All Forum Posts by: Ed O.

It's amazing how many landlords do foolish things like this. Save $300 in repairs and forfeit a ton of money in lost rent, accepting less desirable tenants, longer vacancies, etc. If there's a note on those places, I'd bet he folds soon.
We all know that tenants use the highest quality labor, materials, and techniques when fixing our properties...hahhahahhahahhahahahah

Let us all know how this turns out. I think you make some strong assumptions. Were you running surveilance on the home for months in order to determine that the landlord showed the home to only one prospect?

I think you make some wild assumptions about a person's character if they pick a bad apple to rent from them. The more homes you have, the more chances you have for it to occur. I have been there too. There's no simple test to filter out every single loser.

You describe the neighborhood as lower income. I think your expectations may not be in line with the location of the home. In lower income areas, you're gonna have more issues like this.
That being said, I hate crappy neighbors as much as the next guy.

I'm quite interested to hear what a judge would say, as far as another person's ability to file suit against a misbehaving tenant's landlord and whether or not there's money to be won. Do keep us posted.

Financing your primary is much easier and the terms are better. The bank and cousin louie are gonna come looking for your if you would default on either one of them. Given your goals, take the bigger chunk of cash and steal a few houses.

Brian:
I'd retool your procedures, as it pertains to showing the properties and prescreening the tenants. Whack the ones you know won't work out, before it comes to driving across town to show them the unit.

Have a predetermined minimum criteria for your tenants. People rent, in a lot of situations, because no one will finance a purchase for them, because their credit sucks, poor job history, no reserves, etc.

I cut to the chase and tell them that I don't want to set them or myself up for failure. I tell them, if there's not enough money to put food on the table after paying rent, it's not gonna work. People have usually responded very well to my honesty on the issue.

I'm more concerned with their current income. Is it 3X rent or more? The more money they have, the more likely they will be able to pay you, after they pay for their 2 new cars, cable bill, kids new clothes, fast food, and everything else. I also consider whether or not they're collectible. If they have a decent job, and don't pay, you can usually garnish them. \
I also ask for 2 months bank statements in some cases. If they're pulling 1k out at the casino atm every month or 2, probably not your guy.

I also ask to see pay stubs to make sure their hours actually match the income they claim. A verification of employment is also important. I use one Chinese engineered off a home loan application.
If your home is fairly secure, I doubt they're scoping it out. I used to worry about things like this before too, but never fell victim to a person posing as an interested tenant lead.

At the end of the day, I'd call the apartment complex and ask some questions. Then I'd do the same with the tenant. If the tenant has a signed release on the app, the apartment complex should be willing to talk to you.

I like that. The plans, within the plans, within the plans.

As it pertains to the "guru" coursework, I'd suggest buying a used ron legrand course on ebay, listening to it, and then putting it back up on ebay to minimize your cost. I have heard a decent amount of guru coursework, as well as local mentor types, and the common recurring themes they say always have a clear touch of ron legrand in it. The guru's are largely selling the same info, except rent to owns are retreaded as lease-purchases, etc. It would likely be worth the minimal expense to do this..

Can you liquidate what you have and use that cash on a short term basis to crank out more deals?
HML - Home mortgage lender?
You might try working with a local bank. Expect to have to try a bunch before you find the right one. Is your credit profile strong? If so, there's someone out there that will work with you. I have a good friend getting financing deals you wouldn't believe from his local bank.

Patrick: I ended up going with shelter insurance. They're big in MO, not sure if they're in MI. A great approach to getting lower rates is to call a few agents on the other side of your state. After all, you're gravy if you're not in their market to begin with. I pretty much halved the rates the jerks at state farm were shoving down my throat. They lied and lied and lied...

Bjarne: What motivates you to consider dropping all property coverage?

Brad:

You said " Although the loan is unsecured, I don't have any question about being paid back."

I understand you have faith and confidence in your partners, but, why not be safe and secure some sort of collateral?
How about doing a cash call from all of the partners?

The reason I ask, is that a friend of mine bought a minority piece of a business, and after putting 60k in, the majority partners simply ran it into the ground, and literally squeezed out all of the minority owners to the point that they walked away with nothing.
I'm not suggesting that's what your partners here are going to do. With that being said, my friend's business was short on cash, and, he ended up under the bus. Legal robbery.
How about all of the owners bring their % of the 65k to the table? If nothing else, I'd tell them my spouse said no F ing way without collateral. If so many people here suggest getting security, I think you'd be totally crazy not to, especially if it's available. I'm curious to see how this shakes out.

Yikes, be careful - last I checked, none of us are lawyers, so you definitely want to consult with one. My suggestion would be this: get them to sign a release terminating the (unwritten) "agreement." Move quickly and tell them something like, "the city will not allow you to move into this house. I'm sorry, let's just move on from here."
While they may be on the hook for damages, you can tell them you'll go as easy as you can on them if they help you out and don't move in. If they both work, they're both potentially collectible and potentially garnishable. With all of this in mind, be careful of the fact that you have little documentation in your hands, and this could ultimately work against you in a courtroom at some point. I'd try and play nice and end it. We've all made mistakes, some cost more than others. Get 'em out and start working to fill the unit again.

Have you tried calling law enforcement? These situations are always best resolved between individuals, but it sounds like that's not going to work. I really doubt you could sue the landlord for the way their tenants behave. A fence could be a good investment. If they're on your property, wouldn't they be trespassing? If you really want to get them out, a constant barrage of complaints to the police department has worked for other people in the past. They HAVE to respond to every call. This will eventually piss them off and take action. Like I said, I'd really consider a privacy fence and then go and get it leased.