My uncle recently bought a fourplex, using some inheritance money as a down payment. He’s a realtor, and this is his first foray into investment property. I saw him last weekend, and was excited to see how things were going. But my innocent (and excited) “How’s the fourplex doing?” was met with a good deal of defnesiveness… So, not so great, I take it?
Well, in the process of waiting-and-seeing about the duplex next door, it looks like someone else has swooped in and bought it. Not exactly swooped, because I wasn’t sure how badly I wanted it anyway. The new owners are a husband and wife with two dogs, who plan to owner-occupy the upper floor, and rent out the lower unit. They seem to have grand plans for renovation, too — they’ve cut down most of the scrub trees from the backyard, put up planters in the front, and have some lumber sitting out behind the house…
Am I a mean landlady for (politely) hassling (reminding) people for rent when it’s a day late?
On the one hand, they do have roughly 30 days ahead of the 1st on which they could pay me early… they don’t have to wait until exactly 11pm on the 1st to give me their check, if it’s difficult for them to remember…
Annie spencer will be moving to my very specific (yet undisclosed) city/state! She saw my nonexistent for-rent ad! Sounds like it must be for one of those scam deals where they send you a big deposit on the apartment, then ask you to wire a portion of it back (because some emergency takes place), and then only after you’ve done that do you discover that their original check was fraudulent…
I have a complex and relatively unhealthy relationship with plumbing. I understand most of the basic concepts of plumbing, and have successfully replaced “modern” plumbing fixtures myself, however, my house is 107 years old, and when pipes and fittings are that old, that corroded, and haven’t moved in a hundred or so years, they get a little more difficult to deal with. Often, I simply don’t have the physical strength to get the old pieces off. I’ve learned that its best for my mental health to simply hire a plumber…
So, given that, whenever receiving an email from my tenants having anything to do with water, panic sets in (plumbers can be expensive, especially in an old house.) Tonight I received one with the foreboding subject line “water troubles.”
In this video, from the website “Funny or Die,” Will Ferrell has an altercation with his (very short) landlord, Pearl. He’s late on the rent, and she’s threatening to evict him…
So, a friend’s sister wants to buy a duplex, and has friends lined up to live in the other half. A great idea? Probably not…
Last year, I spent $35 on what looked to be the best invention ever: the wall-mounted hose reel. It winds up the ridiculously long hose with a hand crank. genius. This frustration-saving device would prevent countless swearing fits throughout the summer. (And it did. It’s sooooooo much easier to use than winding up a hose by hand.)
I really don’t like it when I have to assume the role of mean landlord / landlady. If I buy more properties, I’m sure I”ll get used to it. but I’m not entirely comfortable with it yet…
When I first bought my duplex, I didn’t really have a set of rules and regulations. I was too new at this game to have one, and I also had this misguided idea that I would be “cool landlord” who was informal, and let people “make the place their own.” That has only worked to varying degrees. People will unfortunately always have at least a little bit of animosity for the landlord; they’ll always think that you’re a big rich moneybag who’s too cheap to buy them new (fill in the blank). The landlord just says “no” and cashes their rent check every month.
Ah, but there is a reason for that “no.” Many reasons. Here’s a list of things that I’ve learned to say “no” to…
My tenants are making themselves at home in the backyard. I’ve given them a fairly free reign over planting things in the yard (as long as there isn’t already something else growing there, and it won’t be a pain to mow around), and they’ve taken me up on it. They’ve planted some hostas around trees, and created a small flowerbed by the fenceline, with flowering annuals, and a clematis that should return year after year.
Turns out there’s more to the story about the duplex next door — A few days after I saw the older gentlemen curiously trimming the tree branches of their daughter’s purportedly “trashed” duplex, I came home from work to see the the front yard meticulously mowed, and sporting a new addition — a for sale sign.
The neighbors in the duplex next door seem to have disappeared. In an all-at-once, in the middle-of-the-night sort of way. Actually, the kind of way where THEY are gone, but the inordinately large amount of junk that they had in the yard was left behind. I suspect that they treated the inside of the duplex in much the same way.
My Uncle, a real estate agent, recently inherited some money, and decided to use it to purchase my duplex’s big sister, “the fourplex.” Not sure exactly if they purchased it out-right, most likely they just used it for a 20% or larger down payment.
How is buying a fourplex, or four-flat different than buying a duplex?
My duplex has a large yard, and thus attracts tenants who are fans of the great outdoors. I have a lot of space for flower gardens, hanging pots, and a large vegetable garden. I’ve planted a lot of perennials around the house, and in the front yard, but reserved ample space for my tenants to get their hands dirty. Why? While this may result in a lot of untended plants (which it has, in years past), allowing tenants to garden helps to foster a sense of “attachment” to the property. They feel like they’re a part of the place, rather than just staying there for a while and writing a check to me every month.
So, my mother gives me a Christmas wreath every year at Thanksgiving when I visit her, and I hang it on the front of the duplex, adding a little holiday cheerfulness to the front of the house. (Outdoor Christmas lights are definitely waaaaay too much work for me to get into.) This year, however, she has upped the quality of the wreath, which caused a bit of a dilemma…
The wreath, when hung on the front door, wouldn’t allow the storm door to close! It was too nice, and big, and full of holiday cheer (unlike the relatively flat, scrooge-like wreaths of years past, which nestled in between the doors just fine.)
I found a novel product that allowed me to hang the wreath directly on the glass of the storm door, using a magnet on either side of the door.
I had a much easier time renting out my duplex apartment last April than I have the previous few times… I had chalked it up to better advertising, cosmetic improvements, and luck. According to an article at hotpads.com, however, perhaps there was something bigger at work — rental vacancy rates (and rents) are turning around, coming out of the five year slump they’ve been in.
My tenants recently let me know that the water pressure in their shower was really low — lower than when they moved into their apartment. I live in the other unit of the duplex, and we both use the same water system, and I hadn’t noticed any difference… This would take some investigating.
There is a large commercially zoned lot next to me that just went up for sale. It was previously occupied by an immigrant church community, and they were the perfect neighbors — quiet, friendly, courteous. The only time I heard anything out of them was on Sundays, when they would sometimes hold their worship services outdoors (and even then, it was kind of interesting, being in a different language and all). The building isn’t much to brag about, but they have a large lot that goes from the southeast to northeast corners of the block.
I’m wondering, will it go to condos? Or a new apartment building? Sit empty? Become a SuperAmerica??
Fall is swiftly approaching, a little prematurely in my neck of the woods, and everyone’s got their windows closed to stave off that first turning on of the furnace. Everyone except for my upstairs tenants, that is. I can hear the forced air furnace going on, but I can see from the outside that their storm windows are wide open. I think I remember them mentioning how high their heating bills were in their last place, maybe it wasn’t entirely the fault of the old furnace…
Every fall I leave my tenants a list of things to keep in mind for the heating season. It’s not a formal newsletter per say, but performs the same function. Here’s what mine consists of:
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