Quoted from jp1985:Did you get hurt?
No, I just had the crap scared out of me. It would have been an 18-foot drop, but I caught myself on a vent pipe, and very carefully proceeded to get back to the ladder and off the roof.
(Topic ID: 257412)
Quoted from JohnnyPinball007:The housing market here and property taxes have went up a whole lot here in recent years.
But if I have a good tenant, I will eat the increased property taxes, and never go up on their rent, I want to keep them.
A good tenant is like free money, like in the old days when interest on savings was paying 10%.
And yes I used to make 10% interest on savings, and then it dropped to 8% and stayed there for a while, but when it went down to 4%, I said screw it and drained savings and bought 3 rental houses.
I paid too much for the first one, but it was the best deal I could find at the time, and it was totally newly remodeled and very nice.
The other 2 were bank owned, and I got a whole lot better deal on better houses.
I bought the last place I lived in as a bank owned post-2008. Dirt cheap, great condition, and it was a 3 bedroom in the heart of downtown Chicago. One of the best financial decisions I ever made, even though it made me incredibly house-poor for about five years, as I was working for a library. Early 2020, just prior to covid, we decided to move to a town home just a few miles south and turn the old place into a rental.
When covid hit, we were biting our nails. We thought that our home was going to plummet in value, but just the opposite happened. We ended up being able to refinance in 2021, knock out PMI, and generally make things a ton better (and went from a 30 to 15 year on both our properties).
The rental was harder. Took us like four months to find some tenants, and drop the price, but when we did, they were great. Pay on time. They are low effort, but still ask me to do stuff maybe a couple of times a year, so I get a chance to check out the place, and while they're not perfect, they're not bad either. I've renewed their lease with no increases and will do it again, despite the neighborhood rents starting to go back to pre-covid rates. At this point, they're covering the mortgage, assessments, taxes and building up the repair fund for the place.
When they go, we'll do a refresh and get a few hundred more a month, but right now, I'm happy with it the way it is, zero stress.
Quoted from thekiyote:I've renewed their lease with no increases and will do it again, despite the neighborhood rents starting to go back to pre-covid rates.
My tenants are very happy that I have never gone up on their rent. They know everything is costing more now, and luckily they try to help out by doing more work on the house that they can do, to help save me from paying for a repair.
Recently a house needed a hot water heater, and the tenant worked for the gas company and knew how to do that, so they bought the hot water heater, did all the work, and sent the receipt for the materials, with that amount deducted from their total owed to me that month.
Recently another tenant did the same with a stove repair.
When time to sign a new lease I tell them property taxes are taking a bite, but I am not going up on your rent so that you can stay with your budget, but please help save me any repairs that you can.
(Not letting them fix anymore leaking pipes though, that did not work well).
1 month later
We've got a building at the corner of a very busy street and a side street that gets a decent amount of traffic. Last night a car wreck landed a car up onto my corner where it was stopped by a very old, large tree. Took out some landscape timbers and a bush. If the angle was just a little different, it could have hit my new monument sign. Neighbors say to expect something like that approximately once a year.
What would better protect my nice new monument sign? Planting large boulders or setting in posts filled with concrete?
Quoted from undrdog:posts filled with concrete
I think that would be strongest, but it might not look too good.
1 month later
My property taxes just went WAY UP.
Other landlords say I am nuts for not raising the rent to make up for it. (maybe I am).
All I know is I have very awesome tenants and most are retired and on fixed income, and I am sure gas prices and food prices are already hurting them. while I am still young enough to work a tad more to cover the costs.
It is a real shame that Cobb County is raising the taxes so much, when we are all already feeling the pain from all the other stuff in life also costing more and more.
Sometimes I protest by buying everything in another county so that Cobb does not get the tax.
Sometimes I wonder if I would be better off just buying everything in Cobb county so that maybe they will make enough to be happy and give us a break on taxes.
In the meantime I am just so happy that I have awesome tenants in place, I have had bad ones in the past, so I know all about how it works both ways.
