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The Michigan state government publishes a PDF that goes over everything you need to know from both the tenant's and landlord's perspective: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dleg/Tenants_and_Landlords_304581_7.pdf

It's fairly dry, but is a good resource. (I'm also a Michigan landlord.)

There's also a 400+ page book called Landlording (http://www.amazon.com/Landlording-Handymanual-Scrupulous-Landladies-Themselves/dp/0932956254) that's far and away the most recommended book about landlording. It discusses not just legal stuff, but advice, best practices, etc.

If you don't want to read the whole thing, my co-landlord Tim (/u/timfromcastle) took super detailed notes and made them publicly available in this Google doc: https://docs.google.com/a/entercastle.com/document/d/1ZXqREoNJYaN-pxXn-8hq90tvOA8PpFElezSeELiLmFw/edit#

Best of luck!

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>In MA, you would need the sherif to personally serve the tenant with the eviction notice.

I first had to purchase the Summons and Complaint form from the district court, fill it out (including a very precise and critical series of dates) and yes, hire a sheriff to serve it. You can't have it served until the tenancy has been properly terminated. That can happen via any of the various Notice-To-Quits, or as in my case, the tenancy automatically terminated because it was a fixed-term lease with a specified end date.

Once the form is served, I collect a copy from the sheriff and bring it back to the court with the Notice-To-Quit (or lease) and pay the fees to enter it into record. The tenant then has a period during which they can file an Answer, request discovery, request a delay or change the venue. After that we go to court.

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> It sucks, but you can’t cash those checks either.

Are you aware of a law or statute that makes that clear? Do you mean ever? The wording in the Reservation of Rights letter (which comes from Landlord's Legal Guide in Massachusetts) certainly makes it seem like recovering that money is not out of the question, as long as it is done correctly.

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Thank you

you may want to start with one of these.....https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500470700&sr=8-1&keywords=wattage+meter....and see if they have the a/c running 24/7. If they do then shame on you. A properly sized unit should cool the unit to 70 degrees on the hottest day of any year. Same with heating. One way to properly size a furnace is to wait for the coldest day of the year (or close), read the gas meter and then read it again after 24 hours. If the unit stayed heated to the required standard, you can figure out what size of furnace you need. I went from a 450l btu boiler to a 300 by using this method and its been 4 years and it works great and way more efficient

It honestly depends where you live, such as a tenants union that you can research and pursue follow up. For example, this is Seattles: http://www.tenantsunion.org/en . I think it comes down to how much effort you want to deal with this. Do you have natural gas coming in to your place? If not it really may not be worth it. If you're very concerned, you need immediately remedy, and the landlord is dragging their feet, here's one from Amazon from $20 https://www.amazon.com/First-Alert-CO400-Battery-Monoxide/dp/B000N8OYXI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1475004662&sr=8-2&keywords=c02+detector

You and your tenants will be happier with these. They’re easy to install. You’ll need to buy an “in baseboard” thermostat to go with it.

Cadet Manufacturing 05534 120-Volt White Baseboard Hardwire Electric Zone Heater, 1000-Watt, 8.33-Amp, 48-Inch, 1000 W https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IG81OI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_EVrCCbXPXM6BJ

Leigh Robinson's "Landlording" remains the Bible, in my opinion! Best book and covers a little bit of everything, with lots of sample forms you can try / adopt.

As someone who has removed a lot of crap from glass in my time, mix some dish soap and hot water and spread it over and around the sticker. Then get a good flat razer blade like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Hyde-Tools-13050-Delta-Scraper/dp/B000BPEPSC/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=scraper&qid=1569900031&s=gateway&sr=8-13

And go at it gently.

Oh yeah! New handles! Who would have known a $2/door upgrade could make such a difference. I got some knobs similar to https://www.amazon.com/homdiy-Cabinet-Brushed-Nickel-Handles/dp/B073TWK9RC that went a long way to improving the kitchen.

Two of the best introductory books:

1. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1259643883
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071446370

https://www.amazon.com/Every-Landlords-Legal-Marcia-Stewart/dp/1413317146

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Buy this book and read it, it will give you the basic legal stuff and what you can and cannot do. Other than that its all about relationship building and cost effective ways to solve repair problems. Have a good eviction lawyer on hand for worst case scenarios and do tenant screening. Its not that hard but again its not that easy. You can try a property manager for a year to get it rolling and when you are comfortable enough, just take over.

+1. I have a kit for Schlage and a similar kit for Kwikset. Probably found something cheaper on eBay. You'll need a good pair of tweezers and a steady hand.

Once you pick this skill up, it's one less thing to pay a locksmith for. You can even do master systems so that one key opens multiple locks, but each lock has its own separate key.

