Tried to manage rental property across the country . We had a property manager sometimes we received out money sometimes we didn't ( Century 21 ) . Finally we went to check out this piece of property and nobody was living there . Called the property manager and was told the tenants wanted their deposit back and would be breaking the contract . We wanted to fight it but we were told in his actual words the house is in a very racial area and the judges normally go the way of the tenant . We declined and the house was really messed up . It took nearly 6000.00 to make the house ready to sell . This was in 1986 dollars . Learned a lot .
Your worst tenant...
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travelover
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Then it is not really a deposit - you might as well call it a nonrefundable fee.
youbet
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Just curious, how do you know what the contents of the FedEx mailers was? Did the previous landlord tell you or did you open the mailers?
youbet
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Other side of coin here.......
I'm not saying we are perfect renters......but actually, yeah I am.....we are out there!
+1
DW and I have been home owners for many years but originally did rent a flat on Da Nortwest side of Sheeee..... Caaaaa.... Go when we first married. It was a one bedroom in a 4-flat, 2nd floor. The owner resided there with his family in a 3 bedroom unit on the 1st floor. They were great folks, easy to get along with and always kept things in tip-top shape. If something was wrong, they made it a top priority to fix it NOW! I had better electrical skills than the owner and gladly helped him out on a few projects around the building, gratis. DW, a special ed teacher, tutored one of their kids who had some learning issues, also gratis. We were never late paying rent, kept our place in immaculate condition and got along with the other tenants.
Unfortunately, the owner was transferred and decided to sell the building rather than be an absentee landlord. The new owner was a jerk. He and his wife lived in the 1st floor 3 bedroom and his MIL lived in the 2nd floor 3 bedroom. Another kidless couple lived in the 1st floor 1 bedroom and DW and I continued in our place on the 2nd floor.
This guy, a young Chicago cop, was not mechanically inclined and his MIL, who seemed to run things, was an unbelievable cheapskate and always suggested that any needed repairs (for example, the compressor in the refrigerator went out) must be our fault and we should pay. We walked in on the MIL in our apartment several times (which she said she had a right to do) "checking on things." There was evidence that drawers had been opened, clothes moved in the closet, things moved around in the refrigerator and other creepy stuff.
Our 2 year lease had about a year to go when the "owners from hell" took over and we started house hunting as soon as we discovered that not all owners were fair players. At the end, the owner managed to act surprised when we announced we wouldn't be signing a new lease. And we never were able to get our security deposit back. They said the previous owner had not turned it over to them....... Sigh......
If we ever decide to rent again, I'd be interested in finding out how to reduce "jerk-owner" risk. Avoid small buildings and rent from a corporation in a complex? Keep the lease short? Get professional help in marking up the lease guaranteeing some level of maintenance expectations and privacy? Just assume any security deposits will never be seen again?
We're really landlord-phobic now. This all happened decades ago and the foul memory sticks like it was yesterday.
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timo2
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
+1. We were the best renters in nearly all the nearly 30 places we rented. We know because the landlord/managers told us that. But some still got miserly with deposits of all kinds. Not fees....deposits. Often there were both cleaning fees and cleaning deposits, both pet fees and pet deposits, withholding deposits for until after the last utility bill, even though our credit rating hovers around 800. Some of the reasons for withholding deposits were incredulous (such as charging a cleaning fee but also withholding the deposit because we didn't clean. They often wanted it both ways). Obviously withholding deposits is part of the business plan of many landlords. It made no difference if the owner was a corporation or individual.
With the advent of the internet, there are rating sites for landlords/property management companies. The management companies are very interested in getting a good rating online, so that gave us a little leverage. Also, being experienced renters, we knew how to head some of the landlord shenanigans off early by communicating everything and anticipating the standard landlord behaviors.
Also there does not have to be a 'dog smell' if one has a dog. We have never had a 'dog smell' in our residence. And we have always had dogs.
