The Successful Landlord Blog

Now here’s a good one: So, as I mentioned in a recent post, we have had one unit vacant for some months now due to repairs that were needed because the previous tenants didn’t understand how to use the phone when they saw a problem with a shower stall needing repair.

Now, the unit is ready for rent and we priced it under market to move it quickly. I had three different sets of potential tenants interested. I was sure to tell all of them that we are accepting applications until we get a deposit.

One set of potential tenants wanted to move in 5 weeks from now and kept putting off getting the deposit to me. In the meantime, I had an application come in that was W-A-Y better then theirs. They have a more stable profile, no evictions, two earners and both make more than is required to qualify, none of which the other people have. So, I chose them. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently ran across this video by Paul Dizmang of Dizmang Associates, a Realtor^® and landlord in the Springfield, MO area. It reminded me of a couple of run-ins I’ve had with tenants over hot tubs and swimming pools. More than once I’ve had tenants erect above-ground swimming pools on properties they’re renting from me. I don’t specifically forbid it in the lease but what is specifically forbidden is parking cars on the grass.

Now, you would think that if parking cars on the grass is forbidden because it kills the grass, wouldn’t it be logical that erecting a structure filled with water and covering 2-3 times the area of a car would also be forbidden? Read the rest of this entry »

Just a short post today. So, we now have a vacant rental house on the market, finally. We haven’t gotten any inquiries this week except for one. Some lady called and asked if we accept pets in our rentals. “Sure, what kind of pet?”, I asked. “An American Staffordshire Terrier”, she said.

I should mention that a while back I did write a post about this exact thing but I think that it bears repeating. I should also mention that over time, the hate mail (in the comments of that post) from Pit Bull owners was amazing. Well, here’s a quote from the famous store of all knowledge, Wikipedia:

The American Staffordshire Terrier is a breed of dog. The breed is a relative of the American Pit Bull Terrier. Early Bulldog–Terrier crosses were brought to the US with the British and Irish settlers, especially after the Civil War, where they were mainly used as fighting dogs, but also as hunting dogs and farm and guard dogs.

You just know that lady spent all day combing the “for rent” ads systematically calling each landlord hoping to find one green enough that they would sign a lease with her.

Lady, my answer is the same as last time. “Thanks but no thanks.”

This past week I had a situation where a relatively new tenant was again late with the rent. The last time this happened, last month, I ended up posting a three-day notice which, in Florida, is the first stage of the eviction process.

This month, the last day of the grace period was on a Saturday, so on Monday I posted a three-day notice. Later that day I got a call from the tenant’s neighbor telling me that the tenant was really upset and that the tenant’s husband had gone to the hospital earlier in the week with a suspected heart attack. The neighbor mentioned that the tenants were really good neighbors, the whole neighborhood likes them and she would appreciate it if I could “find it in my heart” to give them a break.

After the call from the neighbor, I got a call from the tenant, probably when she got the three-day notice, telling me that I would have the check the next day but to please not deposit it until the end of the week as the funds wouldn’t be available.

Read the rest of this entry »