lost contact with my renters

I have been renting my condo in teton village to great people for a couple years very informally and the experience has been great for everyone until recently when I got new renters. Rent had been coming later and later after hounding them until October where it still hasn't come at all. The tenant I know has gone incommunicado and i have had several complaints about disturbances to property and neighbors. Embarrassingly I don't have the other renter's contact info or last name, but I know he is a long time local. I had a friend stop by the place and talk with them two weeks ago and they said they had sent the rent. I was in the middle of a move at the time myself and figured it might have gotten lost in mail forwarding hell, but no luck in receiving it so far. I am trying to figure out when I can get out there to handle this in person (i'm currently living in new jersey) but if anyone has advice or is willing to help me out I would be grateful. i can provide more details over pm if it would help.

thanks!

Make sure they haven't abandoned the place.

Property management. 50% for piece of mind.

hopefully they haven't gutted it.

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Originally Posted by Benny Profane

Property management. 50% for piece of mind.

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Do you mean peace of mind, by any chance?

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pm sent...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Benny Profane

Property management. 50% for piece of mind.

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This is just too ignorant. Try 10% and yes, they do provide peace of mind.

Hittin the bong a little hard today Benny?

To the OP, if you are really worried you could send the Popo over there do 'check on them'. That might complicate things though.

Otherwise, leave a message with 24 hours notice and have a trusted friend go over there to attempt a walk through. And tell them you haven't received rent. If the place is trashed you can initiate eviction proceedings. Beware that this is a long, painful, and costly process. If they're true deadbeats you'll never see your money.

PM MD9, he's got a lot more experience in thiss stuff than I do, and does all his own property management.

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by beaterdit

This is just too ignorant. Try 10% and yes, they do provide peace of mind.

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OH yes they do, I will second this as a former out of state Landlord myself. I too have had issues a few times with tenants, when I found out things weren't as kosher as they should have been via someone who knows someone, the rental agent took care for the problem IMMEDIATELY. 10% or a fixed rate, which ever is lower is usually the way these things are done. But do yourself a favor, make sure you investigate the rental agent(s) first, there are some out there you would not want to be doing business with even if you lived in town.

Good luck btw

For that distance, you need property management. you have gotten lucky if some late payments are your only problem. speaking as a 4 rental owner myself, if they are given an inch; a mile is just as easy. that rent needs to get to you in the first 5 days of the month or they need to know to expect and eviction notice .
its harsh, but with you in nj; it could easily turn into a 3 month deal if they decide to squat and thats all on you and your wallet and mortage payments are not small.

Yeah I'm only a 6-7 hour drive from my properties and the headaches they save me are countless. I manage one preoperty still with one teenent on an informal basis and it's way maore headaches for 1/4 the income.

The property managers deal with four individual leases for my other property on a 'per room' basis and they keep the place full, never been short even part of the rent even when roomates change. If I had to deal with that shit I'd go nuts. If I lived there still, yeah I'd do it myself but for you being 2000 miles away, def go with a manager when you get this sorted out.

Second DK's thoughts though. Get a referral from friends who use a property manager and check them out thoroughly, they are not all the same.

Again, good luck, this sucks balls.

If they're not on a lease, give em notice and start looking for new tenants. It will only get worse. You would rather the place empty than deal with dead beats. Winter should give you a good selection, so fly out in december, meet new tenants and get some early season skiing in. Write the whole trip off as an expense.

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Originally Posted by beaterdit

Yea I manage one preoperty still with one teenent on an informal basis and it's way maore headaches for 1/4 the income.

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Ahem. teenent?




Well, sorry, but one time I shopped a condo in Jackson, and was quoted a 50% fee for long distance. I know that 10% is standard for beach properties back here, but that's assuming you show up a lot and pull a shotgun out of your trunk to deal with the meth head slackers who don't pay up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Benny Profane

Well, sorry, but one time I shopped a condo in Jackson, and was quoted a 50% fee for long distance. I know that 10% is standard for beach properties back here, but that's assuming you show up a lot and pull a shotgun out of your trunk to deal with the meth head slackers who don't pay up.

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Yea, Benny. But those places also usually are basically hotels and do weekly rentals and take care of all the reservations, maid service, etc. Its kind of like, totally different. Unless you managed to stumble upon the one total freakazoid exception to the way the rest of the world works, upon which you base your entire worldview. Which I bet happens a lot.

OP, why can't you just have your friend go back over and see if they are still there or not. I once lost contact with a renter and turns out he was in jail.

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Originally Posted by mcsquared

Yea, Benny. But those places also usually are basically hotels and do weekly rentals and take care of all the reservations, maid service, etc. Its kind of like, totally different. Unless you managed to stumble upon the one total freakazoid exception to the way the rest of the world works, upon which you base your entire worldview. Which I bet happens a lot.

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jeez, what happened, did the big bad football player give you a wedgie in the lunch line today?

Whoever your tenant is, get a stack of post dated checks that run throughout the lease period so that you are not chasing the check. Make sure your lease has a bounced check addendum stating a hefty fee and more than one is grounds for dismissal.

