All Forum Posts by: David Roberts

I don't get it.  You make 22k a year.  Say you let your house go, you can't even make a dent in 100k worth of credit cards with a salary of 22k a year.  Not a dent.  

You're trying to stay in the good enough graces of the credit world so that you can rent, right?  I take it that's the crux of the issue.  

I think you would be able to find a landlord who will listen to your story and take a chance on you even if you file bankruptcy and try to get forgiven of all of that debt.  I think on message boards you get the collective, more knowledgeable people here who would say "I'd never take a chance on you" but I think there's plenty of landlords who don't do that much diligence and would listen to a story and take a chance, especially if they were in need of a renter.  You can then begin to build rapport with the new landlord, and have that reference in your back pocket after a year if you wanted to move somewhere else.

The landlords I know of in real life (not cyberspace) all have horror stories, and none did their due diligence.  A guy i work with, rented to a guy he knew had no job and then was aggravated every day that the guy didn't pay rent.  No sh*t sherlock, my God.  My mother used to own 2 rentals when I was a kid.  I asked her recently how she screened tenants.  She said she met them in person and asked if they had a job, but took their word for it.  She had problems with tenants also.  I remember it.  

Not saying due diligence solves all issues with finding tenants, but I think there's plenty in real life (not cyberspace) who take on friends of friends, or friends of family, with little diligence and get themselves in trouble.

Just my two cents.  I don't know how you're going to ever pay off 100k+ in credit card debt and at this point you'r basically paying interest only on them forever.  You are really behind the 8-ball.  The system is wonderfully set up for you to get yourself out of all of it.

I think it's awesome the bank even gave someone like that 100k worth of consumer credit.  Shame on the lender.  That's awesome.

If someone in this position was paying for their shelter as priority number 1 I would look favorably on that.  Even though they might have made mistakes in the past, they realize that they need shelter, food, and water.  

Still think that's awesome though, 100k in credit cards.  I'd love to know what the person has to show for it.  Hopefully something good...

It's not stopping me. Just trying to figure things out. I think if you do one LLC per house, you still need to get the loan in your name. So if you are buying with a loan to start, buy it personally, then quit claim to LLC. If you are paying cash, buy it with LLC, when it comes time to refi then quit claim back to your name, get the loan, then quit claim back to LLC. I checked with my insurance agent and she said it wasn't any problem to get insured but every property had to have its own insurance, and an umbrella policy for additional liability could be obtained. So far this is what i've been told.

Lots of paperwork for sure.

I have a rental which was my primary residence.  Converted it in late 2010 to a rental when I moved into a newer home at half price (thanks Mr. Market).  Anyway, a the time I decided to just find a tenant to cover my 15-year fixed mortgage.  I started off the rent about 150 under market (didn't realize it at the time), didn't raise rent on them for 2 years, then raised it only 20 a month each of the last 2 years.  Same tenant, and they're good ones (pay on time or early always for 4 years).  I was cash flow negative 20-60 a month all of this time.

Now that I am trying to make myself a rental business, I'm looking at it like a business.  I still cash flow now after just refinancing out to 30 years, at about 312 a month (and anything over 300 i find acceptable).  But, I should be getting 200 more a month in rent.  This is a lot to leave on the table.  I'm about 17% under market value right now.

I don't want to lose my tenants, but I don't want to lose that much money either LOL.  The lease isn't up until April of 2016, and I don't plan to raise the rent until then, but I am thinking to try to get it up $110 more from where it is now (but still about 100/mo under market), and am thinking of writing a letter to them when there's about 6 months left in the lease to break the news to them.

I would also be willing to offer to raise it $30 every quarter over a year as a grandfather method, and lock it in an additional  year if they agree to it.

It's that, or I've also thought of taking it to market value (but again this is 200 more a month which is a big increase) and offering to remodel their kitchen.  They are a simple type of tenant though and probably don't care if anything in the house is updated or not.

I hate raising rent on people.  I hate watching my own bills creep up and know how it feels.  But, it's a business, and I feel like I have to get while the getting is good.  Just don't know the best way to go about it. Maybe there is no good way.

loopnet.com for sure

Things appear to be resolving.  I took a call from the BOA processor yesterday.  She said the title company sent a report that exonerated my name from the bankruptcy.  They hadn't received my girlfriend's report yet, but were expecting it in the next couple of days. 

So, hopefully I'm 1-2 weeks away from closing at this point.  Thank God because I'm watching deals slip through my fingers on a daily basis.  Time is ticking!

When I looked up the actual people on Pacer.gov they were not even in my city.  They were 100+ miles from me.  Same for my girlfriend's.  

you mean sign everything with my full name? 

I'm not changing my name lol

On pacer.gov the last 4 digits of the SSN of all parties involved were there.  So, even looking at that should be able to tip them off.

There were no people by our names that previously lived here.  Again, the more I find out the more it seems they just didn't do their diligence. My problem is in Michigan there is 10,000+ records combined for myself and my girlfriend's names.  They could have grabbed any of those then, if they weren't going to look beyond the name.  It just seems silly to me to not look beyond the name.

The records didn't show date of birth that I saw...but at some point they need to be CERTAIN that I am the person they are actually dealing with.  My title company friend said they should be able to run my SSN ultimately and see it's not me becuase that is what she would have done.  Well, if she's telling me that, then they should hvae also done that.  I had to submit last 2 year's tax returns to the bank.  They have my SSN on government documents.  

I just think it's a case of laziness.  It's a case of bureaucracy.  I know how that works, becuase I work for a big corporation.  People are lazy, people don't want to work.  They do something, then pass the buck.  It happens regularly at my job also.  I also believe it's why this 'internal investigation' is on day 4 and counting.  My processor 'did her job' and is now waiting on a response.  She could care less how long it takes for my problem to get resolved.  In fact I'm not even convinced she knows what she should be asking for.

Hopefully I did all of the work necessary now for them to get this straightened out.