All Forum Posts by: Gil Lieblich

Wow, it always amazes me that agents and people try to get away with things especially when their business is managing clients expectations and customer relations.

I had purchased a property not long ago at an adult community. Long story short I had asked my agent a few times what the hoa fees were as the margins were thin on this property. She repeatedly told me 342. The whole closing process was a nightmare their attorney was unresponsive while the selling agent was accusatory claiming i was delaying the process. Lots more off the point drama. Finally less than a week before closing i was looking at the paper work realized HOA was $400 a month. I was really pissed. I went ahead with the deal but i raised hell. My agent said she was reaidng it off teh mls and i was pissed and the sellers agent said woops i must have looked ta old listing...(even though i later found out it was never that) I told them i was going to file an ethics complaint with MLS and the Realtors assoc. They obviously dont want it as they can be held liable for damages and cost them lots of money. The manager at my agents office was very nice and essentially took responsibility and they dropped their commission $600. In the end i didnt follow through will filing a complaint against the negligence of the sellers agent mostly because i just wanted to move on. (She made all sorts of excuses through the attorney at closing about family issues etc...)

In the end you never know who you are dealing with...

I was told by my new agent she has asked a selling agent to get a signed form that the seller was told the deal when she thought they were being shady... and in the end she realized they forged the sellers signature to get her off their back...She pushed to a point but let it go thats when she became my new agent.

That is a great story... Great timing... Good neighbors invite over to do some painting as well... Look forward to seeing the progress.

How big is the bathroom and how many cabinets in the kitchen... its newark so i am guessing you arent doing high end stainless steel etc... My thoughts and i am a newbie but i would do scratch and dent appliances from depot for $1000.

The cabinets in a small kitchen i would say $1500. Paint you can get a guy to do it for $1000-$1500 (depends on how hard it is to get a contractor or laborer in the area)

I did my 500 sq ft floors with laminant for $1750 all in ...

Really depends on the specifics and finding the right guys who need to fill their time and will come in and knock it out quick...

My good friend lives on Godwin in Ridgewood...beautiful community.

As others said...find local guys who can give you bids. Depending on size remnant is the best way to go if not dont be afraid to negotiate. I went all over looking for granite quotes and finally i had some good quotes ( around $40) I went back to my guy and said can you do it for this price and i need you to give me the next level above (as i was getting quotes for the A grade (low grade) and he did it. I am sure they still made some money just less but i have given him more business so it works out.

Not only that but i had on my first rehab i used depot for cabinets. I decided to price them out again their as i could not get good quotes from my cabinet guys locally. Eventually i worked out a great deal so i went back to depot and they knocked the price down... Then i told them i was getting a better grade and the upgraded me as well. i still went with my local guy as i rather he gets my money but just shows there is room.

i have a general question about this situation.. not trying to hijack but it goes to what you said... no need to evict because she is gone.

What if any rights does the tenant have if she came back to the property and says well its still my rental property? What if she left some stuff are you responsible for storing it? I guess what i am asking is it still necessary to file an eviction notice?

When does a tenant forfeit their rights to apartment? Yes i get she stole from you but again you would have to prove that but more asking in general is it still worth filing eviction or anything to protect yourself from a crazy tenant coming back?

i am in a similar situation where my tenants in an adult community and everything is electric and realized a $300 bill may be a regular occurrence. They are talking about getting an audit as they have concerns. I told them feel free to get an audit and let me know what is said. I know the windows are old the hot water heater is towards the end of its life. Now if there are easy fixes i will address them. If there are other larger issues like windows well i am not going o nor can i afford to buy all new windows. I will consider changing the hot water heater as it is a cheap way to perhaps keep the tenants happy and it something i need to do in the next year any way and it buys me lots of good will and perhaps keeps them quiet for a long time about small issues. As they are new tenants and hopefully will be there for the long haul.

Not going to go into detail and repeat what many others hit on... Yes i agree the yard the fence the kitchen floor all can be addressed.... My question is you have three brokers come through and fail so who is setting the price? Are you giving them a price or are they coming in and showing you the comps and saying this is what i think you can get?

The reason I ask is if you are pricing the property then what is it based on and your dealing with the wrong agents. You want an agent that comes in shows you comps on the block what they sold for how long it took and compare what was done and what you did and realize those upgrades will or should get you a quicker sale but not necessarily that much more.

Parts of Philly can be pretty beat up and you may have just over fixed or over paid. At the end of the day a busy street can mean a 10-15 k lower price in my area... (median price i higher though)

There is a buyer for every house so it comes down to price... As some one else said sounds like you are chasing the market. Take it off the market clean it up what you can then come back price it ahead of the market.

Good luck over all looks like a great job.

Of course the pictures dont do it justice because the layers of grease and grime that was on the walls fixture cabinets etc... was truly impressive.

Andrew the manager is exactly correct... they ride it for years putting in no money til they are beaten to death then expect a big pay day... and the truth is people are paying. Whats happening in my area by Rutgers is some big players with the help from the city have been coming in and tearing down three houses and building small condos.... Every where you look the new buildings going up. So now you have to compete with hose for rentals...

Again i think you find one that at least has recent up dates to some of the big stuff like roof furnace etc... you go in and clean it up new pain some updated fixtures etc... and be picky with who you rent to... many times the girls are better but in reality not always... plenty of party girls who like to keep a messy filthy house.

I went to Rutgers in NJ and looked for years to buy an investment property off campus. Most of the homes were built pre 60 as old as 1910's. Many of the homes are in run down shape and yes as i looked i saw it all from beer cans every where and not working toilets to houses completely not level as much as 5 inches... to bongs and drugs left every where. But in all honesty what kept me from finding a property was the prices. There was a decent return as college kids will pay up to a $1000 a room (double occupancy so $500 each)

That being said I lived in two very different houses in college one was a huge house but rundown and the landlord didnt care so we made more holes in the walls and ceilings and didnt take care of it. on the other hand i lived in a well maintained yet old house with a 20 page lease documenting charges for every little thing if we didnt care for it and trust me we did.

IMO if you upgrade and make a house nice you will find the nicer quieter kids who want clean living and will maintain your property... And teh best part a good house rents itself as kids tell their friends and the usually stay with the same group year after year.

But some one else wrote the real issue is the large sums of money you will need to either fix it all upfront or the repairs you need to do over the years to get it to the place where its good. Its not like a normal situation where you can say well it needs new plumbing furnace roof etc... because the seller will say yea but you can rent it out as is ...