I'll fly out and square it away for you if you buy the ticket.
I need to visitate tgr420 anyways.

Reminds me of a story, though....(heh)

Buddy of mine was dealin huge lots of weed and putting his profits in rentals under fake names (back when you could do that kind of thing) and he'd always have to stop by this one guy's place to pick up the check cause the guy never sent it in. Every month he'd stop by and the guy would write a check and ask him if he wanted a beer and they'd drink and talk shit and then my friend would leave with the check.

Now, since he was such a swingin dick with all the money he was making, he'd throw the rent checks in a pile on his desk and would never deposit them in the bank; or maybe he cashed them at each bank, due to the nature of his income. Anyways, this went on for over a year, having to pick up the rent check from this guy and having a friendly beer with him. And that's about how long it was before he went to the bank to cash the guy's checks. That was when he found out the guy had closed the account ten months (or is that ten beers?) previously.

splat, you definitely have some great stories to tell. fack, I'll buy you a beer next time you're at the wood but I promise not to bounce any checks for a pair of Lhasas :)

thanks for all the suggestions. getting a pile of mail at my old address tonight, if i don't have rent there i will have someone check it out in person. going to be out west next weekend, might divert the return trip to jackson if i have to.

original plan was to get through november (what our agreement was) then fix up kitchen and vrbo the thing so i could get some real use out of it, so i guess this might just be accelerated.

anybody know a great property manager out there? actually would be a great opportunity to find one that will allow me to vrbo and them just get the cleaning crew through in between renters...

and as far as eviction process goes, how long and costly is long and costly? i see that i can serve a 72 hour eviction notice but couldn't find much on how/if I need to demonstrate cause

splat, thanks man, who knows i might just take you up on it, you seem like the type who could put a handle on this for me

You should try and get in touch with Apex Property Management their out of Jackson and the company's run by a super solid guy.

I am just a few hours away. (Central Idaho)
I know some people who know some people.

Let's just say if you need these fuckers out, I can get the job done without bloodshed or you being involved. There would be some expenses.

I have a couple buddies in Jackson who could look into it if you need something done immediately. Pm for details.

There are some guys closer than I am who are not stepping up for whatever reason.

Might cost you a few nights later on this winter.

just went through evicting a tenant in Summit County, we had to post notice to give them 72 hours, then if they did not vacate, had to go to the court and file for eviction, which the notice was served by the deputy. The tenant then had something like a week to respond, and if they did, it would have then been scheduled for a hearing. Since our tenant didn't respond within the timeframe (I want to say it was a week) the judge signed the eviction order and then we had to wait for the deputy to be available to go serve the actual eviction and to vacate the premises of their belongings. Longest 3 weeks we had to go through and now we have to deal with trying to recoup 3 months worth of rent that they skipped out on. Good luck and hope you don't have to go through what we went through.

had that same buddy drop off a letter and i got a call from the second renter (that i didn't know) last night. according to him he gave the first guy cash and assumed it had been paid. also said the first guy went home a couple weeks ago but left his stuff. remains to be seen if this guy was being straight with me. so i'm expecting half the november rent from him as well as working him to recoup the october rent. i have a security deposit from each of them, so assuming i actually get the half november rent, then i lose half a month only. i'm hoping to get all of it obviously and return their deposits so everyone wins, we will see. thanks for all the support, advice, and hookups, i'll let you all know how it goes from here. i'm continually impressed at what a seriously stand up bunch of people you are and i look forward to giving back.

got half the november rent from the second tenant so thats a start. not sure where the first guy is with the october rent. having a hard time figuring out what i should do next. i have security deposit from each of them i can keep but i'd rather get all the rent and keep it civil. anyone know if i can gank their deposits for this? its complicated a bit by the second tenant claiming to be clean in this (shocker).

I find it hard to believe they (second guy) just gave half of their month's rent to "some guy" and they don't know anything more about it. That just sounds like complete BS.

I think you're going about it the right way with the second guy (giving him the benefit of the doubt for now,) but I wouldn't lose a minutes sleep keeping the first guy's deposit if he boned you on a month's rent. Keeps the ball in your court that way. If he wants it back, make him file suit and go tell the judge all about how badly he deserves it back after skipping out on you. Besides - if nobody knows where he is, how could you even return it if you wanted to?

I don't know the law in Wy, but it took me close to two months to get a guy out of my place in Aspen. I'd start eviction now.

Other benefit to a Property Management firm is they can setup for a direct Withdrawal from the tenants account for rent.

update: tenant 2 went to the post office and found out that there is a letter addressed to me from tenant 1 that was returned as undelivered. smells like rent. now how to get my hands on it?

have tenant 2 mail it. give him correct address, certified mail. case closed, and tell them to stop being so damn sketchy

no, post office won't release it to either of us. damn them and their personal property protecting ways! gonna try calling them again to see if they can just try mailing it again

just wanted to update for the record, i have been skiing with my one remaining tenant all week, he is a great dude and would make a great roommate. if interested in renting a room or condo look here:

[ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183676"]Teton Village Condo For Rent: - Teton Gravity Research Forums[/ame]