Warrington, PA
My last rental property (over 30 years ago in Philthydelphia). I had a Duplex with a store front on first floor and apartment behind it and on the second floor on the Third floor was a small apartment.. I rented the small apartment furnished to a young single woman and her son. Rent was dirt cheap. She stopped paying the rent and went crazy on me.. leaving all kinds of crazy messages on my phone etc.. I went one day to inspect the apartment and it was a crap hole.. sex toys and lube all over the bedroom.. almost looked like she was hooking out of the apartment and otherwise a mess.. so after no rent for two months or so I decided she had to go so I went about the process to "legally" evict her. On my one day a week off, a Monday I went downtown to start the process... I was asked if I had a renter's license.. um, what is that? SO they explained. I won't bore you with all the details of up the elevator, down the elevator go over to the post office.. go here go there.. it took many monday's of this waste of time to get the ball rolling.. I started this process in the fall.. by the time I got myself legal etc.. I was told something along the lines of I couldn't evict her in the winter. We were getting near on 5 months of no rent.. and I couldn't get her out.. so on advice of a friend that had multiple units.. I road down on my bike one early evening.. I went up to the door and beat on it with my helmet, telling her to open up it's the landlord.. she refused.. said some choice words.. so following the advice of my friend I braced myself against the wall in the hallway in front of her door and kicked it off the hinges.. leaving it laying at her feet. She and her son stood there with mouths agape.. I told her if she wasn't out by the time I got back tomorrow I'd throw her and her son down the steps. I came back the next day and she was gone.. so was every stitch of furniture, every appliance including the stove, the refridgerator, the dinette set I provided, the washer and the dryer I provided.. in addition she punched or smashed a hole in every square foot of wall she could get her hands on and ripped the bathroom sink off the wall. After this experience and then the people on the first floor stopped paying rent I sold the place and vowed NEVER to be a landlord again.
PatWoodrailLVR I can see your point but mine I made the mistake of renting to my great niece and her boyfriend. I ended up spending more the fixes than I made from them. Never again and getting ready to sell my house and movie into my last rental as it is bigger and newer built.
we've all learned our lessons as landlords. the key is, be picky about your tenants, and never rent to someone who doesn't have a 3 to one income to rent ratio. no exceptions.
also, do not deliver keys or signed lease until all money to move in has been paid (first rent and deposit in full). never let rent go unpaid without a notice to pay or quit. never wait to take action, otherwise squatters will take advantage and live rent free.
simple rules for success! rental income is a staple for my bottom line, and has allowed me to buy several pins in the last five years.
4 months later
Some people, or companies amaze me.
A house at the end of my street has been sitting vacant for over a year now.
A new roof was installed, along with new windows and HVAC and pretty much best I can tell everything is new, except for the septic system, and it should be fine anyway.
Someone spent a whole lot of money on that house.
No sign in the yard, but recently I did notice on Realtor.com that it is for rent, $1750.00.
That is crazy, a lot of larger homes are for rent in the area for less than that.
Right now, at best that home would rent for $1400.00.
That would almost have to be some big company doing that, because an individual with just a few houses would try to price it to rent, after spending all of that money.
Quoted from JohnnyPinball007:That would almost have to be some big company doing that, because an individual with just a few houses would try to price it to rent, after spending all of that money.
Not that it is any of my business or anything anyway. Just seems odd to me.
I really hope housing prices fall a lot, so that property taxes will also fall.
Almost as bad as I hate a bad tenant, I also hate the drastic property tax increases.
I also hate all the junk mail and phone calls, from people wanting to buy my houses.
I love my tenants though, I have had all 3 houses rented out for 4-7 years now, and pretty sure they will all stay with me for a long time, if not forever.
A few months ago, I retired from construction, and now that I no longer have to be up at 5am I am open to learning new things, and making more repairs myself, instead of just calling a plumber or whatever.
I was already doing all the septic repairs myself, because that was what I did working construction, operating excavators and backhoes and installing waterlines and sewer lines. Being able to do that yourself saves a lot of money.
A few years ago, I also had metal roofs installed on all the houses, so no longer have to worry about that expense.
I have found though, that the caulk around the pipes coming out of the roof does wear out, and have to replace that a little, but easy enough to do.
Most of the HVAC systems are not too old, and I have someone that gives a decent price on that work.
Some of the water heaters are getting old, and I have already been learning more about that, because my plumber is way too high.
Recently I worked on a toilet, and that was so easy, and the parts was so cheap, I was like damn, I know why my plumber is always in a good mood, when he could get $85.00 for something that simple.
