So I just called the renter on the property I inherited across the country and left her a voice mail. She and her daughter have been living in the place for the last...5 years? 6 years?...and when I inherited the property the renter had been there many years already and no lease was in place. It's a standard "I take care of you, you take care of me." agreement.
I chose to keep that agreement going so as to not rattle the boat. An excellent renter is an excellent renter. And she has been excellent.
Now with the possibility of buying a house, the darn bank is red taping everything up by asking for a lease.
This leaves me to grapple with some questions I have been delaying to think about:
1. Did the renter ever pay a security deposit when she moved in? I don't know. I have not asked her because well really- what kind of answer am I going to get? "Of course I paid a deposit! First AND last months rent."
2. And then there is the guilt that she has been living in a 1980's property that has never been renovated. When she tells me an appliance has broken she buys the new item and sends me a receipt. Other than that- no changes. Same carpeting, fixtures..everything. I feel like a slumlord- I have never even had the carpets cleaned in it.
So I guess right now I don't want to rock the boat. I am afraid to ask her long term plans because...in this buyers market real estate climate after she has been renting so many years...I am afraid to hear the answer.
I am afraid to ask about the security deposit because I am afraid she will think "I have several thousand dollars coming to me in the form of a security deposit"...and get ideas about moving to a more modern updated place.
And I am afraid she wants to move and I have to take my house down payment money and move across the country for a few weeks to renovate it while debating to sell it in this bad market or pay a management company to find me a new tenant. And from reading the blogs on here- dream tenants are hard to find. If I decide to keep the place then the down payment money I spent on renovations is gone...and no buying a house.
Sigh. I know calling the tenant and clearing the air is the right thing to do. The responsible thing to do. I am just really afraid of the answers.
I dont want to be a grown up today.
November 17th, 2008 at 06:35 pm
November 17th, 2008 at 06:58 pm 1226948294
Yep. I would say to just me honest. I am looking at buying a house and the bank is requiring this. I won't be changing how we operate or anything. You can also say that this protects her as well.
Short term pain for long term benifit.
November 17th, 2008 at 07:05 pm 1226948715
Assume that she paid one month security deposit and it is not earning interest. Ask it as a statement which needs clarification, "You did pay one month security deposit. Correct?" If she has lived there for more than a year, there is an assumed month-to-month tenancy I would make sure you had a security deposit to return to her.
I have started showing apartment that my father owns to potential renters. These are buildings with original 1960s flooring AND brown appliances (popular pre avocado green and harvest gold. Don't worry about being a slumlord, sounds like the properties I deal with make yours look newer.
Good luck. I do know what you mean about being a grown up. I had an issue with Roto-rooter plumbing services which I put a stop payment on a check. After doing my homework two weeks later, I realized that I should have requested a Waiver of Lein. Which I did on Friday.
November 17th, 2008 at 08:22 pm 1226953353
Don't worry about calling the tenant. Speaking as a tenant, the good ones are going to be just as afraid that you called them - their first thought is "they're gonna raise my rent."