I’m still on the fence concerning the whole Bedbug disaster. As a Landlord, I’m not interested in being legally responsible for any more than is necessary (could price me out of being a Landlord, so I’m simply being reasonable). But as a human being, I understand the plight of any Tenant who feels that they’re being unnecessarily menaced, by anything, while living in a property I own.

So I’m just going to periodically update the happenings surrounding Bedbugs, and try to answer any questions in the comments which a) I am qualified to, and b) do not require me to hire a lawyer for legal advice on how to sue someone (because we’re a litigious enough society as it is). That said:

Bugged Out, the good ol’ GO-TO site for anyone in the NYC area with bedbug issues, posted this up back in July. The post focuses on a sort of shell-shocked paranoia which (understandably) occurs after having had an infestation. They liken it to the delusions typically associated with schizophrenia or psychedelic drug use (I can’t believe I actually typed that out, so sterile sounding, like a high school principal or something).

I had a friend in high school who every time he tripped on acid, he swore his body was covered with worms. It was funny to watch, until he chose to pick up a razor to scrape them off. That obviously didn’t work out as well as we all had hoped it would, and lots of bandages were employed to remedy the situation.

Point being: there are obviously effects of an infestation which go far beyond the lingering worries associated with standard domicile infestations (roaches, ants, etc). I believe this is directly related to the actual human body being violated (fed upon). But, I’m no psychologist.

Bugged Out also dips into the whole Is DDT Really THAT Bad? question, which a perfectly fair thing to wonder. But that’s a mad-touchy issue, one with deep political ties, considering the reams of “research� out there which brought about its demise, and the number of political careers which were built by (and still somewhat stand upon) the environmental movements spawned from the death of DDT.

I’m just sayin’.

I’m still on the fence concerning the whole Bedbug disaster. As a Landlord, I’m not interested in being legally responsible for any more than is necessary (could price me out of being a Landlord, so I’m simply being reasonable). But as a human being, I understand the plight of any Tenant who feels that they’re being unnecessarily menaced, by anything, while living in a property I own.

So I’m just going to periodically update the happenings surrounding Bedbugs, and try to answer any questions in the comments which a) I am qualified to, and b) do not require me to hire a lawyer for legal advice on how to sue someone (because we’re a litigious enough society as it is). That said:

Wow. Even more bedbug commentary happening here. It’s crazy how a miniscule menace from the prior century can come back and cause such a ruckus here in our modest, and modern times.

This time, the issue is legal responsibility. To begin, I must note that we’re something of a Landlord-centric blog, but we really do want to be reasonable on every front. And on the subject of infestation, of any variety, being reasonable is key above all else.

Again, this is a brief discussion on the legal responsibility for bedbug remediation. Who shoulders it?

Specifically, a commenter from a previous post, David, who is apparently from Canada, wondered about who it is that is responsible for remediation if the bugs are discovered AFTER the Tenant has already spent some time in residence.

The assumption here is that it was not a horrific infestation to begin with, but that it has become one, and that it is impossible to pinpoint an obvious source of entry for the pests. Considering the feeding patterns of bedbugs, the little buggers could have been hiding out for the initial months, waiting to feed, and simply took their time in getting established. Or they were brought in from Singapore by the Tenant and immediately set up shop.

No one knows for sure, it's a fantastic mystery. A mystery which, as a Landlord, you need to be aware of your liability in.

So there's quite a bit of conjecture on this. As I posted before, the Bed Bug Blog even lists out the things a Tenant might do to arm themselves before throwing it in litigious gear. Obviously, that assumes there’s a precedent somewhere for winning such cases, provided you follow their directions.

Hm.

Overlawyered discusses a case involving a couple and a Motel in Arkansas. The interesting points come out in the comments. Sure, they’re comments, so they aren’t Primary Sources or anything. But they give good leads.

This feels like the least helpful post I've ever made... Not sure how I feel about that just yet.

I’m still on the fence concerning the whole Bedbug disaster. As a Landlord, I’m not interested in being legally responsible for any more than is necessary (could price me out of being a Landlord, so I’m simply being reasonable). But as a human being, I understand the plight of any Tenant who feels that they’re being unnecessarily menaced, by anything, while living in a property I own.