Texas Proud
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LOL... we had similar experience... my dad was a real estate agent and bought up really crappy houses that had multiple places to rent... IOW they were split into 3 or 4 apartments... he rented by the week!!! Every weekend we had to go to a few of these places to mow the grass, fix things up, clean out a place etc. etc... we had NO weekends to ourselves...
We were lucky in one sense as he sold most of them before he died... the problem is he sold the ones that afterwords shot up big time in value... we had a few houses in the Heights where now houses go for a million... (Dad bought one for $10K).... but kept a couple that had more rental potential that we had to dump after he passed...
I remember one place where we had to take out hundreds of alcohol bottles... and I mean a few hundred...
Wow. Just wow.
Y'all have done a fine job of convincing me to never, ever, even think about owning rental property!
FWIW, when I rented apartments I always paid the rent on time, kept the place clean and when I left you couldn't tell I'd been there. And I always got my deposit back. I guess landlords liked me.
Y'all have done a fine job of convincing me to never, ever, even think about owning rental property!
FWIW, when I rented apartments I always paid the rent on time, kept the place clean and when I left you couldn't tell I'd been there. And I always got my deposit back. I guess landlords liked me.
Yup, just like REWahoo keeps that list of reasons to not move to Texas. Hmmm .. I wonder if there is something to that ...
Maybe this thread is the landlord version of the Four Yorkshiremen
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Amethyst
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I'd always go with a professionally managed place, even though private landlords may be cheaper. If you go with a private landlord, you have to judge from impressions gained during an interview. Previous renters rarely leave forwarding addresses, so it may be hard to find any to speak to.
Just as some posters don't understand why other people have bad tenant experiences, I don't understand why some renters put up with evil landlords.
By evil I mean someone who violates the lease, or your civil rights. For example, the MIL violated your 4th Amendment rights by entering the property without proper notification, as stipulated in a standard lease - usually it's 24 hours, and you have the right to ask for a different date and time. The first time it happened, you could have filed a police report and followed up with a lawsuit. You can get a peace order against an owner who invades your rental property.
Just as some posters don't understand why other people have bad tenant experiences, I don't understand why some renters put up with evil landlords.
By evil I mean someone who violates the lease, or your civil rights. For example, the MIL violated your 4th Amendment rights by entering the property without proper notification, as stipulated in a standard lease - usually it's 24 hours, and you have the right to ask for a different date and time. The first time it happened, you could have filed a police report and followed up with a lawsuit. You can get a peace order against an owner who invades your rental property.
Amethyst
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Me too, but I always rented in apartment buildings with a property manager. She (it was always a she, and they all looked like clones) did as little as possible, but at least she didn't violate the lease. And there was always a handyman who would fix stuff, especially if you made cookies for him.
I'm not a landlord, but was president of the local homeless shelter, which had subsidized single family one room apartments.
Had a resident we tried to evict because she let her animals **** all over the floor, and never picked it up. Found we COULD NOT evict her because they were companion animals. 9-11 cats, and at least two dogs. All declared companion animals. As our lawyer said "You've got a bankrupt crazy cat lady, and companion animal law to deal with. My advice? Raise the rent as you're able, but otherwise you can't do anything. The damage is already done."
When she finally left we took a black light in. You could make out the furniture shape on the carpet because that was the only place NOT lit up by the black light. Smell triggered several peoples gag reflex, with a few throwing up before they got away. Clean up was with haz mat suits, and everything was removed down to the studs. Cost about $15k, but several companies refused to take on the job.
Had a resident we tried to evict because she let her animals **** all over the floor, and never picked it up. Found we COULD NOT evict her because they were companion animals. 9-11 cats, and at least two dogs. All declared companion animals. As our lawyer said "You've got a bankrupt crazy cat lady, and companion animal law to deal with. My advice? Raise the rent as you're able, but otherwise you can't do anything. The damage is already done."
