Message Board

Hi from Rob.......

homerunhomes — Thur, 05 Nov 2009 15:08:16 GMT

Hi All - glad to be here.

Hope I'm in the right forum for introductions - LOL!

Background on me? I run HomeRun Homes (rent to own homes), and I'm here looking to network and have some cool conversations !

How has the market been treating all of you? What specific markets have been waking up for you guys?

Forum: INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE

UNIQUE SITUATION?

jpl — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:46:46 GMT

Signed a lease with new tennants, They moved their belongings in then discovered mold in unit. Test done. Place deemed uninhabitable. Getting remediation done timely. Want tenants to sign same waiver remediation co. had me sign. basically states I won't be responsible for anything sickness, etc. They are refusing to. They have not paid anything but the security deposit. Meanwhile their belongings are still on my property. Can I force them to remove their belongings until remediation is completed? If not, can I charge them storage? Can I not rent to them as they won't sign waiver? Advise on best way to handle this?

Forum: LANDLORD RIGHTS & THE LAW

to lower standards or not to lower standards, that is the question...

yikes — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:43:58 GMT

I'm not finding any qualified applicants. NONE. I've had a vacancy for a couple months now and am starting to wonder what I should do.

My standards are as follows:

-credit score of 600 or higher

- 2 good landlord references

- 3.5 times rent verifiable income (the .5 is because they pay utilities and gas can get expensive)

- clean criminal record

Of course, if they got a DUI 5 years ago, I don't give that much weight, or if their score is 598, I consider that too. If they have one great verifiable landlord reference, that would probably be good enough, too. The income I don't really budge on.

No one is qualified though. I'm guessing it's due to the recession. I get a lot of people that just seem very...disorganized/messed up. In the process of getting a divorce, inability to prove income, very poor credit scores, in between jobs. I feel like, if I were to take these people, I'd be asking for it. I have offered to rent the place to some of these people if they could find a guarantor, but they were unable to.

I don't want to lower my standards, but I wonder if I'm being unrealistic in this market. I read today that the rental market is the worst it's been in 23 years. Any ideas/tips to either entice people into the property, or am I expecting too much out of my prospective tenants? Like should I offer one month's rent free?

I feel that 850 is reasonable - it's a stand alone apartment, like a mini house, it has gardens and a parking space, it's in a quiet neighborhood, no other rentals around, and I put upgrades into it. It was renting for 750/mo.

Any ideas/suggestions would be great. I'd really like to get it rented, but I'd also like to avoid the nightmare tenant.

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

Tax implications

SHirsch999 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:21:29 GMT

Hi. I bought a property in FL (currently live in NJ) about a year ago with the intention of renting it initially and them moving there. Our plans changed over the past year and then changed again and the condo is back on the rental market. We are currently using a property manager who found a renter yesterday (yay). Our goal is not to make a profit, though this would be nice, but rather have someone else pay the mortgage for us. Anyway, here are my questions:
- The unit was available for rent as of October 1st, but was not officially rented until yesterday and will not be occupied until this coming Friday. Can we depreciate the unit starting in October, or does this not begin until the unit is rented or occupied?
- Some repairs were made over the past month since being available for rent (new AC unit, rear sliding door fixed, new ceiling fan installed). Are the costs of doing these deductible?
- I needed to travel from NJ down to FL to find the property manager, set up the repairs, and begin the rental process. Is this deductible?

I am already aware of the other deductions associated with the month-to-month things, insurance, etc. Thanks in advance for any help.

Forum: TAXES & BOOKKEEPING

Tenants Pay For Small Repairs?

mafixit — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:50:02 GMT

I am preparing to lease my home to a couple on a 2 year lease. I will be 1800 miles away.

I want to put in the lease that the tenant is responsible for minor repairs under $100, including the $60 service call that would be incurred if they need to call for service using the home warranty I have on the house.

Is this something atypical? Has anyone else done this with success? My home is mostly rehabbed and in very nice condition, but I don't want to be nickeled and dimed to death for minor things such as minor toilet parts, etc.

Forum: MAINTAINING THE PROPERTY

Rules Incorporated Question - Smoking

Sam — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:56:09 GMT

Regarding the "Rules Incorporated into the Agreement"....Is it necessary that the tenant sign these Rules pages somewhere? That is something I did not do. My smoking clause is on the "Rules" pages rather than the signed Agreement (I have since changed this, this was one of my first-ever tenants). The rules clearly state "no smoking allowed in the house if you have not paid the $250 non-refundable cleaning fee" and also says these "Rules" are incorporated into the Rental Agreement.

