All Forum Posts by: Gil Wildridge

Yeah I could never ethically tell someone to just buy a property entirely sight unseen, especially if they're counting on the returns for their financial security. 

To be as fair as possible, I'll let everyone know who would have qualified that the unit has been filled and is no longer available. There's no reason to provide details, though I do let people know if anyone asks that we do not accept bulk up-front rent payments or anything like that because I absolutely do not want a prospective tenant to think that someone else swooped in with a bunch of cash last minute. That is not a good look and it isn't fair to otherwise good and qualified tenants. 

Of course, if we have another available unit that's similar to the one they were looking at, I'll pivot to that and offer to move their current application over to that unit as long as they would still qualify under whatever the new unit's rent is. 

Having some experience in NJ courts, I would say file for eviction now. Don't be confrontational about it, but let the tenant know that this is something that has to be done and you still want to work things out with them as much as possible. Let the tenant know this in writing and if you need to, also speak with them, but always in writing first in these situations. 

The VCCO might not give you information outside of how much the tenant should be getting for rent payments, which is why filing for eviction is a good step. the VCCO will be notified and they may come to you, and you can get some answers that way.

Another thing about filing is that the court can enforce a payment plan and a condition of the payment plan could be that you receive your payments directly and that rent is taken out of the tenant's compensation package before the rest of it is given to them. That helps you recover some of the money so if things proceed to a lockout, you're not as bad off financially. It also keeps the door open for a cash for keys situation in case the tenant can't pay all of it. Those are always good because your unit can get on the market again faster and the tenant usually leaves in an orderly fashion.

NJ is an attorney state. If you have your properties LLCs, by law you have to have an attorney. If not, it's your choice but I would recommend looking into it. The fact is that landlord/tenant attorneys and judges know each other and eat lunch at the same places and if you get an attorney that the judge listens to, you're in a good spot. A good attorney can let you know what judges are landlord friendly and what judges are tenant friendly. They can also make sure that your case is scheduled promptly because again, they know people and know how to get things done within the judicial system, which can be confusing on a good day. 

Find someone who's an expert in the market in which you're looking to buy and who has some roots in the area. An agent that helps your portfolio grow should know enough about the local economy to know what's growing and what isn't. More than what you might see on paper, knowing where people work and the places that are hiring will give you a good idea of what rent people will sustainably pay. I'd definitely look for an agent who has either investment or property management experience so that they understand your perspective because they've lived it themselves. 

I also wouldn't necessarily look for an agent one at a time. Get on a few lists and see who wants to bring you the best deals. Pay attention to how they speak about the area and you'll get a good sense for who actually knows what they're talking about. Give each one the same feedback to see who listens best to what you say.

Hopefully everything works out. In the time you've had this tenant, have you or they had any conversations about their actual ability to pay? If not the tenant may surprise you by claiming that they can't. This may or may not be true, but either way it sounds like your best move may be a court ordered payment plan. They will probably stick to that for a short period and then go delinquent again, but it's much easier to deal with if they violate a payment plan in most cases and at least you get some of your money back.

They might be a professional tenant. When you screened them, did their background come up fine except for a couple of evictions or court appearances that they were eager to talk about and had long and detailed explanations for? Because that can be a red flag.  

Definitely a screening issue. Three out of four problems can be solved by screening the right tenants in the first place. Might be worth it to hire a PM, or to look into getting a professional screening service. Hopefully everything works out!

You have several solutions. First thing I'd do, though, is get new AC people. They're overcharging you. 

Second thing I'd is make sure changing filters are the tenant's responsibility in the lease and communicate that to them. Tenants should be paying for electric and gas in any case.

Third thing: make sure that you're scheduling tune-ups, once in the Spring and once in the Fall. Those can catch issues before they happen. 

I would not open myself up to the liability of temperature settings. With weather getting more and more unpredictable, it just seems like something a tenant could complain about that, even if you didn't do anything wrong, could land you in hot water. 

 This. Decently likely she's trying to pull one over on you, and even if she's not, collecting rent by card in general comes with a lot of things that could wrong and hardly any upside except convenience. With a card, there's a third party involved in the payment, which means chances of something going wrong have just gone up 33%. 

From the lender's perspective, yes they are. Lenders in the RE space aren't the healthiest right now in my opinion and need some stable wins on their balance sheets. That means clients shooting for LTRs with one or two year leases. There's also growing regulation risk for the investor, thanks to the hospitality lobby convincing local Karens and pearl clutching city officials that short term rentals are nothing but drunk college kids and constant crime. 

But doing short-term is also a flexible thing you can fit into your strategy on relatively short notice. If done right, it's highly profitable for the owner, but requires constant management. There's also higher overhead. Standards are higher and things break or need to be replaced more often.

Do you have a short term track record to show the lender? If you're in Vegas they have to have had this discussion with people before with people and negotiated their way to a deal.

 A good property manager should be able to negotiate with contractors and shouldn't just accept whatever rate is handed to them. One reason they should be able to do that is literally because they manage a lot of properties and can toss contractors business on a regular basis. Another reason is just market knowledge and knowing what a repair of a certain type given material and labor rates in an area should cost.