Looks like I'm plain screwed? Landlord keeping my security deposit:

[rga]

No updates?

Looks like we got Zeze'd. He creates this thread, barely responds to it, and just lets everyone else argue with each other. Well done Zeze.

It's been almost two weeks since the end of January. He was bitching because he didn't get his depost back within 48 hours, not realizing that the world doesn't revolve around him and his measly $3000. My guess is that he's since got it back, but is too much of a whiny little bitch to come back to his thread and own up to the fact that he over-reacted.

 

[dr150]

Who cares? Generally speaking crashtech is correct! Anybody can spout an exception to the rule......sheesh!!

I don't know where you're going with this. This is not an exception. This is part of the business.

Credit checks are an absolute no-brainer "requirement" when screening finalist applicants. There's companies that are hired to further do criminal, sex offender, eviction and past tenant/landlord relationship checks for all 50 States, etc, etc. That helps a bit. But never as much as you'd like to when you have experience in this business.

The fact is that DESPITE all these checks, as a practicing investment property landlord, you DEAL with a host of unforeseen "human asshole" issues that eventually come to bear where tenants go out of their way to make you stress the fuck out.

You may own 100 units, but you will indeed deal with more than a handful of these cases, every year and most months, that make you question why the fuck you are in this stupid business in the first place if you don't have the stomach for it.

I know several guys who own hundreds of units and they have attorneys working every month, year-round on evictions/tenant damages/crime/police investigations & raids/squatting tenants manipulating rent law to continue to squat, etc, etc.

The damage money is pretty much unrecoverable as people that run into trouble and damage shit are "incapable" of paying back. Even with a court order to garnish wages, you have to hunt them down if they switch jobs or States, which so many do. The hassle of collecting that $100/mo. garnishment on $15000 of damages is just not worth the stress and fees to chase them.

Every landlord I know that is caught in this situation, in practice, takes it as a writeoff and work off that debt from the profit from the other rentals....b/c going to court to garnish wages after an eviction is a waste of time with such manipulative folks.

It's not a pretty business.

It's a P&L statement with a host of scummy people, that despite all thorough checks, will go out of their way to act as evil as possible and knowingly make your life as miserable as possible to boot.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

I can say, you land lords need to do 3 things:

1) Does the person have crazy eyes (or meth teeth, drunk nose, etc.)
2) Does a person liable for rent make 4 times the rent.
3) RAISE THE RENT!!! I'm in Portland and the rent is just too damned low!

Number 3 is the most important point. There seems to be this desire to be 'choosey' by charging too little and having a lot of demand; but if you use 2 as your filtering criteria people won't have to rely on a realtor to find a rental, instead they'll pay money they can afford for a house that, yes, will go un-rented a few weeks more, but which will pay for itself in terms of price and quality of tenant.

If you do this, I assure you, you will only rent to people you can recover from.

Additionally, if you offer a service of helping people understand how to save up and find a home to buy you could induce a sense of 'hope' among those who rent from you; and that will go a very long way to helping avoid the 'human' issues.

 

[Schmide]

PS don't accept just the security deposit flat. It accrues interest and is your money. If you have to go to court ask for much more. If they have already rented it again the money should be in your pocket.

 

[SearchMaster]

It's been almost two weeks since the end of January. He was bitching because he didn't get his depost back within 48 hours, not realizing that the world doesn't revolve around him and his measly $3000. My guess is that he's since got it back, but is too much of a whiny little bitch to come back to his thread and own up to the fact that he over-reacted.

Harsh but fair.

 

[Schfifty Five]

It's been almost two weeks since the end of January. He was bitching because he didn't get his depost back within 48 hours, not realizing that the world doesn't revolve around him and his measly $3000. My guess is that he's since got it back, but is too much of a whiny little bitch to come back to his thread and own up to the fact that he over-reacted.

Quite possibly true. Seems like OP was just trolling to begin with. It's evident with his extreme post followed by hardly replying at all. The replies he does post never addresses any of the legit posters in this thread.

 

[Genx87]

I meant to change my policy from a regular homeowners to a rental. Never did. Didn't mind the extra fee, just never got around to it. Too lazy.

Someone please just put a fucking bullet in my head.

Ouch!!!!!!!!

 

[NetWareHead]

I can say, you land lords need to do 3 things:

1) Does the person have crazy eyes (or meth teeth, drunk nose, etc.)
2) Does a person liable for rent make 4 times the rent.
3) RAISE THE RENT!!! I'm in Portland and the rent is just too damned low!

