Its a marathon

[Vegas Teacher]

If you are on the Facebook HDT site you have read this.........

Yep I get it, it is a marathon getting these trucks ready to run on on the road, however when you get a 20 mile detour, snow and ice thrown at you that marathon becomes a seemingly impossible project.

So yes I have savings and yes but I have hit a major detour in repairs on the truck.

Here in Vegas I own a rental property. for 10 years I have been the property manager and had good renters. This streak came to an end over the Christmas Holiday and between back rent and repairs that I have to do to get my house ready to put back on the market I am probably out 10,000.00 to 15,000.00 from my pocket. All new flooring, the carpet was trashed. Completely painted top to bottom. Holes punched in the sheet rock, Entry doors to rooms broken off of the hings, no not unscrewed, torn off. Solar Screens ripped off and laying in the yard. The whole house stinks of something, don't know what. Smells like year old grease, from a deep fryer but the fryer is gone. I built a nice dog run for the renters it is gone. Even looks like they pulled a motor cycle or 4 wheeler into the house and dripped oil on the living room carpet.

So a couple of things will change. Semi is put on hold for a while. I have brand new lights sitting in the box waiting to be installed. I was going to do tires, shocks and springs soon, however that is now put on hold. 

Anyway my emergency fund is going to get used up here pretty soon.

Later,

Cory O

[jkoenig24]

I understand that being a landlord can be daunting. I imagine that finding (and keeping) quality tenants is very difficult. I hope, after you effect repairs, that you'll be blessed with great tenants and, look forward to seeing you at a future HDT Rally. Good luck!

[Vegas Teacher]

41 minutes ago, jkoenig24 said:

I understand that being a landlord can be daunting. I imagine that finding (and keeping) quality tenants is very difficult. I hope, after you effect repairs, that you'll be blessed with great tenants and, look forward to seeing you at a future HDT Rally. Good luck!

Thanks,

I just did not know somebody could have so little respect for the property of others. My wife and I lived in that house for two years, it was a nice house in a good part of town, it still is a nice house in a nice neighborhood in a good part of town. 1800 square feet of living space, 2 car garage. It is all beaten up inside until we get it fixed up. I am now going with a property management company from here on out. 10 years from today I can retire. I will sell it then.

later,

Cory O

[ARGO]

2 things- take pics before you rent it as proof. And be sure that if unmarried people occupy it, then all of them sign INDIVIDUALLY. If only one signor & it moves out, you have no recourse on the others. OK, well maybe napalm..................

[SuiteSuccess]

In the early 90’s had a very nice home that had a hand painted mural built into the den from Italy (previous owner’s wife was Italian).  We had to move out of state to pursue a second higher education degree and rented to a young couple we knew from church for less than our mortgage to help them out.  They seemed like the ideal renters.  My parents lived in the same town.  We heard the couple were having troubles and divorcing several months later.  They didn’t pay rent one month and abandoned the house.  Had my father check on it.  Back door was kicked in, windows broken, and the mural had been painted over with white paint and gaudy pictures hung with nail holes.  Carpet trashed.  Thousands of $$ damage but not worth suing since they literally had no assets.  Criminal charges?....maybe but didn’t seem worth it.  Vowed to never own rental property again.  Oh BTW husband apparently didn’t like Italian art so he whitewashed.  He also kicked in the door and broke the windows in a drunken rage.

[Hot Rod]

Sympathies from a fellow landlord.  Sadly folks that have never earned and owned anything of value have no respect for anything of theirs or yours.  I just spent $25k last year on a house that was completely trashed by what I thought were good tenants.  No malicious damage, just complete neglect.  I think we replaced everything except the roof and siding.  Some of these folks think it is easier to move every year or two and leave the mess for the landlord instead of cleaning up after themselves.  But hey, the rest of world think we are rich privileged fat cats since we own a rental or two.

[Pat & Pete]

BTDT .

We rented our house out for 4 years after we went full time . The tenants decided to buy a house and moved out leaving the 'mess' and destruction .