So I’m just going to periodically update the happenings surrounding Bedbugs, and try to answer any questions in the comments which a) I am qualified to, and b) do not require me to hire a lawyer for legal advice on how to sue someone (because we’re a litigious enough society as it is). That said:

Bedbugger has a two-part series focusing on a couple who are INTENTIONALLY getting bitten by bedbugs. You know, for the scientific fun and all that.

Part 1- The anatomy of different-stage bug bites, and how they may or may not have any notable skin-effect, depending on the host.

Part 2- The results get broken down, and sprinkled with some philosophy for good measure.

Dear lord, I still don’t fully understand the need for someone to do this, but bless them for clearing up some outstanding issues related to pinpointing evidence (or lack thereof in the case of some who don’t react to bites) of an infestation.

And at the time that this is being written, there is no Part 3, but I’m guessing that it’s been published by the time you read this, and it is probably HERE.

You never know who is living next door. Not that there’s a need to promulgate any further paranoia of our neighbors, but it is good to know who is who in your direct vicinity.

Knowledge, after all (and as the cliché goes), is power.

And safety, or the feeling of it, is very valuable within all communities. Continuing along that line of logic, it’s important to your renters that the neighborhood they live in is relatively safe, especially from violent or particularly disgusting crimes as those perpetrated against women or, more importantly, children.

Among the many cool sites out there made available for us to search out our ‘hoods from the comfort of our homes, we have Family Watchdog and Family Beacon. You just enter the street, zip code and such, and then pow: up pops an interactive map with color-coded indicators of particular offenders: Offenses Against Children, Rape, Sexual Battery, and "Other". The details are pretty nice, too, including photos and descriptions of the offender.

I do believe I've actually seen one of the offenders near one of my properties.

Obviously this service is valuable in helping an investor when analyzing a new potential region for purchasing property, or for re-analyzing the marketability of properties currently in a portfolio. After all, safety is indeed a selling point.

But I do wonder a bit about the "Other" section being lumped in with rapists and such. Do I really want to get worked-up over a neighbor with a load of traffic violations? I mean, what is IN "Other"?

Over all, the implosion of the subprime loan market is a disaster to everyone. The large-scale failure of any leading investment vehicle is bound to have reverberations throughout the economy as a whole.

And with the mortgage/loan industry, as previously seen/experienced in the Savings & Loan debacle of the 80s, the resulting mess eventually gets cleaned up by those of us who thought we were smart enough to avoid getting involved in the first place.

Awesome.

I would enjoy the opportunity to wax philosophic about the basis for this implosion (why isn’t THIS issue a “bursting bubble" instead of an “imploding market"? Has the “bubble" cliché gone passé?)

But here’s where I believe there’s something of a sweet-spot for the value investor, who is also likely to be amongst the majority who will eventually be covering that loan default gap produced by the recent spate of reckless lending/borrowing.

Soon, all those ARMs, “teaser" loans, and other exotics are going to explode all over the borrowers, and those properties will wind up in the lender’s lap. None of those lenders (or more than likely: the lenders who loaned to the subprimes, or their syndicated lenders, or on up the chain) are interested in dealing in the disposal of physical real estate. They sell returns on principal, not dirt.

Come late 2008, I’m expecting some DEALS to hit the market. My only hope is that the good multi-units aren’t snatched up in poorly advertised, vaguely mentioned “auctions". I never seem to get notice of those in time…

I've been out of pocket for a while here, cooking up some things involving BED BUGS. It's totally crazy how out of control the issue seems to be. But before I get into that...

Okay, I’ve been angry at Tenants before. I admit it. I’m human. And there’s never a time more typical for a Landlord/Tenant relationship to bubble-over with vitriol then right at the moment where it all ends, and it’s time to settle up. That’s when all the building irritation comes to light, and my, oh my is it unpleasant to look at.

I’ve never been so angry as to pursue any of my Tenants after the end of their lease, to date, as I’ve done my best to maintain a pleasant relationship with them through the course of our business together. But that doesn’t mean that everyone else has such healthy contractual relationships.

