All Forum Posts by: Tricia O'Brien

Is is a big safety hazard to plug a 5000 BTU air conditioner into a heavy duty 6 ft or 12 ft extension cord and then plug that extension cord into the wall?  I know the manufacturers do not recommend this, but I was wondering if anyone has done this and did it work out well for you?

 I have an Indiana rental home where the central air conditioner just  quit working and I have decided to give the tenants some window A/C units instead of replacing the old one due to cost.  They prefer 3 small units (one for each bedroom) rather than a large unit in the living room and one in the kitchen. I just discovered one of the bedrooms does not have an electric outlet next to the window.  So I'm trying to figure out a solution, and I think it would take at least 2-4 weeks to find an electrician to do a small job like adding one electric outlet to this room.  Plus might be several hundred dollars. Thanks for any input! 

@Liam Delumpa

@Joel Allen

@Shlomo Koheler

Hello!  I live in Alaska and self manage a property in California and one in Indiana.  I have used some property management companies, but it has worked best to use a realtor or handymen to do specific tasks for me "a la carte" rather than pay a property manger a monthly fee to do nothing except collect rent and issue a monthly statement.  I just had a process server post a 30 day notice to vacate at my place in California.  I'm a little nervous about how I will handle getting keys back if the tenant decides to leave on time and not get evicted, but I think I'll figure it out with the help of some local people in a facebook group for real estate investors or possibly with the help of a handyman or process server I know.   

@Joel Allen Hi Joel, did you work out the arrangement with your PM when you signed the contract that the PM would handle the exit of the tenant as well as the tenant placement?

@Janeth Graziani  Look on Facebook to see if there is a Facebook group for real estate investors in the Sacramento area. People in that group should be able to refer you to an eviction service or attorney if that is where your property is located.

@David P. She probably would not show you the Chase Bank statements on her phone app because she knows it would not back up her story. Maybe her $20K/month income is from an illegal source such as drug dealing or sex trafficking.  It is good that she gave up on renting to you.  You might need to lower your rent or do better marketing / photos to get solid tenants who have VERIFIABLE income. Best of luck to you! 

I do backgrounds checks that are conducted through www.Avail.co and they run them through TransUnion Smart Move.  In addition to that, I check for criminal background and evictions through the local source for that region. For example, in Indiana you can go to mycase.IN.gov and put in someone's name and date of birth. It will pull up civil and criminal cases against them if there are any. You should try several different spellings of their name on these govt websites such as: last name only; last name and first name; last name, first name and middle name.  

In California, if you do a search by county under, for example, "Case Index Stanislaus County California"   it will show you how to search someone's history for criminal and civil cases. You just need their name and date of birth.

The national databases sometimes miss things that the local sources (state and county) will reveal to you.

@Richard F. Good points! By certified, return receipt you mean the green postcards from USPS that the receiver has to sign to confirm they received a letter, correct? 

It's usually a red flag when people are eager to move in and send money even though they have not done a formal application yet. I would put her through your normal screening process and see what you find. The credit report she gave you might have been altered by her.  Since she is self-employed, check to see if she has had any business evictions in addition to evictions from a personal residence. You might call her bank to verify she really has the account she is stating that she has if they will talk to you.

@Nathan Gesner

When I sign the 30 day notice to vacate, should I NOT put down the name of the property manager or their PM company name? Just sign my name and date it and state that I am the owner?  Thanks again!

@Peter McKernan. 

Hello Peter, Do you recommend I just sign the 30 day  notice with my own name and title (owner) and not say that I am signing for the PM ? Thanks

I am considering putting my occupied single family rental home in California on the market.  I have a sellers agent realtor that I have talked to (but I have not signed any agreement with yet ).  I agreed that he could drop by the property on Monday 7/25/22 to knock on the door and try to call the tenant on her cell phone and ask if she has any interest in buying it.  This is his standard procedure for dealing with occupied rental properties.  He wants to try to be the good guy , the nice guy, and try to get people pre-qualified to buy before just helping them get kicked out. 

My property manager, to whom I pay a monthly fee, has been pretty unresponsive to my calls and emails in the past 7 days. My plan is that, if the tenant is not interested in buying it or if she does not respond to the realtor's "meet and greet " attempt, I will probably want to give her a 30 day notice to vacate no later than 7/30/2022.  I'll decide by 7/28. 

However, I want to know -  can I do this 30 day notice directly myself since the property manager has been pretty unresponsive? I am worried if I leave it up to the PM, He will not get it done until after Aug 1, and at that point it will have to be a 60 day notice rather than 30 day notice because of the California law.

I've looked up this question in the California Landlord's book by NoLo press and it does not address this issue.

I was going to use the 30 day notice to vacate form from the NoLo press book, and where it says "Manager signature / Date"  I was going for sign my name  "Patricia O'Brien (owner) for Kyle  ******* (manager)". Then have it delivered by a process server.

I was going to use Kyle's name since he is the managing broker who signed my property management agreement . However, another realtor, Matt, signed the lease with the tenant. 

What are your thoughts? Suggestions?  Thanks in advance!  :)