We worked 3 weeks , every day , all day with only sleep and eats for breaks . 

Listed the house and sold it within 4 hours ...

No more land lording for us . 

[jenandjon]

I am technically a renter. My house us supplied through work. We have not always left a house exactly the way we found it. But, we have always gotten our deposit back.

I have a couple friends that are just pigs. There is no other word for it. They are pigs. Dog craps anywhere it wants. They never clean it up. Just walk around it. Trash piled up, then they break everything they touch. Then wine and complain the landlord is a jerk.

I know for a fact one house the landlord had to burn down after they people were evicted. They trashed it that bad. Then the people moved on to destroy a beautiful old farm house. I will be sad to see that house burn when they move again.

 

[Pete Kildow]

I had 4 places that I rented out. Lots of hard work, getting those places. To only turn into a bad dream for sure. last one called at 5am, his wife smelled smoke. Rush 13 miles to the house. Find a Breaker hot as can be. Started to the second bedroom. Was told not to go in there. I did and found Grow lights, that bedroom had been turned in to a a Grow room for Pot.

Short story, told both of them as soon as I got back home. I was waiting 1 hour, then calling the cops. They had that  1.5 hours to be gone. When the cops got there both were sleeping. Guess they did not believe me. But both served time over that one. Sold all 4 places the following week. That was 1996, never wanted a rental property again. Let one house fall in. I could have rented the old place. But felt I was better off letting it fall in. Will burn it this summer. And I feel I will be way ahead. Over renting it out.

[Vegas Teacher]

Updates and totals:

1. Cleaning alone -$400.00

2. Everything on the inside plus the garage -$10,000.00

3. Landscaping -$400.00

4. Back Rent -$4800.00

5.$15,600 + February rent = 16,800

Not Fun places to spend money, So the Semi is put on hold. I know it is a marathon, but this is a $20,000.00 Road block / Detour.

Later,

Vegas Teacher

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

My mother had 4 rental mobile homes at the Emerald Isle Fishing Pier in Emerald Isle North Carolina.  Lovely ocean tourist destination, every Sunday afternoon, it would be - go clean, fix, repair and replace.  The fall that a hurricane ( late 1980's) washed over the middle of the island solved that aggravating Sunday ritual...

[chief916]

Got out of the rental business 15 yrs ago because of all the things you guys just mentioned.  Most...not all renters do not care about nor respect what you have done for them.  I'm disgusted to see people haven't changed.  I'm out....never again.

[castlewood57]

Sorry to hear about the problems.  We had a house that we rented out for a while, renters had started trashing it, got them out.  I couldn't believe in just a couple weeks what they had done.  I will never have rentals again as well.

 Good luck on the repairs and hopefully they won't be as bad as expected.

 

[HERO Maker]

If you are going to continue renting it out, only do those things that get it ready for rent.  Remember, when you go to sell it, you will need to replace everything anyway to get top $$ including the things you are going to do now.   Good luck.  Real Estate Investment is not a game for sissies. It can bring out the worst in you if you are not careful.

 

[HERO Maker]

Now you didn't hear this from me, and I've been out of the Real Estate business for a long time, but when you need to get someone out of a rental pretty quick, try this:

If you happen to ride dirt bikes on the weekend with friends from all places (like I did), and you know they are sometimes involved with some bike "clubs" around your area (like I knew), then just ask your friends to ask their friends to drop by the rental in question and have them let the tenants know that they just rented the house and will be moving in Friday night!!!!!  Tenants usually vacate within 24 hours!

Now you didn't hear that from me, it's just a story that was used a few times when things got pretty bad.

[runaway parents]

Take them to small claims court. If you have a contractor doing your repair work ask him if he would be a expert witness have him go to court with you and have him state his opinion on how damage occurred,  The renter will be forced to pay for damage's. May take awhile but eventually you will get your money back.

[Ronbo]

Just because you win in small claims court, doesn’t mean you will get your money. They have to have something worth something first. Usually not worth the time nor money. 

