The Landlord Thread

[debthaven]

He won't be posting here lol, but DS1 and his GF closed on their first apartment today! I'm so excited for them! 

The apt is being entirely redone, so they can't move in for 6-8 weeks.  

They bought an 2BR apt that was originally a studio and a 1BR. They are turning it back into a studio and a 1BR. They will live in the 1BR for now (well, once it's done) and rent out the studio. When they go abroad again (they are both humanitarian aid workers), they will rent out the 1BR long term, and rent out the studio short-term so they have a place to stay when they come home. They are putting in the same flooring in both places so they can eventually use it as a 2BR later on. 

I so happy and proud of them! 

ETA: The rent from the 1BR will cover about 85% of their mortgage. 

[Bonny]

Getting ready for the big So. CA swing. I think we'll be heading south on Sunday.

I've got my small claims court date next week. I'm about 3/4 of the way preparing for that. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part but I have a feeling they aren't going to show up. I'm preparing anyway.

We'll meet with the soon to be PM for the cabin as well as the new; change the locks, bedding, go over the procedures for the cleaning crew. Because of the change in schedule with the condo, we wound up taking the cabin for most of the month of April vs May to do our annual maintenance trip. We're supposed to get another dusting of snow and I hope I'm able to refinish the decks. They really need it.

Then on the 24th we head to the condo to do the hand-over there. As mentioned in cranberry's thread, my otherwise wonderful tenants bought a house and have decided to leave early. We had an agreement for them to leave June 10th and I built my summer schedule around that. Then in an attempt to be helpful (and save themselves money) they decided to move out on April 19th. It's created a royal hassle for me as I have strict protocol to follow as a LL with the handover and accounting of their deposit. We negotiated a termination fee of $3,500 (1 month's rent + $200).

I'm sure it will work out in the end as the property is currently under market by about $500 month. But the change in dates has really disrupted my schedule and made DH homeless for about a week!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Mar 29, 2016 10:11:21 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Getting ready for the big So. CA swing. I think we'll be heading south on Sunday.

I've got my small claims court date next week. I'm about 3/4 of the way preparing for that. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part but I have a feeling they aren't going to show up. I'm preparing anyway.

We'll meet with the soon to be PM for the cabin as well as the new; change the locks, bedding, go over the procedures for the cleaning crew. Because of the change in schedule with the condo, we wound up taking the cabin for most of the month of April vs May to do our annual maintenance trip. We're supposed to get another dusting of snow and I hope I'm able to refinish the decks. They really need it.

Then on the 24th we head to the condo to do the hand-over there. As mentioned in cranberry 's thread, my otherwise wonderful tenants bought a house and have decided to leave early. We had an agreement for them to leave June 10th and I built my summer schedule around that. Then in an attempt to be helpful (and save themselves money) they decided to move out on April 19th. It's created a royal hassle for me as I have strict protocol to follow as a LL with the handover and accounting of their deposit. We negotiated a termination fee of $3,500 (1 month's rent + $200).

I'm sure it will work out in the end as the property is currently under market by about $500 month. But the change in dates has really disrupted my schedule and made DH homeless for about a week!

Wait, how will DH be homeless for a week? What happened to the Pacifica house?

[Bonny]

Mar 31, 2016 14:33:15 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Mar 29, 2016 10:11:21 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Getting ready for the big So. CA swing. I think we'll be heading south on Sunday.

I've got my small claims court date next week. I'm about 3/4 of the way preparing for that. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part but I have a feeling they aren't going to show up. I'm preparing anyway.

We'll meet with the soon to be PM for the cabin as well as the new; change the locks, bedding, go over the procedures for the cleaning crew. Because of the change in schedule with the condo, we wound up taking the cabin for most of the month of April vs May to do our annual maintenance trip. We're supposed to get another dusting of snow and I hope I'm able to refinish the decks. They really need it.

Then on the 24th we head to the condo to do the hand-over there. As mentioned in cranberry 's thread, my otherwise wonderful tenants bought a house and have decided to leave early. We had an agreement for them to leave June 10th and I built my summer schedule around that. Then in an attempt to be helpful (and save themselves money) they decided to move out on April 19th. It's created a royal hassle for me as I have strict protocol to follow as a LL with the handover and accounting of their deposit. We negotiated a termination fee of $3,500 (1 month's rent + $200).

I'm sure it will work out in the end as the property is currently under market by about $500 month. But the change in dates has really disrupted my schedule and made DH homeless for about a week!

Wait, how will DH be homeless for a week? What happened to the Pacifica house?