I am wanting to withhold the $250 cleaning fee from their security deposit for smoking in the house. They claimed at signing they did not smoke, but now that they have moved, the house reeks of smoke badly. Want to be sure I can withhold the entire cleaning fee that they should have paid up front. My thinking is they will say, if they want to argue the point, that they never received a copy of the Rules (since they did not sign them anywhere).

Always learning.......

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

ACCESSING RENTAL MARKET INFORMATION

amelli — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:27:37 GMT

Does anyone know how to access information about the rental market for a particular area?

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

Need some input about ex-tenants

Jefburk — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:29:48 GMT

I am not or ever was a Landlord per say. Never advertised to rent for making money. I own a duplex in Maine, I've lived in my Duplex since 1999. I rented my side of the Duplex for one year and then bought my side in 2000. In 2005 the other side of the Duplex became available for purchase and I bought that side so my now ex-wife could run a daycare out of it. In 2006 I went through a divorce, but she still ran the daycare after until June 2007 when she left. Some people I knew through my ex-wife and who knew the situation with my ex, called me asking if they could rent the other side when my ex-wife left. I said no the first few times they called because I wanted to make the whole building into one house. Anyway the woman of this family called again saying that they really wanted to rent the other side because the house they were in had been "Sold" and she didn't want her and her family (Husband and 4 kids) out in the street and that they had no place to go. Stupid me fell for her story and I let them rent the other side while I lived in my side. I made an oral agreement with them as to rents,elec,oil,etc...They came June 2007 right after my ex left. The first month there her and her husband got into a fight and he ripped out the bathroom sink (broke it right in half), she put a restraining order on him and she begged me not to kick her and her kids out for what her husband had done. I was more worried about her and her kids so I of course didn't kick them out. A month later (July) he was back, I thought it was odd he was back, but wasn't about to butt into their business. Over a period of 6 months, I wasn't getting rent on time and when I did get any money it was only partial payments. I Was always kept awake from loud noises, would call them asking to please quiet down. Things didn't get any better so In Jan 2008 I gave them a notice to quit and went to the court house to get a Forcible Entry and Detainer Judgment, that I later found out I did wrong. A week after I gave them the notice the woman calls me and said she had just gotten her taxes back asked if I give you $1600.00 and work on paying for Jan rent can we stay until March, because they had a place but it wasn't available until March. (Rent was $800.00 a month) I refused at first and told her to use the money towards the new place. But once again she made me feel bad and I accepted the 1600.00. This is where the 1st eviction went wrong because I took the money and I had to Dismiss the case without prejudice. Sooo here we go into Feb 2008. I had been getting extremely high electric bills and would call them asking if they were doing anything that would cause the bills to get so high, was told No just the normal things, cooking,laundry,etc.... I ended up hiring an electrician to check my wiring Feb 11th, 2008. The people knew he was coming and left in their car, so I had to call them on their cell phone to have them come back and unlock the door so the electrician could do his checks, which they did. The electrician did his checks on my side and then we went to their side and did the same checks, while we were down in the basement I noticed a wall had been built on the backside of the basement and it had extension cords going through the side of the wall. AT THE TIME I didn't think much of it. The electrician couldn't find what would be causing the high bills and left. Feb 13th, 2008 4:03pm I got a call from the woman of the family saying there was water leaking in in one of the upstairs bedrooms and dripping down from the living room ceiling. I went to check on the leak, looking everywhere as to where the water might be coming from I then looked out the bedroom window and seen ice cycles hanging off the roof. I took a guess that the water was coming from the roof down the inside of the wall into the bedroom and going down into the living room ceiling. I came back to my side and called around to find someone to come and knock the ice off and did find a guy, but because it was dark out by that time I got a hold of him and because it was 16 feet up, he couldn't get to it until the next morning, the 14th. He said it sounded like an Ice Dam. The leak had appeared to have stopped and he suggested I pull the carpet back and rip out the foam cushion underneath, which I did. With the leak looking like it was under control I left and called the renters later that night to see how it looked, they said it wasn't leaking. Guy came the next day as he said and chopped the ice off.
OK still in Feb, Feb 16th, that night I was laying in bed thinking of all the things I'd gone through with the renters when it hit me like a ton of bricks. With the high elect bills, the room in the basement and the extension cords, I thought they were growing Marijuana in the basement. So the 17th morning I called the police, but didn't tell them what I thought was going on over the phone. I went down to the station and filled out a report. Feb 18th the police called just to make sure what side was theirs and raided the place and found over 130 pot plants, heaters,grow lights,timers,etc.. in the basement. The first observation of the police was it was EXTREMELY hot when they entered the house.
I hired a lawyer this time to do the eviction right. Other things happened also while getting them out of the house, but here we are a year and a half later. I got a letter in the mail Sept 25th 2009 from a lawyer and they want to sue me for $5500.00 for damages to their property. The list they had was unbelievable. The leak (5'x6') compared to the list,2 beds,TV,computer,clothes for 4 kids,2 Dressers,2 nightstands, couch,recliner,wall hangings and much more doesn't add up. There's no way all these things fit in that small area. My insurance company will hire me a lawyer if they proceed with the suit. I have all the police pictures and in a couple of them it has the temp gages, one reads 85 degrees and my insurance company will argue that it was their fault to begin with as to why an Ice dam was formed. Like I said I've been here since 1999 and there's never been an Ice Dam on this building.
Any comments, suggestions,etc?? Any input would be appreciated. Just a bit nervous, because I know how the laws can be.