I have also stopped going to Lowes and Home Depot most of the time. I have found my local ACE hardware is about the same price, and at this store anyway, 4 of them ask what do you need help with, the minute you walk in the door.
Recently I was replacing a 99-cent light switch at a house, and I only recently learned how to do this (I know, that is bad, I can operate a 70-ton excavator and I do not know how to replace a light switch), anyway, ACE told me about the different ones, and how installing the wrong one could come back to me, if I ever had an insurance claim.
Good luck getting help like that, at the big box stores, if you can even find anyone that works in that department anyway.
If any local landlords ever read this thread, and want to get together to compare things like HVAC companies, and the prices they charge, just shoot me a pm.
A while back I ran into someone I knew in high school, and they said they have 20 rental houses.
I have 3. I may would buy one or two more if prices were ever cheap enough again, but I am debt free, frugal, and just having 3 rentals has allowed me to get away from work I had become sick of.
No more getting up at 5am and sometimes driving for 2 hours round trip.
My houses are all within 2 miles of me, and at most I drive 15 miles a week anymore, unless on a vacation, and I am HAPPY!
1 week later
Well I have sold all my mine except the one I am selling to my brother. He got a deal as this was before the prices increased. The one I was living in needed at lease $20,000 in fixes so I sold it and moved into my last rental. Got it fixed as it is larger square footage and newer. Took some of the money and paid off the mortgage and have much less stress. Not collecting my SS yet but I think it looks brighter for my future.
5 months later
People around here are brainwashed or something. Recently they voted to make this area a city, and they are all hoping for free trash pickup.
Newsflash, nothing is free.
I have never gone up on anyone's rent, but once the trash cans arrive, and my property taxes go up, I will be going up on their rent, and explaining to them that the money they thought they were saving has been passed on to me, so now your rent is higher, and your monthly costs should still be the same.
I have no plans to ever sell the 3 houses, because it is my retirement income and if I did sell, I would owe a lot of taxes, because through the years my accountant has heavily depreciated the houses.
I have been trying to learn new things, to take care of more repairs myself, to save money also.
Quoted from JohnnyPinball007:People around here are brainwashed or something. Recently they voted to make this area a city, and they are all hoping for free trash pickup.
Newsflash, nothing is free.
I have never gone up on anyone's rent, but once the trash cans arrive, and my property taxes go up, I will be going up on their rent, and explaining to them that the money they thought they were saving has been passed on to me, so now your rent is higher, and your monthly costs should still be the same.
I have no plans to ever sell the 3 houses, because it is my retirement income and if I did sell, I would owe a lot of taxes, because through the years my accountant has heavily depreciated the houses.
I have been trying to learn new things, to take care of more repairs myself, to save money also.
I mean, if your taxes go up a whole bunch you're perfectly entitled to raising your rents. I try to only raise rents when absolutely necessary but there is still a minimum amount we need to make in order to build up the nest egg for fixes and covering us if a renter leaves and we can't find a replacement.
That said, though, there are benefits to living in an incorporated township. Things like park districts, libraries, dedicated police and so on. Heck, at this point, I wouldn't even live in a SMALL city anymore. I have family from the suburbs who ask me why I'm willing to pay such high taxes in Chicago compared to them, and I'm like, I have public transit, subsidized bike share, a park every couple of blocks, two libraries within three blocks of me, dirt cheap park district programs for my kids, free music and concerts, two beaches less than a mile away, and even the schools aren't that bad once you learn how to navigate the selective enrollment stuff. I pay, but being more than happy to use these resources, I get what I pay for. And that's just the stuff that my tax dollars directly go towards.
My family pays a significant amount less, but they also GET a significant amount less.
5 months later
What extent do you guys go to when tenants move out? And how often do you do renovations, large or small?
I usually wipe down every door/wall/trim and repaint, but this last time I just touched up paint where there were nicks or scratches.
The house was built in the 50s (bungalow), and I shudder to think the number of times the interior doors and trim have been painted. The doors don't close properly, the trim is banged up - the past few years I keep wanting to replace them but I never seem to have time and tenants lined up already.
I tore up the carpet and had the wood floors sanded/finished 4 years ago ($1000), and just had them touched up again ($750) but I think I'm going to do some kind of LVP/vinyl flooring that requires no maintenance next time. I don't want to drop a grand on getting floors touched up every time someone moves out.