I invited a friend to house-sit during the time we were going to do the annual maintenance at the cabin in May. Her tickets are unrefundable. She's also an author who used to live in the area and has book signings and events lined up for a reprinting of one of her books. She's a true sweetheart and is donating all of the proceeds to the friends of our local county park. So of course we can't cancel.

DH feels awkward about staying more than a day or so therefore he'll be driving back to San Diego after spending a week with his mother. He'll need the R&R.  

You know when I'm working on these houses I'm essentially doing urban "camping"; sleeping on an air mattress, no furniture and a minimum of supplies. For some reason he doesn't find that fun.

He'll probably hang out with a couple friends and drive back taking the cat with him on May 13th. I need to make another side trip to AZ and then I'll head home.

Stay tuned to find out what happens with my N. San Diego County house tenant. We told her we intend to put the house on the market. We'll see if she wants to leave early. I might be back in San Diego in June! 

[8 Bit WWBG]

I've been looking at properties online in an area in my state that I think could be a good place to live someday.  I like visiting.  Can't say I'd move there now, but someday maybe.  There is an interesting 2br/1.5bath condo listed for $98K.  Properties range from $75,000 to several million.

So doing some pessimistic math, assuming I have to finance $120K at 6%.  I'm looking at roughly $1k/mo in costs.  I don't see the condo fee listed, but I'll leave that out for the time being.  Assuming only 9 month occupancy, I'd need to be able to command $1,333/mo to break even.  Rents for this type of property don't seem to break $900/mo.  A similar condo rents for $600.  Yeah.... that one isn't going to work.

Looking at houses too.  Not sure the numbers are any better, but I'll keep at it.  If I'm trying to go for cash flow, I'm not going to get it paying what some of these houses are listed at.  Not without a hefty down payment anyway.

[suesinfl]

Landlords, how to feel about someone that is relocating and looking to rent? What about references when the person that is relocating and has been a homeowner for 25 years, but sold their house and is only looking to rent long term?

What are the good things or bad things, that may raise questions? How do I explain that I'm tired of being a home owner and since I will be moving to a different location and don't want to deal with the headaches of being responsible for all the upkeep of owning a home....at least for now.

What do I need to look for as a good PM and apartment complexes? Questions that I should ask, things that I need to look out for, etc. It will just be me and my 14 yr son.

[Bonny]

Apr 1, 2016 22:18:49 GMT -5 suesinfl said:

Landlords, how to feel about someone that is relocating and looking to rent? What about references when the person that is relocating and has been a homeowner for 25 years, but sold their house and is only looking to rent long term?

What are the good things or bad things, that may raise questions? How do I explain that I'm tired of being a home owner and since I will be moving to a different location and don't want to deal with the headaches of being responsible for all the upkeep of owning a home....at least for now.

What do I need to look for as a good PM and apartment complexes? Questions that I should ask, things that I need to look out for, etc. It will just be me and my 14 yr son.

Your situation isn't that unusual for someone relocating.

Being a long term homeowner is generally a plus. Emphasize that you know how to take care of things and that you can distinguish between something being an emergency vs something that can wait until normal business hours.

If you were with your last company for a long time emphasize that too. 

Understand that every renter has his/her downsides. Two stereotypes you will have to overcome is being the helpless, hypercritical single woman. I'm not saying that you are but understand that there is that perception. If you have done minor repairs/work on your own home mention that as well.

The biggest obstacle is going to be your teenage son. I know it's against the law to discriminate but there's a justifiable concern about an unsupervised teenage boy in the property. No one will tell you that of course. I have had this experience personally whereby mom left, son was bitter and angry and he was a total slob. The house was not cleaned for a full year, ruining the carpet, food and drink spills on the window ledges, et cetera. It was really, really gross and it cost me thousands of dollars which I couldn't recover.

If your son is a good student, bring his report card or any other club like things; e.g. boy scouts, letters of recommendations, et cetera.

You may also do better by renting in an apartment complex vs a mom and pop operation.

I also recommend to prospective tenants that you prepare a "package". Write a short letter about yourself, your situation and give some examples of how well you take care of things, pay on time, plus how responsible your son is, et cetera.

Go to Annualcreditreport.com and pull your credit report (or if already have one < 6 months old use that) black out the social and attach it to your letter of introduction. The LL will most like run a new one but if you've got good credit show them! It's also a good practice to check it anyway to make sure there are no errors or if there's a ding, write your letter of explanation.

Attaching a paycheck stub showing your earnings is another good thing to attach.

Good luck!

