Due Diligence Police Reports?

Question

Does anyone routinely get police reports on a multifamily property during due diligence? I wish I had on a recently purchased one in Des Moines. I knew it was going to need $ put into it and some weeding out of marginal characters but was surprised when I found out there were 391 police calls there last year and 112 thus far this year. It's going to take more than I expected to turn this place around. Lesson learned.

Joanne Eriaku · Answer

@Dennis Tierney thank you for sharing, I had never thought of that. So sorry about your situation...somehow, I think that the good karma you have shared with us will bring you goodness...somehow, somewhere in your life.

Darson Grantham · Answer

@Rick Mapes I bought a couple small mulit families in march and found out that the police had been called there on one tenant a handful of times in 2019.  I simply went down to the polk county court house and they printed me off all of the police reports to that address and it cost me a $5.

Nathan Faselt · Answer

I like this chain and the thoughts behind how to handle police reports @LeAnn Riley great point to add to your due diligence check list before buying.

As an owner & property manger  for other investors. This is something I have looked into we mange over many different jurisdictions of police districts in the Iowa city / Cedar Rapid.  I called 6 different agencies and even talked to the county sheriff about this and they all handled if differently.

Some were handled as @Darson Grantham mentioned per request. Some were billed hourly, some there was an annual report you could buy or per event price,  ect.

1 - There was no standard for the information or cost to get it,  I wish it was more constant from the freedom of information act.  @Damaso Bautista had a good thought about seeing that and perhaps holding the agencies to a standard and it almost needs to be lobbied as an easy and more assessable way to see info on your properties.

2- Seems like you should be able to have this automated  with the departments or main dispatch to receive a email or notice when a call is sent to your property or just a months report. This was something I was wanting to add to my monthly owners reports.   I wanted to partner with the police force as a manger and landlords to help them keep more eyes on the trouble properties or residents. It seems like it could save the government money they only negatives I see is it could open up fair housing concerns and cost for the automation but could be outweighed with reduced calls. .

@Dennis Tierney you mentioning that the Property management company you work with in Des Moines has a relationship, perks my interest as to what that relationship looks like. What company were you referring to? I would like to talk to them about this and see how they are handling this topic.

Also if anyone knows of police forces or a county that are doing this well with landlords/ mangers.

James Wise · Answer

I feel it's fairly obvious when looking at a property if there are going to be a lot of police calls. The neighborhood , condition of the building and the tenants pretty clearly tell the story so long as you're paying attention.

Jonathan Oh · Answer

@Dennis Tierney Very unfortunate to hear this happen. This is why I always stick to B class areas backed up by data. Next time, try to pay close attention to ownership rates, household incomes, and unemployment alongside crime rates in the area. I'm currently developing a software to help investors do precisely that. DM if you're interested in trying it out. And I hope this property is stabilized by now! Hopefully, it's an improving neighborhood..

Darson Grantham · Answer

@Cheryl Vargas, I would argue that what happened in my deal could happen to anyone, even experienced landlords.

It will happen more often in C or D neighborhoods though.  Looking back, I would not have purchased the property any differently because I was getting a significant discount on the property.

If a person was buying a more turnkey property with fully occupied tenants, it might be worth considering a background check on each current tenant (if legal) and or requesting that the landlord removes all tenants prior to the closing date.

Inherited tenants can be good and can be bad, but typically the stories about inherited tenants are not favorable.

Good luck with purchasing your first property!  These are all really good questions!

Cheryl Vargas · Answer

@Darson Grantham

That’s good to hear it worked out for you.

Is your property in a B or C class neighborhood? I’m asking so I can know what kinds of areas to avoid buying in so that I can avoid problems like what you encountered.

Darson Grantham · Answer

@Cheryl Vargas yes, she went into rehab and her mom moved her stuff out, so I was lucky!  But had multiple discussions with my attorney so at least now i know the process i need to take to evict here in Iowa.

Dennis Tierney · Answer

It was more than one problem tenant but yes we have been able to clean out the bad actors and the rest of the tenants are grateful.

Cheryl Vargas · Answer

@Darson Grantham

Were you able to get your one problem tenant ( with the multiple police calls/visits) to move?

Due Diligence Police Reports?

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