Rental Property Update
My rental property is STILL vacant because my handy man is STILL working. Although I gave him a deadline of August 1st, he said he discovered way more crap after he began the repairs, cleaning, and painting. Ugh!
At the rate things are going, this is going to cost them their entire security deposit and a scathing rental reference from me. As I enter a second month of vacancy, this means I have to pay another mortgage with no rental income. Ugh x 2!
On my way home on Friday, I was thinking about how much I should pull out of my emergency fund for additional carrying costs. As of today, I estimate needing about $1.6k to cover immediate expenses (assuming we don’t go into another full month vacancy). Also, as of today, the e-fund sits at $20.9k. However, all excess over $20k was supposed to go towards the $3k I need to open my Vanguard account. Ugh x 3!
Oh, well. Gotta do what I gotta do. Vanguard will be on hold until I get this property rented.
~*~*~*~*~*~Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And always, BE FABULOUS!
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Hang in there SingleMa. Once the repairs are completed, hopefully, you can get your property rented pretty quickly. As a fellow landlord, I can totally feel your pain.
If I didn’t love living in the city, I’d be tempted to move back into the house. Being a landlord is not my cup of tea and selling is not a viable option right now. [-SM]
How does that work with their deposit? Do you send them a letter outlining why they don’t get it back? And can you claim the repairs for your rental property on your taxes? It sucks being an adult.. Life was sooo simple as a kid…
I will prepare an itemized list of all expenses that are not a result of “normal wear and tear” and refund the difference. The itemized list of repairs/expenses, move out inspection list and refund will be sent to the forwarding address they provided within 45 days.
As far as I know, all rental property expenses are tax deductible as business expenses, but I’ll have to rely on my CPA for guidance. [-SM]
SIngle Ma,
Am praying that things get resolved quickly for you.
I live in an apartment, am an excellent tenant and have never been late. I wish I could find a landlord as conscientious as you to rent a house from as it will be a long while until I am able to get a house of my own.
Hang in there.
I wish all renters were excellent tenants like you! [-SM]
I can never understand why people leave stuff toe up and nasty! I have scrubbed places DOWN to ensure I get my depost back! I hope you get cleaner tenets this time around.
They left so much crap, my maintenance guy said he has had to make TWO trips to the county dumpster. *smh* [-SM]
Damn, two trips to the dumpster. Da hell, were they doing hoarding garbage.
It wasn’t “garbage” literally, but they left a bunch of crap that *I* don’t want. [-SM]
Sheesh. I’m glad they’re gone - had they been in the house longer, the damage may have been worse.
Also, it’s a monkey wrench for your plans, but the problems you have are enviable to many!
You might want to consider Section 8 tenants. I’ve found with my own property if you take the time to really screen you can get some great tenants. Being a single mom myself w/a 19yr old diva attending Hampton University the steady check helps. I was also lucky to find a foreclosure in Houston, TX and paid $23,000 cash and I collect $800 a month rent.
I understand what you’re going through and it’s tough!
Just had my first renters moved out. During their 2 years, on my few visits, I just deaded seeing the house and yard in chaos and full of junk. Finally, when they moved out, we found that 2 years of weeds and leaves have accumulated on all the flower beds. They just mowed the lawn. The bushes were all overgrown and there were snakes underneath and poison ivy growing, too. Almost all perennials were gone, as they made the yard a dog run. Grass was totally gone from the backyard and after asking them to get rid of all the twigs and broken limbs dumped in the front yard, they dumped them in the backyard, which was a cause of citation from the communuity association. The maintenance man we have asked to do all these, never showed up, most probably daunted by all the tasks needed to be done, so we have been doing it ourselves. Caused us a doctor’s visit because of poison ivy and more in prescription drugs. In all the 27 years we lived there, we never saw any poison ivy growing in the yard.
Window treatments that came with the house had been destroyed. Dog hair and dog food were in the air vents. Kitchen island and counter needed repair, bathrooms needed caulking, vent cleaning had to be done, and still had to paint behind the fridge which they skipped doing in painting the whole house. The outside sidings needed powerwashing, gutters needed to be cleaned, deck had to be cleaned, the patio had to be re-laid, as they took them out, and a total yard clean-up has been going on.
Yet, in all these, they want every penny back of their deposit. Maintenance of the property, in and out is included in the agreement which had expired and had not been renewed before they left. What to do? I guess it’s just part of being a landlord!!!!