Number 3 is the most important point. There seems to be this desire to be 'choosey' by charging too little and having a lot of demand; but if you use 2 as your filtering criteria people won't have to rely on a realtor to find a rental, instead they'll pay money they can afford for a house that, yes, will go un-rented a few weeks more, but which will pay for itself in terms of price and quality of tenant.

If you do this, I assure you, you will only rent to people you can recover from.

This is an excellent post and a big part of landlord success. Landlording is a business and part of that business success is being able to carefully discriminate between good and bad tenants. The tenants you engage with have direct impacts on your profitability so always keep a legal reason in your back pock to deny a tenant's application if you smell somethign fishy. Once you choose someone, keeping your tenants happy takes work and anyone who says landlording is "side work" or passive income is wrong. Offering quality competitive units deserving of higher rents that stand out from your competition is also hard work. Getting good tenants to sign for multiple leases year after year to create steady income flows is my definition of success. A good tenant is worth his weight in gold. You will have less headaches, less repairs and more profit if you rent to and retain good tenants. I cant strees this point enough

I wholeheartedly agree with raising the rent because that by itself will naturally weed out most of the lower quality tenants. Naturally, higher rents necessitate something attractive about/around/in the unit (good location, school district, amenities etc...) which will attract quality good tenants at a price that will discourage bad tenants from applying. Of course there are bad tenants from every class so its not always easy to predict. But I am a firm beleiver in quality of rental unit & tenants vs quantity. I'd rather have 5 good units that attract quality tenants than 10 units that atttract ghetto tenants with all of their respective issues.

 

[Genx87]

I can say, you land lords need to do 3 things:

1) Does the person have crazy eyes (or meth teeth, drunk nose, etc.)
2) Does a person liable for rent make 4 times the rent.
3) RAISE THE RENT!!! I'm in Portland and the rent is just too damned low!

Number 3 is the most important point. There seems to be this desire to be 'choosey' by charging too little and having a lot of demand; but if you use 2 as your filtering criteria people won't have to rely on a realtor to find a rental, instead they'll pay money they can afford for a house that, yes, will go un-rented a few weeks more, but which will pay for itself in terms of price and quality of tenant.

If you do this, I assure you, you will only rent to people you can recover from.

Additionally, if you offer a service of helping people understand how to save up and find a home to buy you could induce a sense of 'hope' among those who rent from you; and that will go a very long way to helping avoid the 'human' issues.

I have actually had potential renters ask me when they come look at the place what is the policy on getting the rent check to me on time? Most of the time I will inquire just for curiosities sake what they mean. Most are honest with "well I am not good with money so sometimes I wont be able to get the rent to you on the 1st but it will be 1-2 weeks late". I try not to laugh. I appreciate it due to not having to waste time looking at their civil\criminal court history to find out they are deadbeats. Then there are others who try to hide they are shit bags. I find the more aggressive they are up front the higher the chance they are deadbeats. Had this one couple come in pissing and moaning about a damage deposit. She calls me and says "he is pissed about having to give you a pet deposit". Turns out the guy has been convicted several times for check fraud and been sued 26 times in 15 years in civil court. After leaving them a VM alluding to I found this out they were never heard from again.

 

[NetWareHead]

I have actually had potential renters ask me when they come look at the place what is the policy on getting the rent check to me on time? Most of the time I will inquire just for curiosities sake what they mean. Most are honest with "well I am not good with money so sometimes I wont be able to get the rent to you on the 1st but it will be 1-2 weeks late". I try not to laugh. I appreciate it due to not having to waste time looking at their civil\criminal court history to find out they are deadbeats.

 

[dr150]

I have actually had potential renters ask me when they come look at the place what is the policy on getting the rent check to me on time? Most of the time I will inquire just for curiosities sake what they mean. Most are honest with "well I am not good with money so sometimes I wont be able to get the rent to you on the 1st but it will be 1-2 weeks late". I try not to laugh. I appreciate it due to not having to waste time looking at their civil\criminal court history to find out they are deadbeats. Then there are others who try to hide they are shit bags. I find the more aggressive they are up front the higher the chance they are deadbeats. Had this one couple come in pissing and moaning about a damage deposit. She calls me and says "he is pissed about having to give you a pet deposit". Turns out the guy has been convicted several times for check fraud and been sued 26 times in 15 years in civil court. After leaving them a VM alluding to I found this out they were never heard from again.

