All Forum Posts by: Ed O.

Welcome to the board!

Rule #1 about renting: never rent to friends or family. Many have said it, many have heard it and the violators, nearly always have regretted it.

I have 2k deductibles, which offer a worthwhile savings in my position.

I'd guess you're somewhere between 300-500 a year.. depending on all of the factors.

Andy K

That sucks. Sorry to hear about your mistake.

One last idea comes to mind: find out if passing a bad check is considered as a felony in your area and what amount it needs to be. Then, if the shoe fits, go to the tenant and tell them they can move out in 12 hours and have their check back, or that you'll be forced to present the info to the po-pos. It may be a last ditch shot, but if they already have a record and might be on probation, it could get the trick done.

Another thing to keep in mind: have the incoming tenant put the utilities in their name AND VERIFY IT the day before they move in, so you don't get hosed there.

Hope this helps.

I'm with Rob K. That's garbage that they can levy this sort of tax. I have seen little muni's in my area begin implementation of a similar program and then withdraw it.
You might be better off collecting it in the form of a slightly higher rent or annual rent increases.

Rich, this was a really cool summary of your trip. It's fascinating to hear the details of what's going on there.
It's sad that our elected leaders are watching our country continue to lose its grip as the world's superpower.
I totally hear you on the stupidity of not tapping out our own resources and using them. Seriously, it's stupid. The massive, continuous transfer of wealth to the other side of the globe to create their jobs and buy stuff we already have has really cost our country.

Nothing is wrong with trying to be as creative as possible, so don't take this the wrong way.
This thing would be a guaranteed train wreck.

Brian Hoyt For what it's worth, I had 3 appraisals blow up this summer. The woman missed recent, relevant comps and appraised 3 homes with distinct, different characteristics (bedrooms, updates, land), all for the same value.
When I disputed the appraisals and supplied relative, credible information to the bank, the bank's procedure went like this:
Send my info to the appraiser and ask her to reconsider. She said no. End of story. She didn't return my polite phone call or email as well. She used all, run down, vacant derelect reos to comp out my completely rehabbed homes and totally was off by a mile.
No consequence to her. She spent 2-3 hours and made $1200 or so. A pretty good day I'd say.

The skinny of it, IMO, is that appraisers, the same ones that played a massive part in creating the mortgage mess, have walked away from the ruins of it, with even more power and less accountability than ever before. I'm not calling them all bad by any sense.
Here in my state, Ameriquest Mortgage was having appraisers pull comps 30-60 miles away on rural deals and using watermelons to compare to apples. I have never heard of a shady appraiser suffering so much as a petty fine for their abuses.

Also, In my years and the 30 or so appraisals I have needed, 2 times they have been done by women. I have only had problems, 3 times. Just sayin.

I do not use autodraft. 99% of my residents have no bank accounts of any sort, which is consistent with many tenants. I have my tenants go to the bank and deposit cash, money orders, or checks into designated inbound accounts.
No fees. Tenants can go through the drive thru.
Works like gold. A tip I picked up from Arron Mazzrillo is to write the address on the deposit slips you provide to the tenant, so there's never any confusion over whose funds were deposited. I wish I did this from day one.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but just wanted to offer it to you as a possible solution.

Dina Harleth
I would hurry up and get it insured asap, as-in, calling right now and buying a policy.

On the subject of how to insure, I am a cash value fan.
Here's a link to a pretty good thread on it:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/95/topics/76193-actual-value-or-replacement-cost

In my experience, the people that like them are insurance agents. As an owner, they don't make sense to me. I have gone through a total loss and have a friend that lost 8 units in Joplin a year ago. We both had cash value and it worked out great. He's told me sad stories about people with replacement coverage. Somehow, if you have replacement coverage, and chose to NOT rebuild, the insurance company can give you a reduced payment (I heard 80 or 90%) of the loss.

There's some good info in the previos thread.

Buy insurance today. You can always change the policy later.

Paul, thanks for the reply. The remaining ones are with Wells and they're total tools. Unfortunately, they're baby loans, under 50k, which reduces opportunites elsewhere right out of the gate.

I hate it when people act like owner occupiers and screw the rest of us.

At the end of the day, when was the last time someone has been caught and has suffered consequences? I have never heard of a single story where someone actually felt pain for cheating.