Delta makes peerless ^^

Service and repair plumber here. Rental properties: get whatever you can for the price you can afford. If it's a 1400/m rental, toss a 150$ moen faucet in with as few moving parts as possible. It won't last 15 years. No faucet will last 15 years anymore in a rental. Get a swing spout faucet.

Cheap rental:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002ND0X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_SeQLyb5KK27QE
Is what I would toss in because it is very easy to repair(I said repair).

1400/m rental
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IXQ8RS0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_UgQLybA0B7A2S
Cheap, but doesn't look terrible.

This is the brand I have. If you look around I think they come in 4 packs. If you want to get fancy, I would look into getting one hardwired in, so you don't have to worry about changing the batteries.

Buy rope caulk for the windows if they're drafty.

http://www.amazon.com/Frost-King-B2-Caulking-19-ounce/dp/B000LNODSQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459092836&sr=8-1&keywords=rope+caulk

http://www.amazon.com/Landlording-Handymanual-Scrupulous-Landladies-Themselves/dp/0932956254

$6 will get this book delivered to your door. And it has every single answer you seek.

Make sure you read up on your local laws (google your state + landlord tenant laws). Do NOT go into this business without being properly educated and prepared, that's a recipe for disaster.

I got my dad a drill bit sharpener last year. Drill bits get dull with use, and my dad didn't even know they could be sharpened.

Does the door open in our out, if I were standing inside your apartment?

If it opens in, while you wait for a resolution from your landlord, I suggest buying a safety stop bar, like this one. Even if they unlock the door they would need to batter it down before entry.

I wholeheartedly agree that this is both a safety and a privacy concern. I would not have let anyone move in to one of my units if I knew this issue existed.

Don't let anyone tell you that's you're getting what you pay for, or that it's you're responsibility, that's bullshit from bad landlords who think they shouldn't have to spend money.

Of course, it's in the way you approach your landlord about this that is going to get a response. Would you like it if someone came to your job and said "You there! I DEMAND that you X, Y, Z..." etc, etc.

Tell your Landlord what happened with the neighbor, let him know that you feel unsafe and that you need this to be addressed quickly, or you'll be forced to look for a safety dwelling space.

If he drags his feet or doesn't take you seriously, that's the time to escalate.

Let us know what happens.

lol! You poor bastard! Real Estate is a long term money sink, it's a great place to hide money, clean money, and do various other things which are on the surface legitimate, but in reality are kinda sketchy.

If you want something to start with, I'd recommend one of John T Reeds classics called Fixers. https://johntreed.com/products/fixers

The basic points are covered in this post. https://johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-investment-blog/114371907-how-fixer-uppers-really-work

If you decide you want to get into small town home rentals, or flips, there's one indy book that been going around that has some potential. https://www.amazon.com/Scavenge-Your-Real-Estate-Riches/dp/0989599116

That one is about as hands on as you can get for a general market book. Things like how to find the financing, where to get cheaper contractors, materials, etc.

Not covered in either of those two, but needs looking into, would be overall risk assessment. Are the sewer mains and water lines 150 years old? Is the power grid rotten? This neighborhood is overrun by OLD Siberian Elms, and is prone to ice storms, that's a bad thing right? Oh, the local Zion Lutheran church is bringing in 1800 Sudanese refugees, that'd be good for local property values right?

And that's where you need to find some local landlords groups, even if you'll be doing something like land contracts where you might be able to dodge some of the local inspection requirements, you still have to know the eviction process, how to draw up a proper contract, and a bunch of other things you won't find out until too late. Like about how someone can be evicted one week, and it might not show up in the database of your background check place for 3 weeks, or several months, even worse for criminal convictions. However, Google search, will pop up something like "Mugshot townname tenantname" and you'll find out all sorts of crazy things about your tenant, or rent to own person. Oh, they were the passenger in a high speed chase, and their cousin overdosed 3 years ago, and died last week from CO poisoning along with 5 other junkies down the road. If you're doing a land contract for a house that's in pretty nice shape, I'd spring for the cost of a Lexis Nexis search.

For some reason, everyone thinks oil spots are impossible to remove or at the very least really difficult. A quick google search will show you a quick and cheap way to remove almost any oil spot without hassle. I know because I'm a Landlord in an HOA that has had to do it several times.

FYI - I also thought they were impossible to remove (without a pressure washer or something) for a long time because that is what everyone kept telling me, but no totally wrong.

In case you're wondering I used Simple Green 19128 Crystal Industrial Cleaner/Degreaser to pull huge oil stains out of some driveways with no problem. I know you're on asphalt, but I'm, sure there something that will do that too.