Fixtures in the bathroom have been replaced over the years but it needs to be gutted and remodeled too - I was quoted 5k on that 10 years ago, tiny ass bathroom. I can only imagine what it would cost now, even if I do the demo (old school plaster and lathe).
I was just over there cleaning last week and within 2 hours had 3 different people stop and ask if it was for rent or sale, so there's never been a problem getting people in there - i just feel like I need to offer a good quality "product".
Quoted from thekiyote:I mean, if your taxes go up a whole bunch you're perfectly entitled to raising your rents. I try to only raise rents when absolutely necessary
I just went up for the first time ever with one tenant, and they were very happy that I didn't go up much.
Next month I'm going up on the other 2 houses, and I doubt they will take the news as well.
Actually, not going up next month, but giving them way over a 60-day notice that rent is going up.
1 week later
The first rental house I bought, about 20 years ago now, is a small 3/2 brick ranch, that had just been renovated with new everything. While the lot is a tad small, it seems a lot bigger, because of how the houses are spaced. I also liked the fact that it backed up to woods as far as you could see, and every time I was there, I seen deer in the woods.
So anyway now, a developer wants to build townhomes and houses all over those 17 acres behind that house, they have already got the zoning approval and have done some ground boring tests and some surveying.
The thing is, they want to build a road through my property, unless there is some easement I never knew about, I thought I owned the land up to the wood fence on the upper side.
Well, maybe not. Maybe that is my property.
I get a lot of junk mail about "wanting to buy my house", as most of you do also.
Well recently I had a piece of mail that was very different, about that property from a real estate agent, offering about 50k more than it's worth, and a closing date, and all these other terms.
I just emailed them back that I am not interested in selling, I have a great tenant there, and all the systems are in great shape. (Hell, not long ago I installed a new septic tank and fill lines, and that was the last dated thing there giving any problems).
The road they want to build is just dead-end access to the development they want to do, so pretty sure they cannot take it like the government does when they build interstates or whatever, with the eminent domain stuff or whatever.
I have considered talking to a lawyer, and maybe hiring a surveyor, but I am just waiting for now to see what they do next.
If they offer me a whole lot more money, and terms that I can agree to, I may would do one of those transfers for tax purposes and get a larger house that I could rent for more money.
Their current offer is 5k earnest money and will pay me rent until the closing date. HELL NO! I have a good tenant in place, and if all of a sudden the real estate market goes south and they don't follow through, then I would lose a good tenant and may even end up with squatters or other problems.
I figure if they offer more money, then I may agree with terms that the house will only be vacant after 60 days after closing, to give me enough time to buy another house and for the tenants to move to my new house if they wish.
I already have another house lined up, and I am friends with them, so no problems there unless a home inspection on that house were to bring up something bad enough to kill that deal, and I doubt it. I know almost enough to not worry about paying a home inspector, but I most likely would always hire one anyway.
Anyway, I look at Realtor.com a lot, and my best guess is in normal situations that house would sell for 225k pretty fast, and may would sell for 250k, after sitting for a bit. They offered 275k.
I just wonder how high they will really go to? I doubt I have a 5m lottery ticket sitting there, but maybe 500k or more?
Anyone else ever been in this situation and have any advice?
If developers want a piece of land bad enough, they will either pay above market value and call it a day, or depending upon the kind of people they are, they may resort to underhanded tactics--petty inconveniences and mischief or setting lawyers loose on the situation. Anything to put stress on you to get you throw your hands up and sell.
This also depends on how badly they want the land and how critical it is for their plans.
If you want to keep the property and there hasn't been a survey done in a long time, maybe that's not a bad idea so there are no surprises or conflicts with property lines. Maybe also think about a thorough title search going back as far as possible to make sure there wasn't an easement at some point that simply got erased. I've heard of that happening, and if you can find it, the developers can surely find it and use it.
Personally, I really dislike these mega condo/townhouse developers. In my area, they keep building these giant buildings everywhere and none are anywhere near affordable for the average person.
Also keep in mind that they will in all likelihood demolish the house.
If they proceed with their construction plans, the project will likely be a 2-3+ year disruption--large construction equipment, noise at 7AM every day, workers coming and going, the land getting torn up, etc.