Gone Feral’s ex-Landlord is speculated to have gone to some rather creepy extremes to express their displeasure at some of the Feral’s previous slights. Something about their cat, the male half of the Landlord-set, and some sort of stay in a medical facility. Sounds pretty messed up. But then things apparently spiraled further out of control, involving harassing emails, and perhaps even the dispatching of a computer virus. Intrigue indeed!

Speaking of intrigue, what the hell is up with Detroit? Is that economy ever going to pick up in any measurable way? Will Ford ever matter again? At least one decent Landlord there made an effort to be kind to the Breakfast at Gigi’s couple, who were renting in some neighborhood plagued by crackheads and car theft. They requested that they be able to break their lease early to avoid certain tragedy, and the Landlord not only granted their wish without charging a break-lease fee, but even transferred their deposit to another of his properties in another, decidedly safer part of town.

It is a shame that their car didn’t make it out, though.

It appears that Bedbugs are quite the rage, still, in and amongst the ranks of both Landlords and Tenants. In many ways, and for many reasons, I wanted this to be a temporary scare. My wants are not being met by the bugs.

If you’re wondering whether or not your Tenants might have a problem and simply aren’t talking to you about it, try and understand that many Tenants feel that admitting to bedbugs is the same as admitting to living in neglectful filth (which is NOT necessarily the case). This causes an understandable amount of shyness in getting the problem remedied early enough to avoid a full-blown infestation. I recommend printing or emailing the link for this site: Bedbugger. They have an awesome FAQ and a “tales of woe" post to help anyone feeling alone with the bugs. The University of Kentucky Entomology also has a fantastic write up on the bugs (complete with helpful pictures of infestation evidence).

Not convinced that bedbugs are a serious issue for Landlords? Well…

Bugged Out reflects on the perils of 2006, and the bedbugs it brought. The Bedbug Blog brings you photos of their handiwork. And while his war was waged and potentially won earlier in 2006, Bed Bug War’s chronicles are still worth a read since he was at the forefront of a building war.

In my recent research, I came across a humorous take on these blood suckers: The Frankenstein Bug. Funny, good times in the face of the merciless Bed Bug. It’s a long one, so get a cup of coffee and take off your shoes. Some guy on a bus once told me “humor is a healthy path to healing" after laughing at the freezing rain that almost gave me hypothermia. There might be something to the words of that crazy old man, as much as I preferred to ignore him that morning.

We're pleased to announce the launch of TenantMarket.com!

TenantMarket helps landlords find their ideal tenant fast by flipping the rental market and allowing landlords to search, filter, and contact renters.

How does it work?

If you are familiar with Match.com, the idea is similar: renters share their housing search, landlords search their profiles and contact renters who match. It's free for renters, and landlords pay only to contact renters.

Who is it for?

We designed the service to help the Do-It-Yourself landlords who own and manage "small properties" (i.e. condos, houses, duplexes, and sub-10 unit apartments). According to the Census Bureau, that describes about 2/3 (or 24 million) of rental units (approximately double the size of the apartment industry).

How much does it cost?

Access to contact renters starts at $29.95 for 10 days, $39.95 for 20 days, and $74.95 for a Good-till-Filled subscription. All subscription levels are for use with a single vacancy. If you have two properties at different locations, or two units with different floorplans at the same location, each would require their own subscription. If you have multiple vacant units at the same location with the same floorplan and price, you can use one subscription for all.

Is anyone using it?

Yes! We already have subscribers from Rhode Island to Oregon, and we are expanding our sales and marketing efforts each day.

Does it violate Fair Housing?

No. TenantMarket.com does not ask renters to share any information regarding protected classes (such as race, religion, and family status), and the duty is the same for landlords and owners to not discriminate whether they are online or in person.

How many renters do you have?

Currently we have 79,000 profiles of active searching renters nationwide. But the real test is how many renters match your property—to find out, go to www.tenantmarket.com, enter your zip and rent price and find out.

Can property managers and realtors use it?

Yes! In fact, anyone with more than 5 vacancies is invited to contact our sales team at 1 (800) 601-8205 to request a quote for special pricing.

What are the benefits for renters?