When she finally left we took a black light in. You could make out the furniture shape on the carpet because that was the only place NOT lit up by the black light. Smell triggered several peoples gag reflex, with a few throwing up before they got away. Clean up was with haz mat suits, and everything was removed down to the studs. Cost about $15k, but several companies refused to take on the job.
For those on FB, surf around for a local rental page. The ads seeking rentals are hilarious... "need immediate rental, 4BR/2BA for no more than $600"; "looking to rent from private party that does not do background checks" or "willing to help me improve my bad credit"
more so when you look up the profile of the person looking to rent...
more so when you look up the profile of the person looking to rent...
Amethyst
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I can just imagine. When I posted an ad on Craigslist in 2009, I listed application requirements and restrictions (e.g. Credit rating over 600, Provide proof of income, etc.)
Had three different couples schedule a showing, say the place was perfect, then a) refuse to allow me to check their credit, and blame ME for daring to ask for their SSN "because that's private, I don't share it with anybody";
b) inform me that No Landlord Ever Before had asked them for a pay statement to substantiate their claimed earnings;
c) bluster about giving us 6 months rent up-front, b/c they were going through foreclosure and needed a place NOW (so if you have 6 x $1700, why couldn't you pay your mortgage?). While the husband blustered, the wife would start to cry.
When I had to call a prospect to tell her we were returning her deposit because she turned out not to qualify, she cursed me on the phone. I mean really cursed - not just bad words, but wishing ill on me!
And this was not a cheap rental, by any means. Tenants were expected to pay all utilities, and the unit itself was nice enough that we would have lived there.
Had three different couples schedule a showing, say the place was perfect, then a) refuse to allow me to check their credit, and blame ME for daring to ask for their SSN "because that's private, I don't share it with anybody";
b) inform me that No Landlord Ever Before had asked them for a pay statement to substantiate their claimed earnings;
c) bluster about giving us 6 months rent up-front, b/c they were going through foreclosure and needed a place NOW (so if you have 6 x $1700, why couldn't you pay your mortgage?). While the husband blustered, the wife would start to cry.
When I had to call a prospect to tell her we were returning her deposit because she turned out not to qualify, she cursed me on the phone. I mean really cursed - not just bad words, but wishing ill on me!
And this was not a cheap rental, by any means. Tenants were expected to pay all utilities, and the unit itself was nice enough that we would have lived there.
That's the problem, many, I'd contend maybe MOST, folks don't have the personality to be effective landlords. The trick is begin honest with yourself.
Some in my extended family made good $$ as landlords. It's common even today in new immigrant families to buy rental real estate, starting with condos or SFH, maybe expanding to multi-family later. Can be a cash cow business. Help pay for college and more, but helped put a few into an early grave due to the horror stories similar to those recounted here.
I casually thought about renting out a SFH in a so-so neighborhood. DW killed the idea and I'm glad. For me, w*rk was too much of a PITA. Landlording, for me, would have been far worse.
timo2
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
What do the landlords here think about the trend of big corporations becoming landlords. From this 2017 article: "All told, big investors have spent some $40 billion buying about 200,000 houses, renovating them and building rental-management businesses, estimates real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors LLC. Still, they own less than 2% of all U.S. rental homes, according to Green Street."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-your-new-landlord-wall-street-1500647417
edit: that article might be paywalled, so here is a slightly more pessimistic but similar Bloomberg one https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...rica-s-new-landlord-kicks-tenants-to-the-curb
https://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-your-new-landlord-wall-street-1500647417
edit: that article might be paywalled, so here is a slightly more pessimistic but similar Bloomberg one https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...rica-s-new-landlord-kicks-tenants-to-the-curb
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aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
My DW worked for a national RE firm that fee managed large apartment complexes over many states. This was her career for 25 years. She was a District Manager and hired management and leasing staff at multiple properties ranging from very high end to "typical" ones (no Section 8).
I can assure you that anyone who wanted to lease an apartment in any of her multiple 1000's of units had to meet much more stringent requirements than you posted above. And, if an applicant was a felon, they were not even considered.