Forum: LANDLORD RIGHTS & THE LAW

Military Member reluctant LL Advice Needed!!

MilManLL — Thur, 29 Oct 2009 18:34:16 GMT

Hi, I have been lurking on the forum for the last 2 days and have been reading every post I can find for advice. I apologize in advance for the lengthy post, but I feel I must explain myself in order to get the best advice:

I am active duty Air Force stationed at Seymour Johnson, NC. I bought my current home in Dec 2007, (130k, new construction). I just got short notice orders to a new school in TX that will be 6 months long. After this school is complete, I will be given a follow on base that I must report to ASAP. (I have no idea where that will be until I complete the school).

The problem I have is this: Being that I have only lived in the home just shy of 2 yrs, I have no equity built up on the property. I currently owe 129.5k on a 30 yr fixed VA laon, but a market analysis and my personal research says that the property will only appraise for 130k. This makes it almost impossible to sell the home. We do have a buyer who is in the process of being pre-approved, but he is young and has no credit score. We should know on Monday whether he is approved or not.

This leaves me with the possibility of having to rent the home. Part of me is very nervous about this, (my job requires an excellent credit score/above TS clearance),and a ding in my credit score is unacceptable. Another part of me say this could be a wonderful opportunity to invest. The house in less than 2 yrs old, so hopefully the repair cost would be low for the next several years. Also, the community is almost all military, so I shouldn't have much trouble keeping it occupied and getting my rent. I already spoke to a local agency (Century 21)about managing my property and they will charge 10% of monthly rent. I have 2 wonderful neighbors who happen to be a general contractor and a big-shot in a local building company. They have agreed to help me out if anything needs repair in the future.

My worries are this:

MY LOCATION- There is a very good possibility I may be going to Alaska after my school, or even worse...Germany. Does anyone have any advice on managing property from this far away? If I decide to sell the property in a year or so, is it possible to do it without coming back here?

FINANCING- I am currently in a 6.0% VA fixed rate loan. My payments are 950$ a month. In order to rent this home and have the rent cover mortgage/tax/ins/10% mgt fee, I will need to refinance before I rent it out. I have been offered a VA ARM of 4.25% 5-1 loan. After the 5 years is up, it can go up only 1% point, which still makes it below what I am currently paying. This will make my new payments 766$ a month. I can easily charge 965 for the home, pay the mortgage, mgt fee, and pocket 100$ a month (which would go into a savings account for incidental expenses on the home).

Can someone please give me some advice here?!!!

PS I do have 3 sets of potential tenants expressing real interest in renting the home.

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

Free rent in exchange for work

littlebird2 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:19:20 GMT

I stupidly let a young couple move into my rental house the evening they came to look at it. They had just drove in from back east and needed a place. They seemed so nice and I trusted them to keep their word and didn't even write up any agreement. The house needs a lot of work and the man said he knew construction, had tools and agreed to work 60 hours a month in exchange for the rent of $600.00. I told him there would also be work at my house next door. He started out pretty good but then I had to leave the state for a couple of weeks because my Mom died. All they were suppose to do is take care of my pond and fish and water all the new garden plants I had just bought. I came back to a bunch of dead plants that they claimed they watered, a burned out pond pump, broken filter, all the pond plants and things to aerate the fish water had been removed from the pond. When I asked him about it that's when the first blowup happened and he has
become the tenant from hell! He won't work and claims he is ahead on his hours but he is not. He did a lot of things for himself (scavenged free furniture from trash bins) but not much work for me. He has gotten verbally abusive with me several times and is trying to tell me how it's going to be around here as if he is the boss. The girl is nice but is only 19 and love is blind.
Are there any ways to get them out right away being that there is no rental agreement in writing and it was a trade for work? I really need help on this. I can't believe I was soooooo stupid!

