios. I have an engineering degree and If I ever ended up in legal trouble with my rental property I would just call up my lawyer and have him deal with it. How would I ever know if what advice he was giving was good or not? Having a basic background from reading you book would tell me if this guy was full of **** or not.  

Ether way thanks for the post it really opened my eyes!

Really good points @Tanya F. I live in CT where electricity rates are the 3rd highest in the country. I do plan on adding blown insulation to the attic before winter sets in. Roof is only 1 year old and the only reason why Im seriously looking into this.

@Nathan Gesner On different non financial note I am a rock climber/hiker and care a great deal about the environment. Being able to offset my carbon footprint gives me the warm fuzzes inside. At the same point I wont spend money if it doesn't ever break even. Im ok with a 8-10 year ROI if it means my carbon footprint has been reduced.

I think this spring might be the time to call around and get some quotes!
 

I own a 3 family and currently living in one unit. I was thinking what if I got solar panels installed and put them on the landlord meter and just profit off the sun? Has anyone done something like this before? It would be roughly a 10k investment and would need to look at the ROI a little bit more but my intentions for the property is to hold for a long time.

@Michael Noto I would have someone install the counter tops. I already installed the cabinets.