All Forum Posts by: Neil Schoepp

@Henry Leonard it's nice to meet you. Welcome aboard. You probably already know this but there are some great people here all willing to help out. The best advice I can offer is to get into the habit of responding to the forum posts. A couple a day. This will get you out there and people will see you. Connections will be made and empires built!

Good luck.

@Dion DePaoli 

Thanks for the great info. 

@Sylvia B.  Is there a channel at the bottom of the side with drainage holes? From what I can see in the picture this does not seem to be the case.  So going with the presumption that there is no channel you run a bead of caulk along the joint. Then smooth it out so there are no bumps.

You have 30 rooms. Why not turn it into a mini office building. During one of the podcast someone spoke of buying a building (12000 sq ft I think) with the plans of leasing the entire bldg. to one entity. They couldn't find a business to lease to so they broke it into small offices supplied hi speed cables phone lines etc. I believe Joshua Dorkin said he once worked out of a similar set up. These guys would even rent you desk space parts of the hallway. 

@Zach Davis  Great hit. I too am a fairly private person and don't talk as much as I should. 

I always thought of networking as stuffy meetings and business cards. But it's much more.

I read somewhere here that networking is talking to everyone you know and letting them know what you do and what your looking for. Obviously you do this in conversation like manner not in an annoying it's all about me manner. Your the perfect real life example of this. 

Congrats on the new place.

@Jimmy S.  

       First order is to fill the tank. You need to protect the property. You can sort everything else out later. 

      If I were the tenant I would return it with a 1/4 of a tank or at least make good on the cost for that amount. Since it's so close to empty I would pay a 1/4 of the bill.  With that being said .........

As a landlord I would......

.........Discuss it with them asking what they believe to be fair. Listening to their view of the events. They may be saying to themselves...... There is no way we are filling this tank and giving it to him. A full tank how dare him he only gave us a 1/4 when we moved in......... I would clarify that I don't expect them to pay for a full tank just a 1/4 as it was when they arrived.

In the end it's not worth the time you will have to invest in fighting with them over this. So have a short conversation, if they don't agree there is not much recourse.

Moving forward I would start every tenant with a clearly documented measure of the tank with both your and their initials. I would also add a line to the lease that they are responsible to return the oil tank to the level at which it was at when they initially leased the property. 

Remember to always be fair, consistent and respectful. Even when you want to scream, shake your fist and pull your hair out. 

@Corey Pascuzzi  I would handle it as Marcia Maynard suggested. 

If you decide that it is solely the tenants responsibility then I would have my plumber fix it and bill the tenant. I am not comfortable with them calling just anyone to work on my property. 

@Jeffrey Lester  why not become an agent to pay for your accounting education. This will allow you to see if being an agent is really for you and being comfortable around numbers .........do I need to say more :) good luck.

@Account Closed I agree with Elizabeth. That's the strategy I use. I wouldn't worry about the PMI. You can request it be dropped when you have 20% equity. I haven't done this so I'm not exactly sure how it works. If it's just a matter of an appraisal and a letter to the mortgage holder then it might be worth while.

@Curtis Magee in my experience it's the loan officer I would be talking to. He is going to need the appraisal as part of the loan package.