Multifamily Investment Blog

I’m a new landlord and have a question about getting RPA Approval status.  I just purchased a duplex and after closing my agent told me the first thing to do as a new landlord was to get approved by the RPA.  Can anyone tell me how long it takes for approval status?  I just applied now and am wondering about how long it takes thanks!

I am a home owner with a roommate…  I inadvertently forgot to pay my electricity bill and it was shut off.  The power was out over night and for 18 hours.  This caused my roommate the inconvenience of having to get ready for work elsewhere.  She hasn’t asked but I would like to offer a compensation for her inconvenience.  Is this normal and if so what would be an acceptable amount?  Her rent is $550.00 a month.

I would like advice on what to do with a landlord. My friend is living in a 12 month lease apartment, 2 months in as of now. Recently the tenant asked the landlord to turn some music down at 10pm on a Weds night so that their child could sleep. The landlord got mad and has since retaliated. He is now calling the cops about 2-3 times a week complaining that they are making noise. The only thing is, they are sleeping when these complaints are made. The police have come to realize this, sometimes they just drive by and see that all the lights are off and that its quiet. Depending on the officer sometimes they stop by, and see that everyone is sleeping. The Police don’t much have much to say, you can tell they feel bad for the tenants. Now they have been told by the landlord that they are no longer allowed to park their 2 cars in the driveway, which is a HUGE problem since a parking ban (for snow) starts in a week. They checked their lease and there is nothing in their saying they could use the driveway, permission to do so was verbally granted to them. Also, their personal belongings have been conveniently vandalized. The most recent issue has been that sexual harassment. It seems like a no win battle. If they break their lease they won’t get their security deposit back. They don’t have the extra money to spend on an attorney. Any advice would be greatly apprecaited.

I’m a new landlord so I’m not really sure about a lot of things, so any help would be greatly appreciated.  I rent out a single family home in Arizona, and it has one of those hard sided above ground pools. 

Recently, my renter requested that I replace the liner in the pool, about $500 to $700.  Am I really responsible for the liner in the pool?  Shouldn’t some of that be the responsibility of the renter?  What do I do?

The property manager was surprised to find that his tenant of eight years had left a few things behind…   Actually he left 70,000 empty Coors Lite Cans all throughout the rental.  Imagine wading through 4 feet of beer cans just to get around the rental unit!

Property manager Ryan Froerer said he couldn’t even open the front door, it was blocked with beer cans from inside.  Although, the Ogden Utah renter appeared to be the best renter; rent was always paid on-time and he never complained, he apparently had a drinking problem and was a pack rat.

The cans were cleaned up and recycled for a total of $800, hopefully enough to cover the cleaning cost!  Its estimated the the renter spent $540 dollars a month on beer for a grand total of $51,800 during his 8 year rent period. 

Though he once stacked beer boxes to the ceiling, and covered his furniture with his spent aluminum friend; this renter has now given up on drinking altogether.

I thought I would post some tips on how to screen tenants.  Over the years I have found many landlords that skip some very important steps when screening tenants, so I’m posting some tips that have helped me. 

TIP ONE:
Without fail it seems that every-time I have a vacancy I will always find someone that offers me up front cash and is anxious to rent the unit quickly.  Yes, I’ve fallen for this trick a couple of times… You know how it is, sometimes when it’s slow you just want to fill the vacancy quickly so you take the bait. 

Speaking from experience, never ever place yourself in this type of a situation.  Ask yourself the following questions:
          1.  Why is the tenant so anxious to move?
               Most likely this is a sign of a tenant that is being evicted or forced to move.  
               You will have to be careful with judgement on this, even if the tenant gives you
                a valid reason for need to move in so quickly it may be a trick to play on your
                emotions.  Can you verify their story?
          2.  Did the tenant have any questions about the unit or features?
               Everyone should have some questions about the rental before renting.  If the 
               seems like they are completely happy with the rental, especially without a good 
               walk-through; it probably means that they don’t plan on staying for very long.  
               Are they planning on getting evicted within a couple of months?
          3.  Does it sound too good to be true?
               Most people don’t rush into renting a place unless their is a hidden reason such as
               eviction history, drug problems, etc.  Is the renter acting way off character, do 
               their actions match up with the obligations required? 

TIP TWO
Gut feelings and first impressions are usually the worst form of screening.  Some of my most costly mistakes have been based off of renting to someone that I “felt” good about.  I know the importance of saving money, and because of that I have found myself skipping over the background check in order to save a little money.  I learned the hard way that this is one of the poorest decisions to be made as a landlord.  Now I ask myself the following before renting to someone:
         1.  How much will it cost me to replace flooring, fixtures, appliances?
              Bad tenants can cause costly repairs.  Once after remodelling a unit I renting to
              someone based on a gut feeling…  3 months later the unit was completely trashed
              costing more than $5,000 in repairs.  Although the renter seemed like the 
              perfect renter, they actually had a history of drug problems.  Had I spent the $20
              on a background check I would’ve found their history and would’ve never rented 
              to them.
         2.  How much will it cost me if I have to evict the tenant?
              If I have to evict the tenant, how much money will I lose in the court process and 
              with lost rent?  
         3.  How long will it take me to fill the vacancy again? 
              This question is two-fold, how long will it take to get the rental ready to rent, and
              how long will it take me to find a renter?  The quickest I’ve ever seen a rental 
              turn from vacancy to rented was one week, and that’s very rare.  Even if you can
              rent out your unit in one week you will still be losing 7 days of rent, which could    
              be several hundred dollars.
          4. How much time and headache can this cause me?
              I already have enough stress in my life, so I don’t need to cause any more
              headaches.  And I’m sure all of us can use all the time we have on other things.
In short, you should never ever consider not screening a tenant before renting to them.  Their is way too much to risk.  By far the smartest decision you can make as a landlord is to spend money on the screening process.  The old saying of stepping over a dollar to pick up a nickle holds so true to the screening process.  Don’t risk saving a few dollars when you have thousands at risk. 

Does anyone know how the eviction process works? I’m looking to evict a tenant for non- payment but I’m not really sure how it works. I would appreciate any help I can get.

Why do we put ourselves through this, I get so sick of renters that abuse their apartments. I just spent $4000 remodeling a rental unit just to find that the tenants I put in there beat up the place. It amazes me how much damage people can do in a short time. I get so sick of irresponsible tenants that abuse my properties.

Anybody out there have any helps about how to avoid this from happening?

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