All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

 I just want to point out that it's not true that just because you put something in a lease - that it's enforceable or "reasonable".  You aren't allowed to put things in leases that are contrary to law.  An example I give regarding this is - if a landlord put in their lease that they could cut off your left leg if you were ever late paying your rent as a late-fee, would you believe you had to do it and that it was legal for the landlord to put that in the lease?

Just because something looks legal or is written in legalese - or is in writing in a contract - doesn't make it legal.  Unless it's in line with the law.

In thinking of somewhere you can write your own rules regarding what's "reasonable" - in TX, the last time I checked, landlords can get away with a lot more than in other places, because TX law says so.  But, I doubt that even in TX you could put in a lease that someone has to cut off a limb.  You could probably put in the lease that you can come inspect every week, though.  I still don't think a reasonable person would every think that was reasonable and that's what most courts look at.  Except maybe in TX lol.  So, maybe we should make a federal law that says that all unreasonable landlords should have to move to Texas where they can be unreasonable under the law.

Landlords do get away with a lot everywhere, though, because most tenants don't know their rights and/or don't feel like dealing with fighting their landlord even in small claims court.

I do believe in the law of karma, too.  What you reap you shall sow - sooner or later.  Sadly, there is a large percent of people, I think, who enjoy the power of being a landlord, and abuse it.  May they rent to a tenant like me someday who will hold their feet to the fire.  But, one way or another, being a bad person comes back to bite you.  Even if it just means you die lonely.  

Moral: Just do the right thing.  Play nice.  You will be happier and you'll help make the world a better place, which always feels good.

Just use a title company to do the title and escrow.  A company like Placer Title, for instance:

https://www.placertitle.com/

This is what I've always done with owner contracts and when buying/selling directly.

That's a good idea.  I'd contact the owner, if the owner is someone other than who is living there (next door).  You can get the name and address of the owner through the tax assessor's office, usually.  Some put the actual tax bills online, where you can search by address and see the name and address of whoever is getting the tax bill.  Other places require you to go in person.  But, that info is public info.

I did this when I lived in a condo I bought in Davis, CA and a rental had college students with a huge dog that pooped all over the common area.  I'd asked the tenants to pick it up and they actually swore at me and told me to stick it, basically.  So, I found out who the owner was and asked him to deal with them.  He was really grateful I'd contacted him because the dog had been snuck in and did a ton of damage to the unit.  He evicted them.  And fired his PM.  So, if your neighbor is renting it out, maybe they'll actually be grateful and clean it up.  Crossing fingers.

As long as you can handle your mortgage and related payments, you should do very well.  The SF Bay Area is expanding far and wide.  And I believe the demand in the Fresno area will always be healthy.  Congrats!

My first thought was - I wonder if your tenant wants out of the lease?  I'd ask the tenant if they want to be let out of the lease and see what happens.  If she jumps at it, you'll know that she may have just wanted out of the lease.

This is something I learned tenants will do if they want out of a lease without any kind of penalty.  All of a sudden they are complaining about all kinds of maintenance issues, you end up in and out of the apartment a bunch of times with them complaining about pests and mold and funny smells or noise - you name it - instead of just asking if they can break the lease.

So, I'd start there.  And I really think all you can realistically do, other than that, if the infestation is real, is up your pest control.  You could try complaining to the city, but I wouldn't expect anything to happen right away, if ever.

When I lived in the country, mice were a constant problem.  No matter what you do, it's a constant battle.  And, when I lived in TN, roaches were a constant battle.  There are things you can do to mitigate things, but they're just not going to get completely eradicated in some areas.  

I wonder if you could buy the property next door?  You might get a good deal and then you could clean it up and get a good tenant in there.

The lease won't keep tenants from breaking whatever you put in it.  The key is screening.  You don't want to end up having to sue a tenant for a lease violation or evict them.  It's a mistake to think that it's the lease that makes a tenant do what you want them to do.  This is a very common mistake.