Thanks for any advice

Forum: So West: HI, CA, NV, UT, CO, NM, AZ

Tenant changed locks

bean — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:53:24 GMT

My tenant in Arizona changed the locks without my permission and never gave me a key. What are my options? They may be moving out soon.

Forum: So West: HI, CA, NV, UT, CO, NM, AZ

constructive eviction law suit

tony14 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:11:51 GMT

My tenant has been planning constuctive eviction from the time he moved in.
I really do not know what to do.

Forum: LANDLORD RIGHTS & THE LAW

smoking tenants in no smoking duplex

Rhomey — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:41:01 GMT

I showed my duplex to a couple last week. Today they are bringing the application and the fee. I know he smokes because I could smell him 3 ft away when I showed the duplex to them. I said it was a non smoking apt. I had dropped off the application at there current apt, ( I was going by and it is .5 miles away). They allow smoking there, as a wall of obnoxious, dank old smoke hit my face when she opened the door. So this is my dilema. If they qualify and they, he, agrees to no smoking and will smoke outside only, the problem remains that all their furniture, clothing, towels, sheets, everything they own is drenched in smoke. So it appears my super clean, freshly painted duplex will smell anyway. Plus, how will I know if they are smoking inside if it already smells? I am concerned that the smell of all those saturated belongings will drift to the other side and my other A1 tenant will smell it?
What to do? Plus, this is an ABP duplex. will my utilities soar because the front door will constantly be opened and closed because he is going outside to smoke? What to do?

Forum: TENANT SCREENING, FINDING THE QUALITY TENANT

Refund rent after 3 day??

Eve379 — Thur, 22 Oct 2009 19:33:22 GMT

This is probably a very simple question for everyone, but I'm trying to be overly cautious. We are about to server our new tenants, who've only been in the unit since August 27th, with an unconditional 3 day notice due to several infractions. My question is- Assuming that they comply with the 3 day notice, are we then required to refund them any rent already paid?? I've tried looking it up via California's consumer affairs Landlord/Tenants Guide, and it does not mention it. I did find a book that stated we don't need to refund it, but wanted to make sure.

These are the absolute worst tenants we've ever had. Their 1st rent payment was 15 days late. We made the mistake of accepting it as a one time thing. Since then they've-

Never returned the lease agreement.
Moved an additional adult into the unit which is only 550 sq ft.
Moved an additional unauthorized Doberman into the unit.
Refused to clean up after the dogs in common areas, as well as throwing feces out of their backyard into common areas.
Ruined new carpet by not taking dogs out. They actually told our other tenant the carpet was ruined after only 3 weeks of living there.
Held all night "Jam" sessions with their rock band with no regard for tenant occupying other half of duplex, or neighbors nearby.
Harassed other tenant for making a complaint, including cursing out the other tenant right in front of me.
Constant domestic disputes that even neighbors 5 houses down can hear, including hitting walls, and throwing/breaking items.
Bringing drugs onto the property. Besides smelling marijuana when walking past their unit, they leave the paraphernalia in the window for all to see. 1 neighbor thinks they are dealing due to constant in an out traffic during the night.

And the list goes on..... Any info/advice would be so greatly appreciated. I'm afraid if we don't succeed at removing them we will lose our other tenants.

Forum: So West: HI, CA, NV, UT, CO, NM, AZ

Inspecting rental house

cjrose — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:38:55 GMT

Please help...I have terrible tenants who have tortured me for 1.5 years. Now they are moving..they have refused to pay Oct. rent. saying I can take it out of security when they move Nov 4. They also claim they dont have to let us in for inspection. I dont have the lease in front of me but doesnt NYS law allow for inspection? Also they claim they have a right to videotape us as we are inspecting the house after they move. Is this true? I cant wait for this nightmare to end. Im thinking they will not let me into my own home when they leave unless they are there videotaping and Im sure they changed the locks. Can I change the locks and charge them for it when I take them to small claims? Do I have to put up with the extremely personal attacks and insults and humiliation. Every month it was a different game with the rent...oh I forgot to put in the mailbox, oh sorry I filled out the check wrong....Oh sorry I forgot to put your house number on the check...etc. Is this just part of the business?

Forum: No East: MI, PA, OH, IN, KY, WV, VA, MD, DE, NJ, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME VT, NY