Depending on the plans, the new buildings and their proximity to your house, it may make your house less desirable and harder to rent/sell later.
So, it might be a good idea to go to the town/city planning office to see what plans/permits were filed.
Quoted from ForceFlow:Personally, I really dislike these mega condo/townhouse developers. In my area, they keep building these giant buildings everywhere and none are anywhere near affordable for the average person.
They keep building all these cheap looking townhomes around here. The older apartments in the area even look better than this new crap.
Thank You ForceFlow for your advice. At the moment I am still weighing which direction I will try.
Quoted from ForceFlow:depending upon the kind of people they are, they may resort to underhanded tactics--petty inconveniences and mischief or setting lawyers loose on the situation.
That is the main thing that worries me. I had a great lawyer, but he recently retired. My uncle has a lawyer that he likes, and I plan to talk to him in the near future and ask a few questions.
1 month later
For me anyway, the worst part of being a landlord is every time my phone rings, I instantly think damn, I hope that isn't a tenant calling me.
They don't call often, and when they do, they are not wishing me happy holidays or anything nice, instead it is always some repair that sometimes is pretty expensive.
While ago a house called about a gas stove that had went bad. 
The better tenants get better stuff. This tenant is good, so I told him to meet me at Lowes to pick out the new stove that he wanted.
I have one tenant that will always get the cheapest available. 
Quoted from JohnnyPinball007:The better tenants get better stuff. This tenant is good, so I told him to meet me at Lowes to pick out the new stove that he wanted.
Oh, and this was at the house that the developers want to buy for their road, so if they ever offer enough money, I will be bringing that stove back to my home. 
2 months later
I still get emails about landlord stuff, from John Adams, money99.com after long ago I went to the site to get some documents that are very useful, anyway, this is part of an email they just sent me:
We looked at HOME TITLE THEFT, in which scammers use your identity to steal money based on your home’s value.
Similarly, we talked about the new (and free) Filing Activity Notice Service (FANS)now available through Fans.GSCCCA.org.
I had heard a little about home title theft on the news recently, so this was very helpful, and I did all of that while ago.
This is just a Georgia website, but hopefully your state also has something like this.
My pain in the ass tenant is getting worse. Writing bad checks now but making them good so far. I have been nice, because I have had them for 5-6 years now, but after this check clears, I'm ready to get very tough with them. Enough is enough.
2 months later
If you are tired of your insurance rates going up, doesn't hurt to get on the phone and make a few calls.
So far, I have already saved right at $1600.00 for the year, just on 2 rental houses.
I would have started sooner, but the company that I have my home insurance with didn't go up much. I plan to get a price on it next year, and all of the rest of my insurance policies, when they are due again.
We started renting our old house in August of last year. So far, everything is going well. The family seems nice and the property is well cared for. I'd like to start saving for another property but the rates are still crazy high. We are using a property manager but so far the only repair has been a garage door spring that likely was past due anyway.
Quoted from Pahuffman:We started renting our old house in August of last year. So far, everything is going well. The family seems nice and the property is well cared for. I'd like to start saving for another property but the rates are still crazy high. We are using a property manager but so far the only repair has been a garage door spring that likely was past due anyway.
Awesome! Good for you! Ive never used a property manager, I'm pretty handy and live close by, but I bet that's good peace of mind.
Quoted from pinzrfun:Awesome! Good for you! Ive never used a property manager, I'm pretty handy and live close by, but I bet that's good peace of mind.
The manager is a friend of mine (actually a pinball buddy). I decided to use him because he gave me a good rate and I wanted someone to go after my tenants if they didn't pay the rent. Thankfully, that hasn't been an issue but knowing myself it would be difficult for me to do. So definitely some peace of mind there but he has been great to work with. Listing the property and getting it rented was a breeze.
Quoted from JohnnyPinball007:If you are tired of your insurance rates going up, doesn't hurt to get on the phone and make a few calls.
So far, I have already saved right at $1600.00 for the year, just on 2 rental houses.
Recently my uncle called me, and we started talking about this, and he had already switched to this company called Auto Owners, which is the same company my agent just switched me to.
If this company offers coverage in your area, you may want to get a quote from them.
I had never heard of them, but I was told they have been in business for over 100 years.
I guess because they don't spend money on tv ads they can sell for less than other companies?
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