All Forum Posts by: Rick Bassett

If everything goes well then our worst tenant ever will be moved-out in just under 12 hours from now, the champagne is on ice and we are cautiously optimistic. 

Interestedly enough, the problems with this tenant have very little to do with money as she's current on her rent and she's kept our house in decent shape (from what we can see so far) -and- she is leaving on her own, no eviction. 

But she's been a nightmare in just about every other way by being overly needy on dozens of things that weren't real issues including spiders, mold claims (in her dirty bathtub), to heat complaints (no heat, they turned the furnace off to save money)...and on and on.

Reflecting back on the problems with her tenancy, I can only blame myself as I missed a giant RED FLAG when screening her as she mentioned that she was a bit OCD during the walk thru and said that she had to have things 'just so'.

I now believe that line to mean "I'm bats#t crazy, so get used to being my servant". 

She's been able to turn our passive investment into an very active 'hands-on' investment during her stay as she's managed to monopolize more of our time than all of our other tenants combined. Ignoring her, as we tried a few times, didn't work out well as she then took to calling the Fire Dept and Police Dept to the house to respond to her non-emergencies...the good Uniformed men & women of our town weren't pleased and strongly suggested that I get her under control.

In any event, I'll be watching for this OCD RED FLAG in future screenings.

Rick

 Hi Jason,

The $1,500 number assumes they contest and actually show up to court, it also includes the multiple Marshall's fees for serving notices in the New Haven area as well. It's around $750 if they don't contest and they move out cleanly (which they never seem to do).

Rick

 We do what Michael does but there is also an age restriction that limits the security deposit to 1x rent in Connecticut for persons 62 and over.

Rick

Nate, what a bargain! If property is held in an LLC here in Connecticut the process will cost about $1,500 (if things go well) as an attorney is required, if not in an LLC then $300 - $400 without an attorney, again if things go well.

Rick

Quickly read up on everything you can on tenants & landlord rights and evictions in Maryland and then make the determination if you can handle it yourself or if you need an attorney. Also try to understand how things work in your local housing court. 

As others have suggested you can offer her cash-for-keys to see if she will move in a very quick timeframe (less than a week). Don't give her the cash until you have the keys, everything is broom swept and she signs a release/letter of understanding.

If she isn't interested in cash-for-keys then fast track the eviction process and have no more conversations with her.

Rick

@Stephen Nicholson - excellent advice here

Be a disciplined investor by sticking to the numbers that make financial sense for your target level of profitability and always maintain walk away power in any deal.

Sometimes these deals will comeback to you but chances are they won't as the seller has an unrealistic view of his asset's worth, is no hurry to sell and someone with less experience than you will come along and pay him over market price at some point.

Rick

A prospective tenant looked at one of our properties and loved it, she seemed like a nice lady. We gave her the app and told her what we needed, DL...etc. She sent back an email saying that she would take the rental (we hadn't offered it to her) and included 2 attached reference letters but no application, DL, paystubs etc. 

Me: We need the rest of the materials to process your potential tenancy.

Her: The letters tell you everything that you need to know about me and I'm not giving my SS# to anyone, besides section 8 guarantees that you'll be paid.

Me: We screen all tenants exactly the same way, the advertisements tell you what we look at (credit, criminal, evictions..etc) so thanks but no thanks and best of luck with that housing search.

Rick

We accepted this family for tenancy in one of our properties about 2 years ago. They gave us a non-refundable deposit and then backed out a week before they were supposed to move-in. Naturally, they wanted their deposit back. We told them it was non-refundable and that they agreed to that before paying it...blah blah blah. We did however agree to give her a partial refund, although we didn't have to. 

Not good enough...the woman went into a tirade calling me a Slumlord and some choice 4 letter words. We gave her the partial refund as promised, moved-on and hoped never to hear from her again.

BUT she recently emailed us on another property that we have for rent starting with with "You probably remember us, we really enjoyed working with you a few years ago although it didn't work out at the time, we have been really impressed with the quality properties that you have for rent and we would love to see.....".

My response "Sorry but 1 bad experience is enough. Best of luck in your search."

Rick

We're renting a SFH and this is what we have experienced over the past 30 days:

Several of the best voucher applicants (those with complete applications) are all claiming that they will live there with just their children and no other adult BUT each of them came to look at the house with their husbands, a red flag.  

A quick check of public information and social media, which we do on all applicants under consideration, shows they are married and even shows that a few of the husbands are serious felons.

Our concern of course is that we let the Mom and kids in and that the non-screened husband moves in, creating a risk to our property and neighbors.

Thoughts?

Rick

While I don't love the idea of 'cash for keys', it's important to get bad tenants out ASAP as nothing good can come from allowing them to stay.

We only offer 'cash for keys' after having initiated the eviction process so that they know we are serious about moving them out and the eviction action is on their record. We agree to stop the eviction process (cancel it but never ask for it to expunged) once the tenant is out, we have the keys and the place is left in broom swept fashion.

Rick