Renovations

[markiver54]

Carol ownes a condo, about 1/2 hr away in Asheville NC. It was her parents' home that she inherited when they passed about 18 yrs ago. She has had one tenent, as she chose to rent it, for all those years. Appeared to be a good tennant, however, upon move out, has turned out to be a nightmare, and she wants to sell it now.
I, have been very busy lately doing repairs to try to keep the expenses down to some degree so that it is presentable for sale.
Just finished rebuilding the kitchen drawers. They were broken and un-usable. That is just the beginning. She has to re-floor/carpet the whole place!!
Needless to say... we are busy!
Pretty much has disturbed our Summer and cabin time, thus limiting my shooting.

[brm4450]

FB4C503F-1394-4A1B-BD86-2A04F618D98E.gif (625.8 KiB) Viewed 1796 times

That sucks

[markiver54]

FB4C503F-1394-4A1B-BD86-2A04F618D98E.gif

That sucks

[BigAl52]

Renters good ones are hard to find. I did that slum lord once upon a time. I want no part of that ever again. Id rather be shooting.

[BrokenolMarine]

Sorry your renters didn't live up to your expectations. That was our experience, both times. The first time was when we bought the farm, and had planned to keep the small house as an investment. The tenant, who had several solid references, ducked out in the middle of the night the first week of December. He had been in the house less than three months and he and his three kids had left behind damages and a mess. Cleaned, repaired, painted, and priced for a quick sale, it closed before the new year.

The second time, we bought the house and property beside us, mainly to add the acerage. Rented to a friend. In a year, she did $10,000 in damages. Sold the house and three acres, kept the pasture, creek, and woodland.

[daytime dave]

I'm sorry to hear about your problem. Some folks do well in the rental business. I haven't met many. I usually know folks who have bad tenants. I remember when I was a tenant. Bad land lord was the issue. When something didn't work, they were slow or didn't get to it. When the rent was due, magically, they were able to get there to collect that right on time. That always soured me on the whole thing.

I hope you get the place in good shape and Carol can sell it and you to can get on with enjoying life.

[markiver54]

Thanks for understanding guys. I just hope Carol is able to make a reasonable profit after it is all said and done. Aside from expense, the biggest problem is finding dependable contractors and coordinating the work to be done in the right order. There is mold mitigation to be done, painting of the entire place, some electrical issues, some plumbing issues, kitchen appliances, etc, etc. Too bad, because it is a nice place, ( three BR, two bath ). About 1600 sq ft and a two car garage. Worst part is that the market is starting to cool down some, so it's kind of a race against time.

[BrokenolMarine]

We were able to make a small profit on the sale of the house and three acres, but kept seven plus acres to add to our farmland. We decided we weren't going to do the landlord thing again. I know folks that had good success at it, but it takes one of two mindsets.... Be hard, and no emotional attachments. Or... Turn the properties over to professional managers who are strict... And detached with no emotional attactment.

That was our downfall... Tina was our "property manager," and was supposed to inspect the house each month when she picked up the rent check. The college professor renting from us had a doctorate and a second masters, and was a friend. Tina was in and out of the house often visiting, so she didn't do the "manager's" inspections each month. We paid for that dearly when the lease was up.

Taxes and insurance had gone up during that first year, so in the new lease, the professor's rent would be $50 a month higher. She would still be about $300 below market, and was boarding her horse for free. We didn't want to make money, just cover the mortgage and put a little aside for repairs. Nope, wasn't going to pay the increase. She even refused to pay for the damages she had done. We won in court, we won again in appeals court. She filed for bankruptcy, we got nothing.

A good friend who owns two dozen rental properties refuses to rent to friends or family.

[markiver54]

Be hard, and no emotional attachments. Or... Turn the properties over to professional managers who are strict... And detached with no emotional attactment.

We, of course will not be doing it again, but what you are saying makes a lot of sense. Carol was just too nice to this one. It was not till she was completely out that all the damage was visible. Carol even let her have all of her security deposit to help pay for her move. Beyond that, in all those years, only raised the rent twice, and in the end, she was still paying hundreds less than market rent where rents are at a premium because of the great location.

I guess Carol's attitude is the right one though..."It's water over the bridge"

[Sir Henry]

Thanks for understanding guys. I just hope Carol is able to make a reasonable profit after it is all said and done. Aside from expense, the biggest problem is finding dependable contractors and coordinating the work to be done in the right order. There is mold mitigation to be done, painting of the entire place, some electrical issues, some plumbing issues, kitchen appliances, etc, etc. Too bad, because it is a nice place, ( three BR, two bath ). About 1600 sq ft and a two car garage. Worst part is that the market is starting to cool down some, so it's kind of a race against time.

Sorry about the renters. The market here went from multiple over asking offers to sitting still all within one month.

[markiver54]

Not good news for us because it's gonna be a while before it can go on the market.