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I have a tenant whose been complaining lately, I raised the rent by 45 dollars when the lease ended recently, rent for the house was under market and lately homes in the area have been going up with 3br/2ba homes going for nearly as much as my rental and mine is 4br/2ba. Before I got them to sign a new lease they asked about a new driveway and I told them I'd think about it.
but now I got a note with his rent this month, and I don't have 5+ grand to drop on installing a new driveway. I'm including a pic of the driveway.
And he's also started to complain that the doors on the back of the house that the paint has started to fade a lot etc and asked in a note to repaint them basically.
How do I go about telling him that I'm not going to be putting in a new driveway? and as far as the doors go what should I tell him? I really don't have the time or money right now to take off 2 doors, sand both down and paint both of them. (just paint that has faded, cosmetic issue)
While that is a pretty beat driveway, You simply say after getting bids (if you got bids) that the budget does not allow for any driveway improvements at this time. As for the paint, I would make time to paint. As there is no requirement to paint or do driveway repairs you really aren't obligated to do anything.. Unless the driveway poses a danger to vehicles like possible damage to tires you can simply say no. If the driveway is bad enough to damage tires or suspensions you might want to look into doing some repair.
You may lose the tenant. It's up to you to figure out the worth of that tenant and how badly you want to hang on to them.
Personally I wold paint and start getting bids for the driveway redo. That's one driveway in bad need of repair. I wouldnt be really happy as a tenant driving on that every day. Especially if I'm paying top dollar
While that is a pretty beat driveway, You simply say after getting bids (if you got bids) that the budget does not allow for any driveway improvements at this time. As for the paint, I would make time to paint. As there is no requirement to paint or do driveway repairs you really aren't obligated to do anything.. Unless the driveway poses a danger to vehicles like possible damage to tires you can simply say no. If the driveway is bad enough to damage tires or suspensions you might want to look into doing some repair.
You may lose the tenant. It's up to you to figure out the worth of that tenant and how badly you want to hang on to them.
Personally I wold paint and start getting bids for the driveway redo.
I will look into painting the doors in a few months when I get more time and can get a family member to help.
I'm not sure about driveway causing damage to vehicles, i've had other tenants there before driveway same condition and they never had any issues at all. It's not like you're driving 20mph+ or backing out over 20mph+ of the driveway to cause damage, backing out slowly just like any normal person etc. May be a little bumpy in the middle area of the driveway but thats about it.
They're really not paying that much top dollar. Its a 4br/2ba house over 2000sq ft or so. My neighbor besides me pays 1500 and his bathrooms are literally over 30+ years old and the kitchen is i'd say 15 or so...
Also they're on a 2 year lease (new lease) now so they arent going anywhere.
Some of my rentals are semi rural... sprucing up the drive means buying a truck load of gravel and one property is very high end and like living in a park... no pavement.
You can simply say you have no immediate plans and leave it at that.
Another approach I have taken is to be blunt by saying I would consider having the work done but will need to charge market rent... 9 times out of 10 that will be the end of it.
For that 10% that really want something and willing to pay extra it has worked out well...
Some of my rentals are semi rural... sprucing up the drive means buying a truck load of gravel and one property is very high end and like living in a park... no pavement.
You can simply say you have no immediate plans and leave it at that.
Another approach I have taken is to be blunt by saying I would consider having the work done but will need to charge market rent... 9 times out of 10 that will be the end of it.
For that 10% that really want something and willing to pay extra it has worked out well...
As far as the doors go its not a habitability issue, in their note for the doors they used the word "eyesore"... >.>
Im not sure if they would stay if we charged market rent, market rent would have ended up being i would say 1700 dollars probably. Even when the lease ended they got a bit mad about the rental increase trying to say "nothing changed on the house". Yet my insurance bill for this year went up a bit for the house and cost of inflation going up and then the market in the past year has dramatically gone up as well. I mean hell when I went to bojangles last week the cost of everything went up, the guy in front of me went to go pay and the manager had stated that the company raised the prices on everything
Theres a 3br/1bth home and rent price is 1,470, other 3br/2ba homes are going for about 1500-1600
Also wanted to mention tax bill coming up soon, 2600+ dollars to pay and when 2019 comes citys going to "re-asses" increase property taxes throughout, and they always skyrocket it so high, can already sense I'm going to have to go and fight them when that happens to get it reduced
Hire a painter to paint the doors. Tell the tenants the truth. You are NOT going to put in a new driveway. Your driveway looks fine to me. Old yes, but I've certainly seen much worse.
It doesn't look like this driveway leads to anything? Is it just standing alone, no garage at the end?
If it were me, I'd just tear it up and plant grass if it leads no where.
If it leads to a garage, then you should do something, at your pace, and something inexpensive. Here you can buy road grade dirt, which is ground up road asphalt. A load of 4 yards was like $80. It covered a double driveway which looks from your picture to be about 6 ft. shorter than yours. So that would make using this option very affordable.
I would explore solutions like I mentioned, and choose what you can afford.
I also would have raised that rent up to market value....These folks should be taking care of that house and maintaining simple things like painting their doors....it doesn't sound like they are good renters in my opinion. Being too lazy to paint their doors is ridiculous imo
I have to say also, being an owner requires that you take care of things. The fact that you don't believe that you can even afford to slap some paint on the weathered entrance doors leaves me wondering about your priorities. You might want to decide long term what you are gaining from owning this home if you are not gaining in monetary value.
I'd be looking for renters that understand that renting a home requires a lot more hands on from them then renting an apartment.
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and when 2019 comes citys going to "re-asses" increase property taxes throughout, and they always skyrocket it so high, can already sense I'm going to have to go and fight them when that happens to get it reduced