This is absolutely true.

The worst applicants have been ones that try to put undue pressure for you to make a decision to accept them. Their paperwork is "manipulated" clean, but when you start to dig, you realize OMG WTF?!
.
.
As to the Portland comment. Rents are generally listed based on market, neighborhood, demand, and dwelling quality. You can't charge too much or it won't get rented out. Deadbeats will apply at every pricepoint. Actually, the most shady ones are guys driving expensive German makes trying to pass themselves off as ballers (you're not a baller if you have to rent and those expensive cars are taking away from your ability to pay rent, LOL).

When I take a tenant app seriously, I'll drive to their work and talk to his references personally instead of by phone. You can learn a lot more seeing these folks face to face. You'll smell the rat almost immediately.

For every 20 apps you get, you'll be lucky to have 1 or 2 that are marginally acceptable. I'll wait it out until I'm 100% comfortable.

And agreeing to a prior comment, a great tenant is GOLD and I'll go out of my way to make sure they're happy. Too much time is invested to find such folks. But Lord have mercy if they try to fuck me. I have my lawyer on speed dial ready to hit the evict button. I coach my tenants that rent money is sacred and no tolerance will be given to manipulative talks. I go out of my way to put the fear in the them....as nicely as possible.

 

[waffleironhead]

@dr150, Blackjack200

Stories like that are why I'm afraid to get into real estate investing. My parents don't have good stories to tell either.

Yeah, you have to worry about all those renters who get pets and dont want to pay the pet deposit. :sneaky:

 

[Ns1]

Yeah, you have to worry about all those renters who get pets and dont want to pay the pet deposit. :sneaky:

seriously. fuck those guys.

 

[dr150]

Yeah, you have to worry about all those renters who get pets and dont want to pay the pet deposit. :sneaky:

I go even further than that.

I need to personally see the pet and interact with it to see what breed it is and what demeanor it has.

Pitt bulls?....Fuck NO!

 

[crashtech]

I engaged in a bit of back and forth on a local board with a dumb broad who was trying to get a doctor's note to be able to have a pet due to some made up anxiety disorder. Of course, if you have a medical excuse, you are also exempt from any deposit or rent increase due to the pet, and you can't evict them due to the pet.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Rents are generally listed based on market, neighborhood, demand, and dwelling quality.

See this is right and wrong. It's this "look at everyone else" mentality that fails to raise rents fast enough to keep up with demand. If you are renting out regularly sight unseen, if people need to use a real estate agent to find you, if you have a 20:1 ratio of applicants; then you're doing it wrong.

This is because the 'rules of thumb' used (like $/sqr ft) aren't taking into account what NetWareHead is saying: "Naturally, higher rents necessitate something attractive about/around/in the unit (good location, school district, amenities etc...) which will attract quality good tenants at a price that will discourage bad tenants from applying."

Yes, there are variations per neighborhood; but I've found in the small businesses I consult to, nearly 0 have had prices too high, and over 2/3rds have prices set much much too low. Landlords are no different.

Unless you've personally done an elasticity of demand study, you are almost certain to be under charging. The additional income (and side benefit) are distally rewarded; lots of applicants is proximally rewarding.

I engaged in a bit of back and forth on a local board with a dumb broad who was trying to get a doctor's note to be able to have a pet due to some made up anxiety disorder. Of course, if you have a medical excuse, you are also exempt from any deposit or rent increase due to the pet, and you can't evict them due to the pet.

Why is that 'dumb'? Seems like a scam that everyone will use when they figure it out that then they can sue you when you turn them down/don't re-up the rent

 

[Raduque]

I go even further than that.

I need to personally see the pet and interact with it to see what breed it is and what demeanor it has.

Pitt bulls?....Fuck NO!

Really? I currently have a 30# lab mix. She's quiet, well behaved and doesn't damage anything. If I had a pit, it would be trained the exact same way. Just because it's a pit, you'd refuse it, regardless of behavior and demeanor?

I know people whos cats will destroy anything they can get their claws on, be it carpet, walls, counters, your face, etc - but I bet you'd rent to them because the cat was sleeping when you saw it.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

So this troll thread is still going without zeze addressing any of the posts?

 

[NetWareHead]

And agreeing to a prior comment, a great tenant is GOLD and I'll go out of my way to make sure they're happy. Too much time is invested to find such folks. But Lord have mercy if they try to fuck me. I have my lawyer on speed dial ready to hit the evict button. I coach my tenants that rent money is sacred and no tolerance will be given to manipulative talks. I go out of my way to put the fear in the them....as nicely as possible.

