The joys of being a landlord, Part927

[john70t]

^oh my lord. A nightmare.
One should think that if a place was in 'such poor condition', the caring judge would seek to find them a better place as soon as possible...

I had a couple tenants I initially liked dealing with cigarette smells..supposedly, but I believed them.
They were 'tough' industrial working with chemical types and in rock bands. Not delicate flowers.
After years I ended up reducing their rent by half, pulling all the carpet, and sealing the perimeter gaps a couple times.
I couldn't stop smoking in the building, but their heat was free, and there was a good fresh breeze available through the place if the widows were cracked.
Still not good enough for them.
They were going to bring in a federal EPA audit for hazardous conditions or whatnot.
I suggested they leave immediately and they finally did.

[biosurfer1]

Commercial only or nothing from here on out. Residential, in California, sounds a lot like England but worse. Laws are basically written "that big bad landlord wants you to pay rent? Don't worry, we won't let that happen!"
I could go on with stories for days but doesn't matter...commercial only from here on out.

[petrolhead611]

The real kicker is that even if a tenant isnt paying their rent, the landlord still has to carry out repairs to maintain the place in habitable condition otherwise any attempt to evict is thrown out by the court . If the landlord doesnt place the deposit in one of two escrow accounts firms then the eviction process is void, and the landlord can be fined THREE times the deposit, and that fine is paid to the scumbag that is resisting the eviction.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by petrolhead611

The real kicker is that even if a tenant isnt paying their rent, the landlord still has to carry out repairs to maintain the place in habitable condition otherwise any attempt to evict is thrown out by the court . If the landlord doesnt place the deposit in one of two escrow accounts firms then the eviction process is void, and the landlord can be fined THREE times the deposit, and that fine is paid to the scumbag that is resisting the eviction.

Sounds a lot like rent control here in LA but a bit worst. How did we get here to have such BS protection for slackers

[speeder]

Originally Posted by dafischer

Denis, sorry to burst your bubble, but we bought this property late in 2013 in a short sale, for cash. Half the building is our office. The other half is a residential rental, which we renovated first, to be able to rent it out. Then we renovated the other side, our office, which used to be the village general store and post office. We spent close to 75K to renovate the two sides combined. I have no expectation of the rent "paying the mortgage", but I just don't like having **** like this happen when I'm 3 hours away on vacation, since I live 1 minute away, walking. The money isn't the issue, just the stress of having it happen when I'm not there.

Dave, I did not mean to be disrespectful and sorry if it came off that way. As I said, being a landlord is a PIA and it sucks that something popped while you were out of town. Murphy's law caught up w you. It sounds like you understand what you signed up for, I've met people who didn't. Should not have projected that on you.

Maybe 20 years ago, I was renting a garage from a guy in Minneapolis behind his small apartment building. Beautiful pre-war shack, maybe 6 units. Looked like a gorgeous old house, either brick or stucco, (can't remember).

He was an architect, if memory serves, really nice guy but just absolutely hated being a landlord and having his weekends ruined working on the place instead of having fun somewhere. He offered me the building for $100k--it was a deal even then--and I didn't bite because I was moving back to CA. and it would have been a big commitment there. I've never stopped kicking myself over that one, it's like the mint '73 911S for $20k I didn't buy because, "they're always going to be around for that price..."

I have life long friends in Mpls who are contractors and subs that I trust completely and could actually have a long distance business there w property managers who don't rip me off. Unfortunately, now that I'm old and have the $$ to buy, the numbers are waaaay different. That's life...

Originally Posted by look 171

Try to get together with your trusty contractor and see about the things that need to be replace in the near future and start changing out those items to prevent screwing up your vacation. Lots less stress that way. For some strange reason, chit always happens when you are away.

Good advice.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

Commercial only or nothing from here on out. Residential, in California, sounds a lot like England but worse. Laws are basically written "that big bad landlord wants you to pay rent? Don't worry, we won't let that happen!"
I could go on with stories for days but doesn't matter...commercial only from here on out.

If I ever have to do it again that is what I would do (perhaps when I sell this property and move out of the city... but that is way down the line for us).

My dad had two commercial rental (still in the family but dad is no longer with us).

We have two houses on a lot, my brother made the original purchase, built the second house, then sold it to dad.

Dad didn't like the PITA of dealing with residential renters so he started trying to sell it to me, I told he I could't afford it... long story short over the years he kept pitching me the house and sweetening the deal until he made me an offer too good to refuse.

Front (original) house had old cast iron sewer line... the shower wasn't draining and I was busy so I called in our plumber... I knew the old pipe was in bad shape so I wasn't surprised when he told me it looks bad and we should replace everything under the house... $3800 later, but at least it is new and I won't have to worry about it. I got an estimate for $850 to run a new line from the house to the sewer main in the street and do away with all the iron pipe.