[runaway parents]

3 hours ago, Ronbo said:

Just because you win in small claims court, doesn’t mean you will get your money. They have to have something worth something first. Usually not worth the time nor money. 

Its called there pay check. Garnishing wages. Yes it does work ben there done that.

[Vegas Teacher]

I go to do a walk Through today at 3:30 hope to get my house back up on the rental market by Friday, possibly tomorrow if the Property Management company does a great job for me!

I will update tomorrow or maybe later tonight on the condition of the house!

Later

[cactus]

VT

Best of luck

[Vegas Teacher]

Update........

The house looked great! Few small things to address but nothing major. I don't feel like crying now when I see it.  The house looks brand new!

[Pat & Pete]

1 hour ago, Vegas Teacher said:

Update........

The house looked great! Few small things to address but nothing major. I don't feel like crying now when I see it.  The house looks brand new!

Amazing what a coat of paint will do .

[Vegas Teacher]

Final walk through was done on Saturday, the small problems were fixed. The house looks incredible! I even had the garage floor painted. I looked at my bank account, not as bad as I thought.

Today I go to the property management company and put my house on the market to get it rented.

So here is the great news, I need some postive thoughts here the D.W. says as soon as the renter gets put in the house I can start doing truck work.

Here is the list for the truck:

New lights (The lights I got at Christmas never got put on) Light bar (4 wheel parts has DOT approved lights)

New front leaf springs

New front Shocks

New front brakes

Steering needs to be check out - it makes a grinding noise when I turn the wheel.

All new Drives - we all know 2800 - 3500 for this

Jack a lopee needs to be hooked up to direct link and to the brakes

New cabinet behind the drivers side

Then saving for the new trailer - I am between Mobile suites, Cyclone and Fuzion. So I am going to start saving again soon. My little 23.5  foot Fleetwood Pioneer Bumper tow will work for a while. It is paid off and doesn't cost me any money.

I am the third owner on the Pioneer, I got it for $6500.00. Let's just say it was a little bit rough when I got it, so I did a lot of sweat equity on it. 

Couple of weekends ago I pulled my trailer over to Fontana California, I drove into a head wind that was 20 miles per hour with 40 mile per hour wind gusts. I have sag and sway bars. I have my sway tightened down, but since I don't have my 780 completely done yet and I am not a fan of California driving anyway I pulled with my 2008 Tundra. It was scary. The 215 beltway loops Las Vegas, 6 lanes in some spots, When being hit diagonally with a 40 mph gut from the front and onto the side of the trailer it was bad. I slowed to 45 mph. I figured if they didn't want to be behind me they could go around me. I put on my safety flashers and developed white knuckels. Once I hit I-15 and started driving directly into the wind it was better. When I got to Jean Nevada, I pulled in to top off gas, hit the resteroom and get a couple of snacks. Spending about 25 minutes in there, the wind died down. I got back on 15 and it was much better, about 5:30 at this point. I pulled into the Pilot truck stop in Hesperia, California about 9:00 p.m.

Later,

Cory O

 

[rickeieio]

Take this with a grain of salt, as it's coming from a conservative olde pharte...........

Do the maintenance items you have listed, and don't spend cash on lipstick for the truck.  You have a nice looking unit, leave it at that.   Instead, put those $$ away to use on a high quality used 5th.  Take your time and get as close as possible to paying cash as you can.  I know, paying cash is not the American Way, but it will serve you well in the future.

Nomex undies on.......

Oh yeah, get back to work.  Yer not supposed to be playing on your phone during school hours. 😁

[Darryl&Rita]

Listen to Rick. 4wheelparts.com lights won't do you any good with worn steering or suspension. The cabinet can be built as time allows, learn how to do some wiring before the Jack-a-lope install. You may decide to do it yourself, but at least you'll know what's going on while it's being installed, if you hire it out. The most knowledgeable installer will still scratch his head, installing something new to him. Be ready to give them information, and reap the rewards.