So, I agree that the simplest thing to do is just use one written by an apartment association, etc., which should be correct on your state law.  Some aren't, but it's your best bet.  I've even seen apartment association leases, written by lawyers, that weren't correct on the law lol.

I like the Nolo Press contracts.  They're simply written and I'm pretty sure they're correct on the law.  I used them and didn't find any mistakes.  I used their California landlord book, which had them included.  I think their website has contracts/leases for every state.  You could check.  Their contracts are written simply and in a manner that isn't confusing for tenants, in my opinion they're the best.

This is the link to their leases.  Check out their site for other landlord books, too:

https://store.nolo.com/product...

@Cole Fleishour I haven't read all of the posts, so forgive me if I repeat what's already been said.

I wanted to address a statement you made - that you should be allowed into "my house."  I think perhaps you misunderstand a tenant's right to consider the home as their own home when they rent it.  You are the owner, for sure.  But, when you rent the house to someone, they have the right to treat it as their own home.  This is actually what the term "quiet enjoyment" really means.  It means the tenant has the right to not have the landlord interfere unreasonably in their possession of the home while they are renting it, their right to quietly enjoy the property without the landlord's interference.

I think landlords forget to put themselves into the shoes of a renter.  Perhaps you have never actually been a renter.  But, try to imagine having a landlord coming in to inspect your home every 3 months, with no reason.  That's really, really, really intrusive.  I would absolutely hate that.  It's your job to screen tenants, then leave them in peace and only interfere with them within reason.  You won't keep tenants if you don't.

An owner I worked for inspected once every 6 months.  We used the excuse of changing smoke detector batteries and a quick look under sinks to be sure they weren't leaking, a listen to the toilet to see if it's running, ask them if they are having any issues and then we were out of there.  Usually less than 5 minutes.  And we let them know that's what we were going to do, so it wasn't a big deal.

Why do you want to bother stressed out medical workers anyway.  And they're more likely to give you Covid than anyone else in the country.

As far as emotional support dogs - you don't get to have 4 of them.  And, tenants must ask to have one.  They are allowed one under a law that says they are a "reasonable accommodation."  They must ask you for a reasonable accommodation.  And, you can still kick them out if their ESA dog is causing problems.  So, you could give them a warning about the dog wandering the neighborhood and give the reason that now that it has come to your attention, so you are aware of their dog roaming around, if that dog bites someone, you could also be sued for allowing your tenant to have a dog you knew was roaming around.  So, you could tackle it that way.

As to radon, I'd simply tell a tenant I didn't want that since the house is uninhabitable, they will have to leave.  Some states will require you to pay their relocation costs if the place is deemed uninhabitable.  

I'm glad you worked things out, but I also don't think you should be getting into some deep relationship with them, either.  Remember that tenants aren't ATMs or tenant farmers who don't have rights - but - don't get involved in their lives either.  It can be tricky to learn the boundaries.  But, I suggest that you try to imagine being in their shoes.  Would you really want your landlord bothering you or getting into a relationship with him/her beyond strictly business?  Plus, if you allow them to get you involved in their problems, and then you relax some rule because of their problems, then they can end up taking advantage of you.

You'll get the hang of it.  I didn't learn it overnight.  It's an art, for sure.  

Sorry, I've been MIA at BP for awhile.  This just depends on the person and local laws.  For instance, in CA for any apartment building/property with 16 or more units, you're required to have a resident manager.  But, this manager would be your employee.  They wouldn't get to charge you anything extra every time there is a problem, etc.

It's a personal choice.  But, I think what anyone needs to do who is considering hiring a professional PM - who is not your employee - is to look very closely at the contract.  Look to see every possible way the PM can charge you something extra over and above the monthly fee.  Are there possible situations where they can profit by kickbacks for electricians, carpenters, plumbers, etc.?  Do they have their own people they use and are those fees agreed upon ahead of time? Do they charge you a supervision fee for supervising the workers every time one goes to your property - in addition to the actual charge for the plumber?  Do they get to decide to take care of a maintenance problem without your go-ahead ever?  Do they charge you a fee to start the relationship?  Do they profit by charging you to find a tenant, and then to kick out that tenant, and then find another tenant, and supervise all of the work to turnover the apartment when the first tenant didn't work out, ad infinitum?  Can they actually charge you a fee to fire them?

