Tenant made me laugh

[suburbangirl]

we had to buy our youngest son a bed and i don't think we have enough to cover the rent ... thanks

I think this shows so much b!oody cheek, it's unbelievable! FIND enough to cover the rent!! A roof over your sons head is more important than whether he sleeps on a designer bed or not.

Sheesh.

Imagine going to the bank and saying, 'oh sorry, can you hold off on this week's mortgage repayment, we have to buy a new sofa, the old one's falling to bits'. Yer, right!!!

 

[Tizzy]

I'm also shocked Kathryn! That email she sent you is priceless! She has no idea.

How sad that she thinks she can treat a private landlord the same way she probably treats the service providers and government departments. She clearly has no understanding that you must prioritise the roof, the food and heat first or you will end up on the street!

Maslows hierarchy of needs should be taught in primary school. Then maybe people would only buy the wants after the needs are paid for.

For what it is worth...in the past, we've also used mattresses on floors and it was very comfortable.

 

[Dis]

It's absolutely none of the Landlord's business to go wading through the murky waters of Tenant's private lives and budgetary habits.

Mind if I pinch that one liner if I ever get into a similar situation?

 

[jaycee]

I'm also shocked Kathryn! That email she sent you is priceless! She has no idea.

How sad that she thinks she can treat a private landlord the same way she probably treats the service providers and government departments. She clearly has no understanding that you must prioritise the roof, the food and heat first or you will end up on the street!

Maslows hierarchy of needs should be taught in primary school. Then maybe people would only buy the wants after the needs are paid for.

For what it is worth...in the past, we've also used mattresses on floors and it was very comfortable.

actually I've done it too (mattress on the floor)...Got a neighbour who does it right now actually

The 'funniest' thing about both emials the tenant wrote, was the sheer confidence that it was all ok - no asking, just telling....."hey I'll be 5 minutes late getting yto yourplace ok"... Appropriate to a friend, but probably not to your prospective boss on 1/2 hour before your interview, telling him you'lll rock round tomorrow ... and then blaming him for giving someone else the job, saying "What, "I" left you a voicemail message!"

 

[kathryn d]

We are actually going to be sleeping on our mattress,on the floor, as we going to be moving soon to our new place.
We might not even have a sofa for the lounge for a while.

I'm tossing most of our old furniture. It lead a good life but needs to be replaced and not worth the expense of moving it.

 

[lizzie]

I agree - at least you recognise that is the nature of the beast in this particular asset class.

of course he does - daz dealt in resi investing for years before moving up into wheeling and dealing with the big boys in large commercial.

and in case you didn't guess - out of the eight tenants, the three that cause him problems are the resi tenants. the other 5 a major commercial sites. you should read some of his commerical investing threads - very interesting, scary and informative. the guy has some real balls - and it's paid off for him.

i suggest you read up and get to know the old-timers on this forum before you pass rather "rude" and misinformed judgement.

and, i again stand by the stats i pointed out - we have one rental (out of half a dozen) that is now costing $500/mth more in interest payments. tenant pays $200/mth more.

so if we extrapolate that out over 12 rentals - all of a sudden the landlord has to find an extra $3,600/mth to cover the gap. not particularly easy - and that's on a 6% return property. so, sometimes "yes" we do rely on that rent cheque coming in on time - just like the bank expects us to pay them on time or we get slogged with a $45 fee.

 

[ziggy2214]

You're right Pom. I should have added more detail.
This was my reply to her.It would have explained more.

"We never received any request.
If we had of, we would have replied.
We have 4 children, if you must know.
Your liability to us fell on the first of the month, and it is your responsibility to ensure we are notified and agree if need to make any alteration to your legal obligation.
Your quoted mail doesn't include any reply from us, as your 7 prior delay requests have.
I find your letter offensive, as we have always when notified, accommodated your requests.We are not responsibility for losses in mail, not sent thru our server."


