codysdoor

I have a property under contract that I'll be buying (closing) at the end of this month. I've already had a few people interested in buying it from me even though I haven't yet closed.

I can't assign the contract (as it's against the terms of my contract), and am fine to just close then sell.

Now, am I allowed to fill out a sales contract with a NEW buyer? If I put in special provisions that the sale is contingent upon my closing of the property?

Her lease was to start May 1st. She basically changed her mind and didn't move in. I have other people that want it, but want to move in June 1st. So I'm going to have to eat a full month of rent due to her changing her mind. A few questions:

1) She told me she wasn't moving in, but she has an active lease. Can I rent the apartment to someone new just do to her telling me (via e-mail) that she plans to not move in? (standard Texas real estate commission lease form)

2) I know she'd be willing to sign something stating she doesn't want the apartment, but I feel she should pay at least one month (that I'm going to be down), so I don't want to just let her out. What should I do? My options seem to be:

a) "Evict" her, even though she's not moved in. This will get me a judgement against her for rent+deposit. It'll also allow me to legally rent it again. It'll also go on her record so a new apt owner doesn't run into this problem with her (this is my first choice)

b) Take her to small claims for 2x monthly rent

c) Send her to a collections company for 2x monthly rent

I guess she's hired an attorney. They called me and said any action I take will get a counter claim. Her big argument was "the apartment wasn't ready". She said the smoke detector wasn't installed, and some painting wasn't finished. The smoke detector was on the counter and the painting was done the next day in 2 seconds. I'm positive she has no case. and I really don't want to just let it go (maybe I'm spiteful :). So any suggestions would be appriciated.

I have a 16 unit apartment building that used to have 2x 50g water heaters to supply it with hot water. They died a while ago and I replaced them with two Whirlpool 50g hot water heaters. They keep going out (I have to reset the piolt lights every few weeks it seems). I called Whirlpool and as soon as I said they're in use at an apartment building they said "Apartment?? out of warranty, can't help you". So I'm going to return them and get something else.

Suggestions? Any brands that don't suck like Whirlpool? Maybe tankless? If so, which one? Maybe a single 100g rather than 2x 50g?

1ZRM4

So in my backyard, one of my sides faces the back of the house (obviously), one faces the next door neighbour, however the back of the yard and one of the sides have an apartment building RIGHT behind my 6' fence. I mean like a few inches from the fence is a 2 story brick building.

http://img10.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yardv.jpg

(click for a picture, the red box is my backyard, the yellow box is the apartment building)

So my back yard doesn't have a lot of privacy.

What could I grow/plant on MY side that would be tall enough to block the view of the apartment tenants into my yard.

I'll note that the only windows in those apartments that look down are their bathroom windows so it's not like my trees/plants/whatever would be blocking their front window.

My lease says that if an apartment isn't ready in 5 days after the noted lease start date that the tenant can terminate the lease and get the deposit back. That said, I have two questions about a recent situation:

1) I knew before the 1st of the month (lease start date) that the apt wasn't going to be ready in time (due to extensive upgrades being done). I let the tenant know. He replied "no problem, I have a place to stay, let me know when you think it'll be ready". There were many upgrades done so it was done about the 12th. I let them know it would be the 12th, they said okay and scheduled their electric service to be turned on the 12th.

So the first question is, when the new move in date is communicated via phone/e-mail and agreed to by the tenant, can they terminate the lease even after agreeing to the new date by claiming it wasn't ready 5 days after the start?

2) Tenant claims that on the 12th (new agreed move in date) the apartment wasn't ready. I disagree.

So the second question is what might constitute "not ready" for move in? I view the apartment myself to see (as my contractor said it was ready). It seemed ready to me. In fairness I noticed a few minor cosmetic things (he forgot to install lights into one of the celling fans, two of the kitchen cabinets didn't have their pulls/hardware put on, there was an empty celling fan box in the closet, there was a small tile missing on a shower ledge.

Basically nothing that couldn't be corrected in an hour.

I have a feeling he just changed his mind about the place so now is using the 'not ready' to terminate the lease. He wants his deposit back and I'm saying "no way" as I now have to re-list the apartment and get another tenant (it will be quick as the area is in high demand).

I agreed to let him out of his lease with out any penalty OTHER than keeping the deposit. Fair right? He's threatening to go to small claims for the deposit. I think I'll easily win such a case. Thoughts?

Oh, third question: Should I go after him for breaking the lease (other than just keeping his deposit) if he indeed does go to small claims for the deposit?

SORRY FOR THE LONG QUESTION(S)! I normally am in 'answer' mode so I hope asking works for me :)

I've been installing tile floors in some investment properties I own for a while. I've gotten pretty good at it. My parrents want me to install some tile outdoors for them by their BBQ. The wall they want me to tile is stucco.

I assume one of the things I need to do is apply a bit thicker coat of thinset due to the 'bumps' from the stucco? I was just going to use the same 5 gal bucket I normally use.

Do I need to worry about anything else? will it bond well?

I see places that sell them online but it seems that places like Lowes, Home Depot, etc. don't stock them.

Sucks because I have a few small apt's that use them.

Any suggestions? I normally just buy them online but I need one quickly.

I have a few errors on my credit report. I've tried to get them removed via the dispute process with the credit reporting agencies. However all they do (from what I understand) is contact the company that put the ding on your report, ask if it's legit, they say yes, and investigation over.

The internet seems full of credit repair companies. Most seem like total scammers. I don't mind paying a company to fix the items but I only want to pay *IF* they fix the problems.

Anyone know of a company that works like this? There should be as if it's truly possible to have negative marks removed then a company that charges per removal would stand to make a lot of money.

How can I backup my text messages currently on my T-Mobile SDA phone (either to the add-in 2GB memory card or to my PC)?

I put a 2GB memory card (miniSD) into the phone but the memory card can only be used to store pictures and such. I've called and talked to the SDA people but they said the text messages were in the phones memory and could not be accessed or moved/copied off. I've noticed that even via the phones "explorer", the 'files' that make up the text messages were no where to be found. Perhaps a third party app or 'hack' that I'm not aware of?

My main goal would be to have text messages stored TO the add-in memory card but I'd be happy with simply being able to move them off my phone onto my computer (like an archive).

Note: sending all the txt messages to an e-mail account is not an

acceptable answer as 1) it would take forever (I have 1000's stored on my phone) and 2) it would not keep the "to" data as they would all be "from" myself.