Then, imagine them abusing any and all of those fees. An example: my daughter was royally ripped off by a PMC on the $250 maintenance problems they could take care of without calling my daughter.  They had a couple of these a week.  Next thing she knew, they were calling her to put more money into her reserve account that started out at $6,000 and was depleted in just a few months.  they just kept forgetting to send her the monthly reports in-between.

Just don't believe them when they say not to worry about all those things in the contract that you feel uncomfortable with by saying oh, it won't ever happen, oh it's a standard contract.  

You're going to have the manage the manager anyway, if you want to be sure they aren't ripping you off.  So, why not manage it yourself?  Then, just get a list of contractors locally and call a plumber when you need one.  And, just screen really well in the first place.

I just think that investors who expect to just get a regular income without any work in real estate is someone ripe for the picking.  I hate to see it happen, but they're lambs to the slaughter believing you can have a business that deals with people and expect them to just give you money without ever requiring your time, and trusting people to be willing to do all the work for you for 10% or less of the monthly rent, and never be tempted to pad that in some other way.

It's just not logical.  And, let's say that some PMC is really above-board and never pads anything in any way.  The only way for them to make a decent wage, is if they manage a ton of properties.  How can they possibly do a good job for you, when they're juggling so much?

I suggest hiring someone at a flat, fair wage, with a bonus for finding good long-term tenants and keeping on top of inspections/repairs - basically, a bonus based on your profit (including taking care of maintenance so there aren't any losses there from leaks, etc.).  

So, when I say the current system is based on PMs making money at the cost of losses to you, as someone else asked me - this is what I meant.  If a PM only makes a decent wage when they get all those extra fees - which cost you money - and lawyer fees and eviction fees and damage, etc., then their profit is based on your losses.  Or, it's possible they aren't keeping up on what's happening at your property because they simply have too many doors they are managing.

When I see advertisements by PMs bragging about how many doors they are managing, I cringe.  I'm glad for them as far as that they are successful.  But, I wouldn't want to hire them, because they have way too much on their plate to take good care of my property.  

Just my opinion.  Obviously, not everyone agrees with me and that's fine.

Sorry for the delay - thank you everyone.  It looks uncommon and I'd rather not try to reinvent the wheel.  

I don't understand what fines back in March of 2019 have to do with what they owe today.

The letter Matt wrote is beautiful.  I'd start out just asking them to wipe out the fines altogether, and see what they come back with.  You may not have to give them as much.  Whatever you offer, they'll come back wanting more.  So, I'd start low.  The cost to them of foreclosing on that property and then having to deal with fixing it up to sell it is probably not worth it to them.  So, maybe even just start out with asking them to waive all fines and fees, letting you start fresh, and you'll buy the place.  Otherwise, they are just looking forward to an expensive foreclosure.

I don't think I'd want to buy a property with this HOA, though. Look at the kind of stuff they are fining people for. They sound like they have a nutty control freak on the board. I bought a condo with one of those and I sold it just a couple years later, because I couldn't stand it anymore.

Also, be sure you are willing to pay the HOA fees. Condos are so enticing because they're affordable, but HOAs can change the rules, increase the dues, say you can't rent it out, give you a hard time for everything and anything, fine you, foreclose on you - and they don't even hold your mortgage!

Anyway, if a property just sounds too good to be true, it usually is.  When they're super cheap, expect to put a bunch of money into them one way or another, is my experience.

Best of luck to you. But, maybe you should let this one go. At least, if they HOA doesn't want to just waive the fines.

By the way, why isn't your attorney doing this for you?