She has not replied, nor do I expect her to.

This was the message she had attached to her email, that she supposedly sent.

"this is (tenant's name) from appt 4 on (tenant address)... i was wondering if you would be able to hold the rent untill the 15th of may ....we had to buy our youngest son a bed and i don't think we have enough to cover the rent ... thanks

"Give and it will be given to you " Luke 6.38

 

[Pom]

of course he does - daz dealt in resi investing for years before moving up into wheeling and dealing with the big boys in large commercial.

and in case you didn't guess - out of the eight tenants, the three that cause him problems are the resi tenants. the other 5 a major commercial sites. you should read some of his commerical investing threads - very interesting, scary and informative. the guy has some real balls - and it's paid off for him.

i suggest you read up and get to know the old-timers on this forum before you pass rather "rude" and misinformed judgement.

and, i again stand by the stats i pointed out - we have one rental (out of half a dozen) that is now costing $500/mth more in interest payments. tenant pays $200/mth more.

so if we extrapolate that out over 12 rentals - all of a sudden the landlord has to find an extra $3,600/mth to cover the gap. not particularly easy - and that's on a 6% return property. so, sometimes "yes" we do rely on that rent cheque coming in on time - just like the bank expects us to pay them on time or we get slogged with a $45 fee.

I didn't intend to be rude. I was simply making the point that if you are aware of the nature of the beast then either don't invest in that asset class OR price in the risks inherent to that asset class in your yield, i.e.. don't pay as much for the property in the first place.

Your stats above are a prime example of this - many investors in resi have not priced risk into their investment yields - void periods, tenant defaults, extraordinary repair items, even minor late payments. Not to mention increases in interest rates.

So I repeat, is it all the tenant's fault or should the investors themselves shoulder some responsibility given that they should know "the nature of the beast?"

 

[lizzie]

i'm solidly in the camp of - tenant's entered into a legally binding contract to pay $xx per week on xx day of the week/month for a proprety for xx period, and i expect that contract to be fullfilled.

so - if that's the way you want to put it - i put the responsibility directly on the tenant.

if i enter a contract to purchase a car, build a house, have some trade work done around the ppor/ip, take an airplane flight ... any other business dealing where an agreement is made that xx product will be supplied for $xx than i damn well pay when agreed to - not when it suits me.

sorry if that seems cold, and yes i can be flexible if the unexpected happens, but if they are consistantly late or making excuses then tough bikkies.

 

[kathryn d]

I didn't intend to be rude. I was simply making the point that if you are aware of the nature of the beast then either don't invest in that asset class OR price in the risks inherent to that asset class in your yield, i.e.. don't pay as much for the property in the first place.

Your stats above are a prime example of this - many investors in resi have not priced risk into their investment yields - void periods, tenant defaults, extraordinary repair items, even minor late payments. Not to mention increases in interest rates.

So I repeat, is it all the tenant's fault or should the investors themselves shoulder some responsibility given that they should know "the nature of the beast?"

Not sure about you, but if all our tenants stopped paying (28 units) we would have a difficult time paying the mortgages and expenses.Your income must be much larger than mine (and I'm sure it is)

As lizzie says,we expect our tenants to fulfill their contract and pay on time.
How would you like it if your boss started paying you whenever he/she felt like it?

 

[jaycee]

I thought all Pom he meant was that it's better to be prepared than unprepared.

I thought what he meant was don't be naiive & get caught out - prepare a little bit in case something like a tenant not paying on time happens... In other threads, many forum members suggested this should be a minimum thing that all ip investors do and include in their costings when determining potential investments... Does not sound like wrong advice to me (??)

In an earlier thread, I remember someone asking if he should check his bank a/c balance to make sure his tenant's rent has come through on time & if it hasn't, top up the balance to make sure his mtge payment is paid ok & he is not hit with ovderdraw fees - everyone answered of course he should be doing that ! even though I am sure they all suggested the tenant SHOULD pay rent on time, HOWEVER depsite this, it is his repsonsibility to pay the bank, the bank will still blame him, they don't care !