[OldCoyote]

Well,  some one actually got oldcoyote upset,  My now Ex landlord, last Feb 10th we mailed march's rent check along with the notice we would not be renewing our lease.

a couple of days after the first of march my land lord call, said that they had not received our payment, I told him to check his mailbox and more account,  

He said no check, so I went to my bank transferred the money direct to his account,  

Now that i am moved out of the warehouse, he cashes the check dated Feb 10, you know the one he never received .

He also has my full deposit!!  

Your sugestions??   without old coyote going off the deep end!

[plugginaway22]

Just don't pay next month?

[Bonny]

Apr 5, 2016 10:36:33 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

Well,  some one actually got oldcoyote upset,  My now Ex landlord, last Feb 10th we mailed march's rent check along with the notice we would not be renewing our lease.

a couple of days after the first of march my land lord call, said that they had not received our payment, I told him to check his mailbox and more account,  

He said no check, so I went to my bank transferred the money direct to his account,  

Now that i am moved out of the warehouse, he cashes the check dated Mar 10, you know the one he never received .

He also has my full deposit!!  

Your sugestions??   without old coyote going off the deep end!

Have you called him yet?

I always take the high road the first time around. Something got misplaced, delayed whatever. I probably would have put a stop payment on that first check if I thought it was lost.

I'm not sure what are the laws for commercial real estate but return of residential deposits is a blistering 14 days. 

[OldCoyote]

Apr 5, 2016 18:20:48 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Apr 5, 2016 10:36:33 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

Well,  some one actually got oldcoyote upset,  My now Ex landlord, last Feb 10th we mailed march's rent check along with the notice we would not be renewing our lease.

a couple of days after the first of march my land lord call, said that they had not received our payment, I told him to check his mailbox and more account,  

He said no check, so I went to my bank transferred the money direct to his account,  

Now that i am moved out of the warehouse, he cashes the check dated Mar 10, you know the one he never received .

He also has my full deposit!!  

Your sugestions??   without old coyote going off the deep end!

Have you called him yet?

I always take the high road the first time around. Something got misplaced, delayed whatever. I probably would have put a stop payment on that first check if I thought it was lost.

I'm not sure what are the laws for commercial real estate but return of residential deposits is a blistering 14 days. 

I did text him, He claims that the check just showed up like monday morning,  Like three months later, I think he had tthe check all along.


but didn't want acknowledge  my letter that we wene not renewing the lease.   Why? maybe to keep my deposit because I had not given notice?

He now says he is recovering for surgery,  can not respond now. 

[debthaven]

I posted twice recently and deleted my post ... long story short we had the local studio estimated.

What we want for it is a wee bit on the high side, but they agency feels it's doable, so we're putting it up for sale. If we get what we want, great, we'll sell it. And if we don't, we'll hang onto it for a while longer.

This said, I really hope we can sell it at the price we want. With all the work in the house, money is tight, plus DS3 is off to college in Sept.

We have an appt with the agency on Sat to sign the papers to list it.

If we sell it, we are NOT buying another rental.

[debthaven]

Always, you seem very diligent and determined, so I'm sure you can do it!

[debthaven]

I know this is going to sound weird, and it's totally psychological, and not based in reality. But we have four kids, and four rentals. Now that DS1 and his GF have bought their own apt, we no longer feel the need to keep all four, which has been a struggle at times.

Like I said, there is no rational explanation for that, it's not like we were planning to give them one each or anything LOL.

[debthaven]

Haha Always! Good to know it makes sense to someone else LOL.

[Bonny]

Apr 27, 2016 14:41:03 GMT -5 debthaven said:

I know this is going to sound weird, and it's totally psychological, and not based in reality. But we have four kids, and four rentals. Now that DS1 and his GF have bought their own apt, we no longer feel the need to keep all four, which has been a struggle at times.

Like I said, there is no rational explanation for that, it's not like we were planning to give them one each or anything LOL.

LOL I told the real estate agent that I felt like I was selling my children off.

ETA: I chickened out on selling the condo. We're going to focus on selling the N. San Diego County house. Helps solve our need for capital $ and investing the rest to boost our income.

[tskeeter]

Apr 27, 2016 14:31:52 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

well, got geotech report. will require 60' piles underneath garage in order to support it. that could get pricy, but we'll see if it's a no go or not.

now that we are getting there, can get structural engineer to finish his work and then we can get solid estimates on the work from our leading contractor.

i'm optimistic we're going to get to do this thing, but it's going to take some concrete and steel to pull it off!

ABO, is there a way to float the garage rather than put it on piles?  When I was young I worked for a guy who had a two story brick motel built on loose cobble beach stones.  He described the foundation as a floating boat.  After 30 years, the building wasn't showing any cracking along joints in the brick, or in the brick itself, so the building must have moved as a single unit as the beach rock shifted.

