All Forum Posts by: Bill Crow

@Harold Valencia Did you read the link Walter provided? You give 30 days minimum notice before lease end, and when the lease expires, it expires. You aren’t bound beyond the term of the lease. The article Walter provided was written from a tenant advocacy point of view, but even it says the landlord can give notice to non-renew.

@Scott Bowles Zella was created by a consortium of banks - if you and your tenants use these banks ( including Bank of America, Chase and Wells, among others), it’s great and free. Cozy and Venmo are also free, but it takes a few days for the transfer to process. You’ll have to decide if you can wait for your rents or not.

@Blake Edwards Laws vary by state. Do your homework.

@Heather Rodden Look at your reset costs. Will the premium cover those? In addition, if you have to re-list the property in 2 months, will it be easier to get a new tenant, or harder? Your comparison is the cost of an idle unit now vs. the cost of reset in two months.

@Josh Yeary I live in the area. If you want to PM me some info, I can take a look and see if there is something you should know that may not be obvious. Just let me know if I can help.

@Josh Yeary

@Neerav Patel As always, lots of great answers with lots of different perspectives. I do have a question that I haven’t seen anyone address. You say it’s a new pump and that due to shaking, the switch was impaired and could not work. Is it a poor installation problem? If so, I would be talking to the installer about the damage they caused. If you’re the installer, then you own that share of the responsibility. I, like many others, would tell the renter to claim it on their insurance. However, I would also figure out some small compensation for the renter’s inconvenience, time and effort, even if the insurance makes them whole. Be firm, be fair. Treat them like you would expect to be treated if the roles were reversed.

@Jenny Adel Lots of great answers. Based on your original post, I’d note the following observations: (1) They saw, and accepted, the yard in its original condition. Hopefuly your lease clearly states the acceptance in ”as-is” condition. (2) If it’s in worse shape now, it’s highly likely it’s because of their usage. I would be tempted to tell them they can return it to its condition at lease inception or risk a dent in their security deposit. (3) Unless you told them in writing that you would upgrade the yard, you shouldn’t have an obligation to do so. In addition, you noted that they’ve been “difficult” from the beginning. Did they give any evidence of this characteristic at initial showing? If so, there’s an educational takeaway from that. Best of luck. Letting them out of the lease may be your least painful option, if they’ll take it.

@Jason Bott Thanks,Jason for the clarification. My “day job” in addition to real estate investing is in the lending business. My experience has included financing a lot of things people borrow against, including real estate. Here’s what I’d add from my experience - feel free to add or amend as needed. Additional interest is much the same as “certificate holder”. It confers no rights to you, other than to be copied on any changes, non-payment notices, cancellation notices, etc. Additional insured is as Jason said - you are an additional named insured on the policy, just like your tenant. You could file a claim against the policy if warranted. Something else that wasn’t mentioned in the post is what “renter’s insurance” is. Policies may differ. As a landlord, you want them to cover their belongings for their benefit. You want them to also have liability coverage for everyone’s benefit, including yours. My lease requires both (personal property and liability). I have had agents balk at adding the landlord as an additional insured, citing additional cost, or they “can’t” do it (but no explanation why). I’ve never had an agent objection to adding the landlord as an additional interest. The kicker is just how much risk you are willing to potentially absorb.

@Andrey Gorokhovskiy I hate spell check. Sorry it auto-corrected your name.