In order to minimise the risk with resi propety investing, it would seem we have two choices, a) choose good/better tenants b) ensure that we have SOME cash avaialbale in the event something might go wrong (never know, it may not be becuae of a tenant paying their rent late).

Can Is anyone suggesting there is harm in trying to do those things ?

 

[kathryn d]

jaycee,
I'm sure that is what he meant.
Just how prepared does one need to be?
How much is enough?

 

[jaycee]

You are asking the wrong person, I figure more experienced proporty investors thatn I would have a better idea

With exactly that in mind and the beelif that I could benefit from hearing other's suggestions on that very question, I asked that as an open question on another topic earlier this week/late last week - no responses received

 

[Pom]

jaycee,
I'm sure that is what he meant.
Just how prepared does one need to be?
How much is enough?

Thats exactly what I meant nothing more nothing less. What are the chances of all 28 of your units paying late at once? Absolutely minimal i'd have thought. But I'd have thought the chance of 3 paying late is actually quite high. Perhaps this will occur twice a year but it sounds as though you can cope easily enough.

In terms of risk - an occurance is too much if you struggle financially to meet your own commitments as a result. It will be different for every investor. There are some, it would appear, on this site that would be financially stressed if a tenant missed a payment by say 2 weeks (i.e. 1 mortgage payment)......and negligable void periods seem to be a source of serious stress for some. These people are overstretched in my opinion, particularly in the uncertain times ahead globally.

I'd be interested to know if people ran figures assuming worst case scenarios such as interest rates rising by say 2% or assumed that the property would be vacant for 4 weeks of the year in terms of cash flow?

 

[Tizzy]

Everyone has a different point of view on what constitutes an adequate safety buffer in investing. If they didn't, then investment would only end up being an activity of the wealthy. Depends what your SANF is. There's no right or wrong answer.

I for one have sailed very close to the wind at times (financially speaking) but I wouldn't have got to where I am if I didn't. I think determining the correct buffer level is a very personal choice.

 

[TheBacon]

"Give and it will be given to you " Luke 6.38

And your point is?

Plucking out a scripture in isolation does not make what you are saying correct. The passage is from the "Sermon on the Mount". Go back a few verses, Luke 6:31 reads..."Do to others as you would have them do to you."

 

[suburbangirl]

"Do to others as you would have them do to you."

And some would add: "only do it first"...

 

[kathryn d]

That tenant's cheque bounced and went NSF today.

 

[ziggy2214]

And your point is?

Plucking out a scripture in isolation does not make what you are saying correct. The passage is from the "Sermon on the Mount". Go back a few verses, Luke 6:31 reads..."Do to others as you would have them do to you."

MR Bacon

I didn't say that it's right or wrong.
I believe in giving and my life is blessed as a result.

I know property investing is a business but why hurt people if you can avoid it?
Kathryn said in her last post that the cheque bounced.
Would it have bounced if she had waited a little?

I firmly believe that if you give people a chance they can come good.
If you don't, perhaps they never will.

IMHO

 

[kathryn d]

MR Bacon

I didn't say that it's right or wrong.
I believe in giving and my life is blessed as a result.

I know property investing is a business but why hurt people if you can avoid it?
Kathryn said in her last post that the cheque bounced.
Would it have bounced if she had waited a little?

I firmly believe that if you give people a chance they can come good.
If you don't, perhaps they never will.

IMHO

We always wait IF we are notified. We have a "contact us" on our website, which they chose not to use, instead using hotmail.
We have delay papers they are required to fill out at our Super's, which they didn't do. Anytime they have contacted us directly, we have always replied to them.The one time we didn't reply to them straight away, they emailed again asking for a reply.

Now they will have the added charge for a NSF cheque from their bank and us.