[debthaven]

Bonny that sounds like a good decision!

[debthaven]

Papers all signed. The studio should be listen by Tues at the latest.

[Works4me]

Bonny - that sounds like a great decision.

debthaven - fingers crossed that it all goes well.

I need to get the lead out and get my father's place sold. Not only will the capital increase my income substantially but living in my place is a lot less expensive and despite the smaller size, I really do like it better.

The other benefit us it will get me out of the landlord business. My niece has been there for a little over three years and there have been no issues. Call me chicken but I want out before anything arises.

I just feel a total lack of desire to do much of anything requiring energy or effort. In addition to work on both places I have stuff in storage to go through - everything from boxes going back years to DME from my father to discard. Yet all I want to do is watch baseball while eating pizza and drinking beer.

[debthaven]

Sarah do you have a friend who can help you? Or can you take out a few boxes at a time, and go through them while watching baseball and eating pizza and drinking beer?

The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time... the hardest part is starting. Come join us on the decluttering thread!

ETA: Could your niece help you, maybe in exchange for lower rent for a while? And you can give her a generous timeline by which you want to move back ... 3 or 6 months, for example. That way she could help you and save more money to move out.

[tskeeter]

May 1, 2016 21:49:20 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

Apr 29, 2016 17:44:46 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

ABO, is there a way to float the garage rather than put it on piles?  When I was young I worked for a guy who had a two story brick motel built on loose cobble beach stones.  He described the foundation as a floating boat.  After 30 years, the building wasn't showing any cracking along joints in the brick, or in the brick itself, so the building must have moved as a single unit as the beach rock shifted.

I think we're out of luck because of the earthquake zone here.  I did get some more info from geotech, our mechanical, and the piling contractor.

basically, the pin piles only run me about $10k for the project (only need them on the low side).  but, the shoring and soldier piles we need during excavation are aonther 100-125K.  so, i think if we raise the building about 3' and move it about 4' towards the trailing edge of the slope, we'll need much less "temp" support and hopefully can get that down to 50k or even lower with some strategic back elevation.

I think we'll still figure this out, but it's going to require me to finagle the structural engineer and the piling guy to find a good sotluion that is affordable while doing nominal compromises on the placement/etc.

I love the idea though, we might do more of that.

ABO, is your proposed garage attached, or free standing?  I'm wondering if requirements for a detached garage would be different.  My very rough rule of thumb is that a basic single stall garage will run somewhere slightly in excess of $10K.  For that kind of money, you could skip the piles and let it slide down the hill during an earthquake.  Then build a new garage.  All for less money than a pile supported garage.

Sounds crazy, but might be worth some consideration.  You seem like the kind of person to figure out how to make crazy ideas work for you.

[TheHaitian]

We are relocating... We are split between selling and renting it out!

On the fence of renting because no renters = no money and we would have to cover the shortfall. $2,300/month is a BIG shortfall to cover!

Sell and we break even or maybe make 10K (so lose the down payment money) but at least it is a clean cut.

We probably will have to hire a property manager since we will be 8 hrs away!

[Deleted]

May 3, 2016 15:12:33 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

We are relocating... We are split between selling and renting it out!

On the fence of renting because no renters = no money and we would have to cover the shortfall. $2,300/month is a BIG shortfall to cover!

Sell and we break even or maybe make 10K (so lose the down payment money) but at least it is a clean cut.

We probably will have to hire a property manager since we will be 8 hrs away!

 

And this is why I was so against you sticking money in a fence and shed. 

Where are you going?

[lund]

Cool it some, Carl!

I did not manage to see your post about what happened to/at the new job, but this sounds as if congrats is the thing to say...

Try to arrange yourselves so that you go (wherever it is), work for the probationary period (assuming there is one), or at least some weeks to verify that it works, and then decide on renting or selling.

And Mrs. Carl would probably want a new job too, which I assume will take some time to arrange. (Isn't she half-way through the loan forgiveness yet?)

In the meantime, continue the IVF, and prepare yourselves for moving and the house for showing.

[TheHaitian]

Probation is 60 days after you start training and then 60 days after you are placed.... Training is 6 months!

So I really cannot hold on to the house for that long. As for my wife she can telecommute for work which is what she plans to do!

[zibazinski]

Either Friday or Saturday I will no longer be a landlord!! Woo hoo!!!

[justme]

That's really great they'll let her telecommute.

I'd talk to some property management companies and see if they can give you a ball park on what rent would be. That'll prob make a decision for you since you prob can't afford to take a loss each month if that's the case.

[zibazinski]

Carl, why don't you try to rent a room or a small place and see if this job works out first?

[lund]

A very good idea!