The key benefit for renters is they can save their search criteria and find out about new rental listings that match their parameters instantly via email. This saves times and helps renters jump on available properties more quickly. Also, landlords can target personalized incentives to renters based on their profile, extending discounts to non-smoking renters or renters with a longer employment history.

Why did you create it?

We spent a lot of time talking to independent real estate investors and owners and learned a lot about the difficulties of marketing rental properties. The biggest problem they cited was the lack of transparency—you can spend $300 per month for a newspaper ad, another $100-$200 per month to list your property online, or pay 80% of a month's in realtor commission, all without knowing who (if anyone) will see your listing or how long your property with be vacant. We designed TenantMarket to be proactive. Instead of waiting for renters for find you, you can reach out to them. Not only does this shave days off vacancy, but also provides more control and transparency over the process of finding a renter.

Landlords misbehave in other countries too!

Hello Germany.

Ask The Relic is suffering through some obnoxious repair work being done to the kitchen of the place he/she (“Relic� doesn’t exactly hint at gender) is currently dwelling with roommates in Germany.

No Tenant will respond favorably to having a kitchen renovation crew hammering and sawing about before 9am. That’s just unnecessary. Well, it might be necessary in Germany, and I’ve heard horror stories about dealing with craftspeople in Manhattan, but in the places where I collect rent it isn’t that far a stretch to schedule in-house work on a currently inhabited unit for mid-day.

Large-scale renovations are another story altogether, but Relic appears to be describing your basic “handy man� type of work. Perhaps some aesthetic touches here and there. Nothing too involved.

At least I know what I’d be called in Germany now. Hausmeister is pretty sweet sounding if you ask me. “Landlord� is cool and all, but it has some slightly negative connotations. Perhaps a nod toward a more cruel and medieval relationship between a Landlord and their Tenants. Like I have them tilling fields all day or something.

Now Hausmeister on the other hand, makes it sound like I am an actual professional of some sort! A MASTER if you will!

Yes, I realize that the normal translation of Hausemeister is the comparably less sexy “janitor�, but whatever. I’m talking PERCEPTION here. Namely, my own.

Besides, being a master of the broad and necessary janitorial crafts industry can’t be all bad, even if it is a bit bad sounding.

[my sincere apologies to any potentially offended practicers of the janitorial arts out there, much respect due]

The options for marketing rentals online have exploded in the past couple years. Since the big apartment listing sites like apartments.com and rent.com tend to list mainly large multi-family properties, we wanted to make a list of all the advertising options for the do-it-yourself landlord trying to rent houses, condos, and duplexes (with an emphasis on the free ones). To make life easier, we organized our list by type of site (Just Rentals, Real Estate, and General Classifieds), and then ordered them by traffic estimates from Quantcast, a web analytics firm. Hopefully you'll find this list helpful in deciding where and how to advertise your next vacancy. Just Rentals Site Est Montly Visitors Pricing RentClicks 500,000 $39-$99 Sublet.com 490,000 $45-$81 RentalHouses.com 440,000 $39-$79 HomeRentalAds.com 370,000 $35-$56 RentalHomesPlus 260,000 $49 CityLeases 170,000 See Sublet Rentals.com 170,000 See RentClicks HomeRentals.net 160,000 $49-$139 RentVine 140,000 $38-$64 Tenant.com 57,000 Free TenantPlus 42,000 Free ThatRentalSite 36,600 Free ForRentByOwner 23,000 Free HotPads 18,000 Free FindHomeRentals.com 16,000 Free ThisProperty.com 15,000 $50 RentMarketer 6,000 $39.95-$89.95 CityCribs.com 5,000 Free RentalSource 2,000 $9.95-$99.95 ApartmentFrog 1,500 $20 RentFinders.net 1,500 $9.95 RentGrazer 1,500 $9.99 MetroLeases.com 1,000 See Sublet RentSeek 1,000 $49.99 SimpleRent 1,000 Free Urents.com 1,000 Free RentKong 0 Variable commission     Real Estate Site Est Montly Visitors Pricing Move.com 4,400,000 Free Yahoo Real Estate 2,600,000 $34.95-$54.95 House.info 280,000 Free ChoiceofHomes 7,000 $9.95 FindMyRoof 2,000 Free AOLRealEstate 220,000 See Move.com     General Classifieds   Site Est Montly Visitors Pricing Craigslist 10,000,000 Free LiveDeal 2,100,000 Free Myspace Classifieds 2,100,000 Free Backpage 1,100,000 Free Oodle 880,000 Free Microsoft Live Expo 690,000 Free Adpost 250,000 Free Olx.com 180,000 Free Vast 170,000 Free Google Base 100,000 Free Geebo 66,000 Free Lycos.com 57,000 See Oodle Postlets 53,000 Free eDirection 41,000 Free Edgeio 21,000 Free Vflyer 15,000 Free eFind 7,000 See Oodle *Pricing estimates based on cost to place 30-day vacancy listing in Seattle, WA. ** Monthly visitor estimates by Quantcast.com as of 2/15/2007

