All Forum Posts by: Carlos Enriquez

My mom had numerous keys in her heyday as landlord.  She often would use fingernail polish to raise a large colored dot on the whole one side of a key to mark them.  Believe it or not, those dots would stick very well and never came off unless you scraped them off.  I still have some of those keys to certain master locks that I still use.  You may want to try it to see if the system works for you.

I wish I had two wenches!

But seriously, he scammed you.  Take the lump; pay him the repairs, keep the tools you "bought" for him to use, and then tell him you will use your own contractor from now on and if he fixes anything, it's on him.

And keep the friggin tools.  You paid for them!

I recall paying something like $495 a year to include fridge and a couple other items that were not standard, and the deductible for "each" claim was 50-65 bucks.  But the company would tell me ahead of time to see if there was anything else needed so it could be looked at during the same visit to save another deductible.  That always made me renew each year.  They were awesome.  I suppose this doesn't happen to everyone.  I am blessed!

By the way Cheryl, I see that you're an Air Force vet...I'm an Army vet.  Hooah.

Cheryl, I'll get to your PM after this.  To answer your question, the company I used in California was very reliable, and for the yearly fee, well worth it.

For example, in one year, my built-in microwave, my hot water dispenser, and my dishwasher all failed.  I got all three replaced with "contractor's" appliances, which weren't top of the line stuff, but name brands that you see at Sears, Lowes, or Home Depot.  For a few hundred dollars, I replaced those items that were worth thousands.

Every year, one thing or another had to be repaired or replaced.  Plumbing leaks, toilets, electrical, even my pool pump and hot tub heater (I know rentals won't have these), but they got fixed for pennies on the dollar.

I have the money to purchase all new stuff and go without a home warranty, as I did with my duplex recently (so not buying property is a moot point).  All I'm saying is that I'd rather save the cash for other things and let the warranties take care of stuff at a less expensive cost.

Eventually, it will happen.

I, on the other hand, think they are valuable.  I've had them in my all of own sfr's and always had to use them for one thing or another.  Paying a deductible to get a new replacement rather than paying full price for something was worth it.

For rentals, I was told not to bother because it's a waste of money, so I didn't.  A few thousand dollars later, having paid full price to repair some plumbing, heating, and electrical issues, I'm thinking I should have bought one.  For a few hundred dollars a year, you have the peace of mind that you're not going to have to dish out thousands when that dishwasher, AC, furnace, microwave, or whatever goes out.  And with non caring tenants, that can happen.

I stipulated in my offer to purchase that the seller would not make any changes to the existing rental contract after accepting my offer.  One owner counteroffered saying he had the right to sign a one year lease with a tenant for below market rent, renewable for another year after that, so I walked.  You need to prevent that in your offer.

No recourse if the seller doesn't cough up the docs.  Mine didn't and nobody could do anything about it.  Basically he said, take it or leave it, but I don't have those. Could be he's hiding something, like mine did.  One of my tenants was in arrears not only in rent, but also in trash and water.  But his lease is up soon and he'll be outta there, so I still bought the place.

I recommend that you get a copy of the current MTM contract just to make sure that it doesn't convert to a year lease upon sale or something like that.  Usually, if you can't get it from the seller, the tenant has a copy.  This would be a good time to have the tenant fill out an estoppel just to find out what's going on with them and the property before it becomes yours.  I failed to do one and after buying my duplex, I got hit with many expenses instead of getting them taken care of before close of escrow by seller.  If the contract is written up correctly and using the proper form, it will stipulate that you have to satisfy the lease inspection contingency before moving on, or walk.  Sometimes one has to use a gut feeling and luck out like I did...kind of.

Good luck.

I think you answered the question.  Inform them with 48 hour notice that you're going in.  Apparently, they can't stop you unless they've stayed in that day and bolted the door in which case you won't have access.

But they can't do that forever so try every day after if that happens.  They'd been notified prior.  Good luck.

Is the fee for a 1031 exchange based on a percentage of the sale, or is it a fixed charge?

I think that when the dust settles, you'll be ok.  You just have to prove that you did everything by the book.  Hang in there!