All Forum Posts by: DL Martin

Easy. They can earn a "salary" just like I earned a "salary" for three years in the Army. 

Starting pay $573 per month and they included deluxe room and board.  : ) 

Of course, you would need to adjust for inflation, from 1982 to 2016. 

DL

@Omar Merced. Hey buddy. I am sick to my stomach that this happened to you... I don't even know what else to say. 

Try not to get discouraged. I have seen first hand how hard you work, and what you are made of. I do my best to surround myself with principled, forthright people. I am proud to call you my friend. 

Keep your chin up. 

DL Martin

buckmanlaw.com 

Mark Buckman is a RE attorney in Sacramento. 

Fifteen years ago he successfully represented me in a RE dispute.  I have kept in touch with him over the years and he is a great guy, despite his lawyering.  : )

Also, he is a buy and hold RE investor. 

He will absolutely give you some guidance, free of charge, over the phone. 

DL 

Dear Saul;

We have a thing in the United States called bureaucratic incompetence and ineptitude. This "thing" insures that no matter how lazy, disorganized, disinterested, insubordinate or stupid the government employee, the government will always be made whole, and the "burden/penalty" will always be shifted to the taxpayer, no matter the cost or injustice created by the bureaucratic incompetence and ineptitude. 

An example of this would be when a police officer initiates a vehicle pursuit for a minor traffic offense. The officer broadcasts the reason for the pursuit (minor traffic offense) and the supervisor verbally cancels the pursuit. The officer, instead of immediately disengaging, slowing down and turning in the opposite direction (per policy), turns off his red light and siren and continues to "follow" or "parallel" the suspect vehicle... The police officer crashes into a third party vehicle in an intersection where the officer "slowed down" but did not stop at the stop sign. The third party sues the city and the officer. The city pays all damages of the judgement/settlement, including the portion of the judgement that the court deemed the individual officer liable. 

The argument for this is that if the police officer is forced to pay the damages himself, there will be a "chilling effect" and from that point forward, no officer will ever engage in any self initiated/proactive activity because "it's not worth it."  There is some truth to this... But, the effect of this Qualified Immunity is that SOME police officers routinely operate outside of what most people would consider reasonable assumption of risk. I will freely admit that between 1990 and 1995, myself and all thirteen members of my team, operated wildly outside of what would be considered reasonable and necessary in 2016. I'll leave it at that...

When I bought my 39 unit, the city water bill had accumulated late charges by the previous owner and I repeatedly went to the city water department to check the status of the pending charges during the 75 day escrow. I requested a final reading and it was taken and forwarded to the title company. ( I was forwarding the pending water bills and charges to Title throughout escrow). Escrow notified the seller that they were going to hold back $5,000 for water charges/penalties. The seller was not pleased but agreed to the stipulation. The closing was delayed an additional 14 days and escrow extended to 89 days. On the 88th day, I went back to the city and requested another final reading and an updated pending charges/penalties statement. I scanned and emailed the document to escrow. 

The city clerk did not forward the final reading request to the water department. 

The property closed and I was on the hook for the 14 days of water usage. This was almost $1k. (two of the three boilers had constantly dripping pop off valves, there were ZERO water saving toilets and shower heads in the entire complex and the entire property had been neglected for the prior 10 years). 

I went back to the city with the appropriate documents and they said "sorry about that." I begrudgingly paid the bill and chalked it up to experience. Fortunately, Title had been in communication with the seller and had noted that the seller had repeatedly neglected to order a final water reading, per Title's instructions. As a result, Title reimbursed me for the entire water bill that I had forwarded to them. 

Moral of the story? 

A little bit of paranoia goes a long way in this business. 

DL 

Omar, it was great to meet you and @Robert Germano at the Dayton property. 

I think that the single biggest challenge for you is "acclimating" yourself to the urban, midwest renter. As we discussed before, the midwest, urban renter is very hip to the fact that electric baseboard heating has the potential to wipe him/her out during the months of Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb.  Another factor is that they all look for "free heat" or "heat included", when looking for an apartment to rent. 

I would love to hear from some experienced midwest multi family owners who have replaced windows and sliding patio doors on apartments with electric baseboard heat, and if those improvements made a significant dent in winter electric heating bills. 

DL

p.s.  Thanks to both of you guys for swinging by my complex and taking a look. After our conversation, I very much understand that I am still a "mom and pop" operation... but that's okay. It makes for a pretty nice life.  : )

Omar, I hope to see you in Dayton on Thursday AM !  PM me the address and I will see you then!

DL

I agree 100% with @Mike Dymski on this.  Cincinnati is suffering a tremendous skilled labor shortage right now. Talented "do anything" guys who work for reasonable rates are at a premium in Cincinnati. 

I provide a "free" apartment with utilities under my name, for my two main guys, as a benefit.

DL 

Floor and Decor has a great selection on that vinyl planking. Plus, they frequently have "close outs" which would probably suit your needs perfectly.  Address: 3430 Highland Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45213

good luck

DL

Craig, I don't see how you can go wrong on the eastside of Cincinnati. Further, I love it that you are living in that 5th unit. This transaction makes a lot of sense for a young guy such as yourself,  Not the least of which is "getting started" with a portfolio lender so early in life. Good for you. 

Please make sure that you give that boiler a fair shake before these Bigger Pockets naysayers talk you into buying five Central HVAC units. FYI, The Home Depot on Highland just got in LG 10,000 btu window air conditioner units for $299.00... 

Congratulations.

DL