Hi there,
Having not posted for quite a while, I just had to share this one….
Melbourne Public holiday a few days ago, 4pm, Mobile phone rings.
BDM – “Hi, BDM speaking”
Tennant – “Hi BDM, sorry to bother you, but there is a large amount of water flowing out of the kitchen cupboard and onto the floor”
BDM – “I see…”
Tennant – “I heard a bang, and came to investigate and splashed my way into the kitchen, and found your phone number before I found the agents after hours contact number”Note to readers – My details are circulating around the block of flats currently as we are in a big dispute with the painter and the Body Corporate Manager. This is a whole nasty saga in itself.
BDM – “I see…”
Tennant – “I put some towels down, but I’m running out of dry towels…”
BDM – “Is this the part where you tell me the hot water service has exploded on a public holiday ?”
Tennant – “It sure is !”And we both laughed.
Plumber called, appearance fee of $150, kitchen floor mopped.
Next day – different plumber, new hot water service, $700 damage to the credit card, and everyone is happy again.I thought this kind of thing only happened in anti-property-investing arguments, or to other people !!
On a positive note, the tennant thinks I’m a legend because I reacted quickly and fixed the problem, the first plumber made a killing, the second plumber got an easy job, and I got a new hot water service (the old one was at least 16 years old). And I can laugh about it, because it was actually quite sureal.
Remind me to tell you all about the incompetant Body Corporate Manager….
BDM
Its all part of the job BDM!
We had a phone call on a public holiday from a commercial tennat who was the sole tenant in a large ($1m) property telling us that they had just locked the doors, closed the business and are NEVER returning. It cost $8000/month to sevice the loan and no rent coming in!!! (I won’t scare people by saying how much money we had to fork out before the problem was solved, it was more than a hot water service or 10!)
But it goes to show, in this game, you have to be prepared for ANYTHING!!!!
We buy properties in all conditions. Can offer Immediate Cash Settlements, No Real Estate Agents Required
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phone 0412 437 582Without declaring bankruptcy or something similar, how could he have gotten out of the lease? Pretty wierd he even bothered to call you
Munjy
$150 is a fair price for a plumber- especially on a public holiday, I doubt he made ‘a killing’ [tongue2]
Oh and you did well to get 16 years out of your old HWS too! [grad]
Good story, guess its just a reminder to people to act quickly and tenants love it. Now the tenant should be spreading the good word about you to all the neighbours
Also a reminder to keep some spare cash lying around…
Dev * [kid]
Hey guys
Well I thought I might throw my two cents worth in. I think the first plumber saw you coming! If I rang my plumber on a public holiday he just would have explained how to isolate the hot water (which is easily done) until he could attend to the problem the next day.
Mick
My experience with odd phone calls was when we were about to sell an IP. The day before the first open house, we had a huge storm. Bay window was ripped out and broken by the wind. Garage doors swing off their hinges and gates as well. Insurance company quickly told us to have the house secured and the garage doors and gates fixed.
Trusted builder fixed window that same night and came back next day to fix the other two items.
He called me on my mobile and asked if I wanted everything done that was on the list. I asked him “what list”. He said the list the tenant had handed him.
I popped over to see him and found the tenant (ex army bloke, probably used to giving orders) had handed him an A4 list with about 26 things he wanted attended to). HELLO!! Who does he think he is.
I confirmed the two things to be fixed. Open house next day, sold within a couple of weeks. Bye bye tenant. Good luck to the next poor landlord who had to deal with this bloke.
He used to ring me on mobile to ask me to say the tap was dripping and could I organise to have the washer changed!!! He was about to get married to a lovely girl. Wonder if she is changing his washers, or maybe has left him by now.
It takes all kinds.
Wylie
Happily sitting in the conveyancers office 2 hours before settlement when the lending manager rings and explains there is a $22000 shortfall in the figures and can someone transfer some funds to cover this. Politely I ask “when do you need it” and he replies “before settlement”. After a couple of phone calls the bank manager rings and says the bank will cover it for 48 hours. Only problem is, its thursday afternoon the funds are sitting in an overseas account and cant be transferred on time. A few more telephone calls and the bank manager agrees to cover the difference until the funds arrive. It definitely pays to always keep some money in reserve for lifes little hiccups.
C2
Hmmm,
A few comments on the above comments. These are just a few examples of why we pulled out of the RIP game…being the puppet on the end of the residential tenants string whenever they call up is not my idea of savvy investing. Each to his own though.
1. “$700 damage to the credit card, and everyone is happy”…ah, except the chap who pays the $ 700.
2. “the tennant thinks I’m a legend because I reacted quickly and fixed the problem”…I wonder what he’s going to do next time he needs you to wipe his nose over some trivial issue.
3. “My details are circulating around the block of flats currently as we are in a big dispute with the painter and the Body Corporate Manager. This is a whole nasty saga in itself.”…residential owners cop it from all angles – no thanks – don’t like playing that game either.
4. “the tenant had handed him an A4 list with about 26 things he wanted attended to”…classic, none of which improve your cashflow one jot.
5. “Good luck to the next poor landlord”…absolutely, my sentiments exactly.
6. “guess its just a reminder to people to act quickly and tenants love it.”…they surely do…tug on that string again and see how high the Landlord jumps.
7. “Now the tenant should be spreading the good word about you to all the neighbours”…should being the operative word, but more likely setting the precedent that you’ll jump again (incurring both time and expense) when they next decide to pick up the phone and have a bleat.
My father owns quite a few RIP’s and he drops everything and trundles around there at the tenant’s whim, who all stand there like useless teats and complain to him about 5 other things they want changed or fixed whilst he attends to the intial problem. This gains him absolutely no kudos in the eyes of tenant and in fact harms his credibilty next time he has to negotiate something important with them. Most think he is a joke, which drives me nuts.
I’ve tried desparately to show him a better way of dumping the whinging / very low gross rental paying residential tenants but he won’t step outside his comfort zone.
Dr X : I general abhor solicitors and court, but there is a time and place for everything, and that one sounds appropriate to wheel in the snarling litigation dogs…assuming you had a lease, which you didn’t mention.
Cheers,
Dazzling
“No point having a cake if you can’t eat it.”
In response to Dazzlings comments – I don’t think it is necessarily a case of “dropping everything and giving the tennant what they want”. It is more of a people management, priority and decision making process. Some things on the tennants over the top wish list are exactly that – over the top. However, some other items may be legitimate things that do need attention… “a stitch in time save grief later on”, if you will. By agreeing to some items on “the list” and disagreeing to others, then the balance of power is still in the owners favour. And if the tennant doesn’t like it, then yes they have the option of taking it or leaving it.
BDM
Property + Music = fun all round
http://www.mattsmusic.com.au
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