This. I've leared over the years that even a landlord needs customer service skills. I practically kiss the ass of quality tenants and make sure to respond to voicemails, emails as soon as possible. When I first got into this I thought landlording didnt really have a customer service element but now I feel that a LL needs customer service skills just like any business owner. Tenants feel reassured when a LL gets back to them promptly. When a problem is fixed in a reasonable time. When a promise I make is adhered to. If II run into a snag and there is honest communication. A little bit of respect goes a long way. Sometimes I take it a bit overboard; one of my current tenants I have not raised the rent on in 3 years just because I dont want to lose the guy; one of the best tenants I have ever had. Dealing with him is a pleasure; especially considering how bad some tenants can make your life.

 

[dr150]

Really? I currently have a 30# lab mix. She's quiet, well behaved and doesn't damage anything. If I had a pit, it would be trained the exact same way. Just because it's a pit, you'd refuse it, regardless of behavior and demeanor?

I know people whos cats will destroy anything they can get their claws on, be it carpet, walls, counters, your face, etc - but I bet you'd rent to them because the cat was sleeping when you saw it.

No cats. I hate cats. Cats are demons of destruction.

Pitts have a stealth element and can go berserk for no reason. I don't want to tap into my liability insurance b/c his Pitt suddenly bit some kid living down the street.

This. I've leared over the years that even a landlord needs customer service skills. I practically kiss the ass of quality tenants and make sure to respond to voicemails, emails as soon as possible. When I first got into this I thought landlording didnt really have a customer service element but now I feel that a LL needs customer service skills just like any business owner. Tenants feel reassured when a LL gets back to them promptly. When a problem is fixed in a reasonable time. When a promise I make is adhered to. If II run into a snag and there is honest communication. A little bit of respect goes a long way. Sometimes I take it a bit overboard; one of my current tenants I have not raised the rent on in 3 years just because I dont want to lose the guy; one of the best tenants I have ever had. Dealing with him is a pleasure; especially considering how bad some tenants can make your life.

One of my best tenants are people who left their house b/c of "bad" customer service from the LL.

Customer Service is KEY in this business.

I also won't raise rent on great tenants for fear of losing them. My sanity going through the tenant finding rodeo is worth more than the extra bucks!

 

[NetWareHead]

Really? I currently have a 30# lab mix. She's quiet, well behaved and doesn't damage anything. If I had a pit, it would be trained the exact same way. Just because it's a pit, you'd refuse it, regardless of behavior and demeanor?

I know people whos cats will destroy anything they can get their claws on, be it carpet, walls, counters, your face, etc - but I bet you'd rent to them because the cat was sleeping when you saw it.

cats are at least quiet and I will more likely approve a cat than a dog. it all depends on the house I am offering. A condo: no dogs as I dont want to disturb the neighbors with barking. Place with wall to wall carpetting, no cats bc they scratch up the rugs and file their claws. An antiquey place with original wood moldings/trim, no pets at all.

If I approve an pet on the lease, at the very least the new tenant gets a special pet rider on the lease (specific instructions at end of tenancy that they have to clean etc...) And a rent increase, usually $50 per month extra. If the jurisdiction permits, I'll charge a separate pet deposit.

 

[NoTine42]

I engaged in a bit of back and forth on a local board with a dumb broad who was trying to get a doctor's note to be able to have a pet due to some made up anxiety disorder. Of course, if you have a medical excuse, you are also exempt from any deposit or rent increase due to the pet, and you can't evict them due to the pet.

Can you call 911 every time the dog barks because a medical dog must be alerting humans to a stroke?

 

[Ns1]

Can you call 911 every time the dog barks because a medical dog must be alerting humans to a stroke?

wat

 

[slag]

I go even further than that.

I need to personally see the pet and interact with it to see what breed it is and what demeanor it has.

Pitt bulls?....Fuck NO!

I have a pit bull. Honestly, our Shih Tzu makes more of a mess than the pit bull does. Pit bulls can be very clean animals. As with anything, its more an issue with the demeanor of the animal rather than the breed.

 

[NoTine42]

wat

A proper service dog should be highly trained. But some people try to get away with saying their untrained pet is a "service" animal.
We can't argue against a "service" animal's validity, so I think we should respond by calling expert medical care when a "service" dog is alerting humans to something.