Took a week or two off from the tales told here in order to get a bunch of personal things in order. It’s been HECTIC, but it’s been the good kind. Well, the kind that will hopefully soon be good to me.

Okay, that was cryptic. And it'll stay that way for the time being!

Speaking of hectic (and absolutely fascinating) what’s up with this (alleged? Supposed? I have no idea how to refer to this guy) Landlord up in NYC? The charges are simply flabbergasting. And I don’t mean the attempted murder or arson.

Well, maybe the arson part. But only because it’s inferred that the arson was perpetrated on his own property.

But what’s really got me confused is how this guy is potentially managing to own MULTIPLE properties in New York City (Manhattan AND Brooklyn) with a collective value well into the millions of dollars, with hundreds of documented building violations spanning more than thirty years, yet NO ONE questioned why he was only claiming $52k as income? And on top of that, they can’t seem to confirm his real name, let alone just how many properties he owns.

Why am I so worried that the curve on my depreciation schedules might be too steep on the downside? Obviously, I want to be ethical in my dealings, and I do feel compelled to do right by my tenants up to the point where it no longer makes economic sense to be involved, but seriously.

That guy’s some kind of super phantom anti-hero Landlord if it comes to pass that he’s that far off the map.

Landlords misbehave in other countries too!

Hello Canada.

Wow. Superfink is extremely upset about the current behavior of her Canadian Landlord. He’s showing her crib about to new prospective renters, even though he pushed to have her and her roommate leave so he could renovate. And he’s apparently a fan of the no-tell unit showing! He just shows up with a crew of potential renters, oh, whenever!

Actually, I (in a round-about sort of way) understand the Landlord’s desire to get some renovating done, and the need to get the current Tenants out before it begins. Two reasons:

1. The renovation project I’m looking at will require some serious effort, and will likely demand the repeated cutting off of electricity and water. Some issues, such as a bathroom re-tile, will take a couple of days to complete. There’s only one place to bathe in the unit. So how’s a Landlord supposed to get that accomplished without a severe hindrance to the current Tenant? Sure, there are ways. But those ways usually get trumped by the second issue.

2. It’s difficult to upsell a unit that’s currently inhabited, even if you do extensive remodeling/renovating. Fact is, they rented X place for X dollars a month. You deciding to take the interior and appliances to X+100 will likely not translate to X+100 dollars in new rent within the mind of the Tenant. And why should it? Seriously. Contracts simply don’t work that way, and for good reason. Long story short: it’s difficult to convince a current Tenant that a newer looking sink and a dishwasher should fetch an additional $50 in rent per month.

But a new Tenant might not mind!

However, I suspect that Superfink’s Landlord was trying to lever them out before their actual Lease was up. Which is indicative of a rather low moral character, and sorta brings us all down in the process. Even in calm realm of Canada.

My word, what a MESS (BE CAREFUL, when I clicked on the image to see more, which there are more, my browser was attacked by all sorts of adware/spyware and a frenzy of pop-ups, but it might just be my janky browser - it's IE, after all). But there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of structural damage, which is cool. Just a few dozen trips to the dumpster, a solid sandblasting, and perhaps a thorough delousing of the entire property. Then it’ll be right as rain.

It makes me cringe to look at though. Teeth gritting.

