All Forum Posts by: Rick Bassett

Originally posted by @Roy N.:

@Rick Bassett

Funny, I found this to be the most versatile pick-up to-date:

Crew cab, flat bed (fold down rails), three-way dump, and 30-mpg.

 I don't know Roy, I don't think that I can take my wife on vacations in that one. :-) 

Rick

I'd budget for a nice 6' fence.

Rick

I echo most of the previous comments about limiting upfront money and using progressive payments to contractors. We typically purchase the majority of materials and bring them to the job site just as needed so the contractors don't walk off with them. You learn the hard way. 

We once had a new contractor that we paid about 33% upfront (about $800) for a small job as he had to pick up materials. He showed up the first day with the materials and started prepping the job, he left that day with some of our materials on his truck and then went MIA and wouldn't return calls.

After about 3 days days I left him a simple message (via Vmail, email & text): I've left you several messages and it appears that you're avoid me. You removed about $800 of our materials from our job site. we intend to report this as a crime to our police department and press charges against you at the close of business today. 

He responded to this within an hour, gave us some BS excuse (definitely a lie) and returned to the job later that day and finished up the next day. We paid him the balance upon completion and never used him again.

Rick

We've been going through something similar with a tenant for a number months  and thankfully she is breaking her lease early and is scheduled to move out at the end of this month. If she does, it will be happy days again.

None of the clauses in our lease seem to matter to her: smoking, moving an extra person in, sneaking in an extra animal..etc. She pays just under the wire at the end of the State allowed grace period so that it really didn't make sense to bring an eviction action against her as it will cost us plenty and there is only a small chance of prevailing. Our local housing court (New Haven) places greater priority on Non-payment of Rent followed by Significant Damages and doesn't really want to be bothered with what they deem minor lease infractions. In all fairness to our housing court, they are great when someone isn't paying.

It's best to be careful with tenants like this as they know their rights and they try to get to you (the LL) to make mistakes that they can use against you later. Be polite and professional at all times, never show them emotion. 

There are a few approaches that I use with difficult tenants:

1) We try to appeal to their sense of reason by having a calm discussion with them about the quality product/service we are providing them and the only way that we can continue to do that is for the tenants to hold up their end of the bargain. This works more than 1/2 the time  with pretty good results.

2) But If #1 doesn't work - then we raise their rent 10 - 30% on the renewal. We give them 120 days notice and let them know that we would be delighted to have them stay on but unfortunately increased costs and market forces are going to require a rental increase of $xxx.xx. We require them to commit to the renewal 90 days before expiration, so that gives them 30 days to think about the increase and to scramble to find a cheaper place. The majority will leave for cheaper pastures but for those who want to stay and pay there is more than a little satisfaction in knowing that you have successfully 'taxed' their bad behavior. 

Rick 

 "The joys of living in a trailer" - this could be the best line ever.

Rick

We have a few tenants that do this. Our lease clearly states the rent is due by the 1st of the month, I also point that out to them in the selection process and at key turnover time and make them verbally agree.

The State of Connecticut gives them 10 days before late fees can be charged or eviction action can begin so a habitual few of them push me on that on regular basis. 

What do I do? I communicate with them that they don't have a grace period, the time between the 1st and the 10th is a no-penalty zone allowed by the State, no us. I also let them know that they are disrupting our business and causing themselves to stand out as a bad customer/tenant. For some, this is enough to get them in line - for the others (the untrainable) we simply raise their rent at renewal time. 

Rick

We rent SFH's in the burbs surrounding New Haven and every time that we put one up for rent the vast majority of inquiries come from voucher holders who currently live in New Haven and are trying to get their kids into better school systems and live in safer areas.

There are some desirable areas of New Haven but like most cities, there are some very tough/depressed areas as well. The quality and pricing of rentals seems to be reflexed accordingly.

 Rick

2003 Chevy Avalanche with 160,000 miles - the most versatile truck ever. It's a shame that they stopped making them. I've carried every type of construction material with this one.

I've been told by many prospective tenants that they felt the high rental rates in New Haven were being driven by the abundance of people in the area with housing vouchers as the housing authority pays top dollar (over market in most cases). I'm not sure that is accurate or not but there are many (C/D level) rental properties available for rent in New Haven and a few of the surrounding towns.

We have a hard time getting applicants to pay an application / screening fee. Most won't submit apps if they have to pay. Perhaps its a local thing so we just bake it into the cost of the rental.

We do most of the screening the cheap and easy route first and generally we only run our finalist through the paid screening services but sometimes we have 2 or 3 'finalists' depending upon what's discovered.

Rick