Is it possible that your applicants were rejects from larger rental properties since rejected ones would possibly lead them to apartment managers with lower approval standards?
youbet
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In retrospect, I totally agree.
As mentioned in my earlier post, it's been decades since we've rented so things may have changed. Still, it's hard to imagine a rental interview where the private landlord is digging in to find out if we're deadbeats or dope addicts while we're digging in to find out if he/she will be responsive to maintenance needs, treat us fairly in terms of returning deposits and not sneak into our apartment to sniff DW's undies while we're away. Hopefully, an honest, responsible landlord would be happy to be forthcoming when we asked questions and had our attorney review the lease.
That's what we thought. At first, she kept saying that the furnace was acting up (HW heat with a zone for each apartment) and she was resetting our thermostat. Indeed, we'd leave with the thermostat set on 70f and come back with it turned down to 60f. If the furnace was "acting up" we thought she should just get it fixed. In actuality, I think she just wanted to spend less for heat........ And our little trick of putting a tiny piece of tape on drawers, closet doors, the fridge door, etc., also showed she was interested in a lot more than the heat setting.
We're pretty easy going in most regards and it took several months for us to come to the conclusion that the inappropriate behaviors were not going to end. By then, our two year lease was coming to an end so we got busy house hunting and just moved.
It's amazing how different our experience was between the owner we originally rented from and the new owner he sold the building to. One minute we seemed to have a mutual admiration society with the owners thinking they had found the perfect tenants and we thinking we had found the perfect landlords. The next minute, we had the creepy landlords from hell and they acted like we weren't paying the rent and were mistreating the place, both completely untrue.
It's amazing what a change in personnel can do! Found this out at w*rk too. Early management was great, felt appreciated. They felt I was a hero, I just felt I was doing my j*b, just like anyone else would have. Fast forward a decade later, with new management, I was no longer considered team player and my career was consigned to a slow, lingering death. FIRE'd out and never looked back...
In the end, it all revolved around one person and his minions. If it's the wrong person in a high place (boss or landlord), it may not be worth the fight. Glad we both got out and moved on!
youbet
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It's amazing what a change in personnel can do! Found this out at w*rk too. Early management was great, felt appreciated. They felt I was a hero, I just felt I was doing my j*b, just like anyone else would have. Fast forward a decade later, with new management, I was no longer considered team player and my career was consigned to a slow, lingering death. FIRE'd out and never looked back...
In the end, it all revolved around one person and his minions. If it's the wrong person in a high place (boss or landlord), it may not be worth the fight. Glad we both got out and moved on!
Good analogy FreeBear. BTW, I went through similar at Mega at the end of my career too! One day I was ranked in the top 10% and credited with being a major contributor to our expansion over the previous years. The next, they fired my sorry ass and ejected me through the back door without even a retirement party or gold watch!
Management changed and I was considered from the "old regime."I was 58 and decided I was FIRE'd (as opposed to fired) and never looked back. That was 12+ years ago!
I too am glad you and I both got out and moved on!
Amethyst
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Absolutely correct. 2009 was in the middle of the depression, and we were seeing a lower quality of applicants than ever in my 20+ years of renting out a private home. One man even made a remark about liking the "small landlords" over property managers, because supposedly we charged less rent. That was the "pay 6 months up front" man with the weeping wife. They knew their line of bull would get them nowhere with a manager.
Amethyst
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Holy smoke! That's one thing I never had to worry about, thank goodness. Your fundament must have smarted for a while after that treatment.
Good analogy FreeBear. BTW, I went through similar at Mega at the end of my career too! One day I was ranked in the top 10% and credited with being a major contributor to our expansion over the previous years. The next, they fired my sorry ass and ejected me through the back door without even a retirement party or gold watch!
!
may pop
Dryer sheet aficionado
We have not seen a reply from the Senator on this. Has he been around lately?
aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
He's gone travelling...
He's still a member; he just doesn't post much these days.