But then there’s the other side of the coin. This Landlord (I know, it's from 2003, but that doesn't diminish the impact), in some odd parallel universe of super-convenience and Canadian hilarity, demanded that his Tenants offer up their entire contractual year of post-dated rent checks when they signed the lease. This was obviously done by the Landlord for convenience, so that he wouldn’t have to wait for checks to arrive, and he could avoid the possibility of intentionally late remittance.

That being understood, I’m not even sure where to begin with this one. It’s… flabbergasting that someone would have the nerve to demand this of a Tenant. It’s simple contract law, and a violation of the spirit behind fair consideration (common and legal) in a civil society. As a Landlord, when you lease a property, you HAVE to assume that you will be paid based upon the terms of the signed contract, and the Tenant HAS to assume that they will be taken care of in terms of the Landlord providing a safe and clean environment. The demanding of post-dated checks removes almost all of the trust, AND puts the risk squarely on the shoulders of the Tenant.

Any Landlord that paranoid about the enforcement of their rental agreement(s) should likely look to exit the business. To avoid the ulcers if nothing else.

I’m currently dipping my toe back into the duplex market, back on the hunt. I’ve been particularly pleased with my current Tenant set, wondering why everyone else in the world doesn’t just leapfrog through duplexes.

Which, of course, led me to the interweb to find some contradictory, or at least counter-opinioned stories of duplex investing. I didn’t really find any true horror stories out there. I found the usual recommendations concerning repairs, Tenant selection and such. That’s all fine and dandy, but I honestly wanted to hear of some grizzly investing woes. Properties gone totally awry.

I found this story on Sitting Pretty Financially, one which I’d already read back in April, discussing the merits of different real estate investments (and a kinda healthy dose of bragging on the writer’s part, but that’s alright by me). She maintains the Duplex recommendation while giving fair warning on the dubious nature of Condo purchases.

Oh, Condos! Such the investment cad! So willy-nilly and difficult to pin down!

I am not a big fan of the Condo as a means of real estate investment. You own no land, just the rights to a piece of space above some land of which you may or may not own some miniscule number of voting shares for. Town Homes are typically slightly better, but only because they more resemble an actual home and there are fewer “owners� per square foot. Fewer cooks in the investment kitchen.

Regardless, my search was for duplex stories, and I stumbled one of the friendliest, most earnest approaches to landlord blogging I've ever read. And I read lots of them. This one’s called I Bought a Duplex! I can’t tell how long he/she’s been writing, or whether they'’ll continue, but it’s a rather good read!

Obviously nothing is dissuading me from my pursuit of another Duplex investment. Especially since I feel that we're passing the soft-rent plateau of the past five or so years, as rental rates continue to solidify under current market conditions.

Going out on a pretty sturdy limb here, but I’m pretty sure all of our visitors here are actual DIY Landlords. That, and a plethora of service providers (we are on the internets, after all). But there’s a rather distant chance that someone reading this is a prospective Landlord. Someone who has yet to make the complete jump into the pool we swim in every day.

But for one reason or another, they’ve got a toe in the water.

Perhaps considering the merits of a managed-property investment. Perhaps considering taking over their family’s Landlording business. Maybe their spouse is a Landlord who is currently unable to fulfill their duties as such, and they’re trying to fill that gap.

The obvious and natural question they’re asking themselves is whether or not Landlording is “for� them. It’s a good question for a beginner, and a perfectly reasonable question for even the most seasoned of Landlords: is Landlording in your nature? Letalife has a great 10-point list of things any Landlord, potential or current, should consider. Sure, it’s a UK-based list, so several points won’t apply directly to US markets (the whole “bed sits� and “house shares� thing threw me off for a spell), but the gist of the list is germane.

In my own experience, the toughest part of Landlording is sourcing appropriate Tenants. For the most part, it's an artform. But in recent years, there are better and better tools out there to aid in the search. That being said, for the Letalife bulletin on “reliable, cost-effective method of finding suitable tenants,� where Letalife recommends its UK self, any US Landlord may want to check out a site like Apartments-and-Rentals instead. Pretty much the same marketplace for Landlords and potential Tenants to meet each other, but US based.