Yikes! I’m sorry that happened, what a scary situation.

I don’t think you should stop supplying the lawn mower if you’d like tenants to keep up the yard work, but I would share this particular story with tenants at the lease signing to ensure they understand clearly what you mean.

[Krista Reuther]

Great tips, Lexi!

I would also recommend that landlords who aren’t seeing leads give our AI Listing Description Generator a go. It’s been trained on our Fair Housing course, and it’ll generate an eye-catching description to help you land your new favorite tenant.

Of course, as with anything from an AI, I always recommend examining the output before it goes live to make sure no errors were made!

[Krista Reuther]

Way to go, John!

My first piece of advice is to ask the contractor whose work you liked if there’s anyone in his network that he’d recommend using after he retires.

Also, I agree with Jonathan’s note about communication – that’s key, especially when your tenant lives right next door. I’d add that your proximity could make it tempting for tenants to walk on over if they need help with something, so giving them clear instructions on how you prefer to be communicated with and what constitutes an emergency will set all of you up for success.

To that end, might I recommend our free Welcome Home Guide? This customizable guide is the perfect place to spell out important information, from how best to reach you to where the emergency water shut-off is.

[Krista Reuther]

Hi! I’m Krista from the Education team here at TurboTenant. I get to co-host our podcasts, Adventures in Landlording and Be a Better Landlord, with Jonathan. I also host our monthly webinar series, which you should definitely check out.

I can’t wait to chat with y’all here in the Forum!

[Krista Reuther]

I’ll be curious to see what happens with the rates in the next six to 12 months. But as the old adage goes, marry the property and date the rate – so if you have your eye on something that works for your portfolio now, I say jump on it!

[Krista Reuther]

I just talked to a gentleman who’s starting his mid-term rental journey! He had never pictured himself as a landlord but found that he had too much room in the house after his kids moved out. This new landlord lives really close to a bustling hospital, so he should have no issues finding traveling nurses as tenants.

I think mid-term rentals can be a great addition to your investment portfolio, but you’ll need to consider if you’ll furnish these units and what language to add to your lease accordingly. I highly recommend checking out Jesse Vasquez’s resources to learn more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8pDTvotT6Y

[Krista Reuther]

Oof, that’s a tricky situation!

Based on what I’m seeing from Honeycomb Insurance, the second amendment protects the rights of gun owners at a federal level only. Because of this, states have the ability to come up with their own specific laws regarding firearms in a rental.

Four states have specific laws about guns and rental agreements at the time of writing:

• Virginia: forbids landlords from restricting gun possession in their rentals
• Tennessee: allows landlords to ban guns, even if the tenant has a handgun carry permit
• Minnesota: forbids landlords from restricting gun possession in their rentals if the tenants have a permit
• Wisconsin: allows landlords to forbid guns from common areas of the property but doesn’t speak on the ability to have guns in the individual rental unit

So, if you live in a state that’s not VA or MN, you can ban guns from your rental with language in your lease.

honeycombinsurance.com

Firearms in Rental Property: Can Landlords Ban Guns? | Honeycomb

State laws vary regarding whether apartments can ban guns, so make sure you know what your local laws say about firearms in rental properties.

[Krista Reuther]

@john, funky thing – I used command+i to italicize the word “they” in the post above, and it showed the code instead despite looking right when I was typing out the post

[Krista Reuther]

Creating pet-friendly rental properties can be easy if you do your research!

For example, consider:

• Installing indestructible flooring: Swap odor-carrying carpets and
  easily scratched hardwood floors for a waterproof luxury vinyl tile (LVT).
• Conducting regular inspections: At a minimum, schedule inspections every six
  months and highlight issues as you spot them so renters can make corrections
  sooner rather than later.
• Requiring renter’s insurance that includes liability for dog attacks: While
  landlords aren’t often successfully sued over a tenant’s dog attack, you can rest
  easier knowing you’re both covered.

[Krista Reuther]

Hello hello!

My name is Krista, and I’m your Senior Content Education Manager – which is a long way of saying that research + education are my passions.
I spearhead our monthly webinar series and co-host the Be a Better Landlord + Adventures in Landlording podcasts alongside the Director of Education and Community, Jonathan Forisha.

I can’t wait to chat with y’all!

That’s a good question! I paid for the hotel because it felt like the right thing to do, especially since the repairs took a hot minute and the tenant only stayed the first night. I would imagine I legally had to do it, but I don’t have a great free legal resource I could tap into 😐

[Krista Reuther]

Hey John!

It sounds like you have a solid plan of action to handle accommodation and modification requests. I’d love to expand on steps two and three.

For step two, I recommend getting in touch with your local HUD office (or the HUD office local to your rental for remote landlords) and asking what kind of documentation you can request to validate someone’s disability. Following their guidance can help you avoid a Fair Housing violation.

Onto step three. Folks often struggle with reasonable-ness – which is fair, it seems subjective. A reasonable request is one that you can afford to implement and doesn’t alter the nature of your business. To assess the affordability and prove that you thoroughly investigated the request, I recommend gathering at least three quotes for the proposed work.

For example, let’s say you have a tenant who now uses a wheelchair. If they request that you install grab bars in the shower, you should price out the cost of the installation with at least three contractors.

That request is fairly straightforward, and most landlords would likely install the grab bars without pause. But if you get a considerably more expensive or complicated request, having at least three quotes shows that you did your due diligence and didn’t stop at the first sign of friction.

At the end of the day, HUD wants to see that you’re trying your best to give tenants with disabilities access to everything they fully enjoy your property.