All Forum Posts by: John Humphries

@Dax Squillante hey dax, I sure did. I picked up a triplex in Dover on an FHA loan. I'm not as active on here as I used to be, because the savings+extra income I generated from my house-hack helped me start my own business which takes up all my time now. I've missed the last few delreia meetings, but highly recommend them. Hopefully I'll make it to the next one so we can chat in person!

@Tracey G. Any time, glad I could help! The nice thing about a pet deposit is that in Delaware you are actually able to use the pet deposit to cover non-pet related damages if the security deposit isn't enough to cover them.

Newark is a great area, though I've heard that it can be hard to invest there due to strict local laws. Do you plan to buy more properties there, or was this just a one-time thing for while your son is living there?

@Tracey G.,

Where in DE did you buy?

In Delaware, a regular security deposit can only be a maximum of one month's rent, as you said. However, a pet deposit is considered a separate issue altogether. You can either tell them you need an additional month's worth of deposit, a non refundable pet fee, or increased rent (or a combination of the above). They are technically in violation of their current lease, so you can send them a notice to remedy (get rid of cat) or face eviction, or they can agree to a pet addendum with whatever terms you can work out.

If they are smoking only on the patio, but not inside (and are doing a good job of containing it on the patio), you might want to just let it slide. With inherited tenants you can either choose your battles, or evict them and place tenants you screen properly. In my triplex, one apartment contains a group of inherited twenty-somethings that have a cat against their lease, smoke on the patio, and also single-handedly pay all of my holding costs. I'm opting to leave them alone until they move out by choice.

The fruit flies, again, may not be a big enough issue to really crack down on them. It is natural for your feathers to get rustled when you see your tenants not taking care of your new property the way you want them to, but you also have to weigh the amount of damage an issue could cause vs. the amount of effort it will take to remedy said issue. I have never known fruit flies to do much damage on their own, and they aren't hard to get rid of when it comes time to turnover the unit.

My advice would be to get them to sign a pet addendum if you feel that strongly about it, and then coast until the sixty day window before their lease expires. At that point you can either inform them that you are not renewing their lease at all, or you can inform them that you are renewing their lease on the condition that they sign and abide by YOUR lease, rather than whatever lease they are currently on.

Best of luck!!!

Hello all, I have about $400/month leftover after holding costs from my house hacked triplex each month to put towards maintenance, turnover, and capex. It seems ridiculous to let that money sit in checking or savings until I need it, especially the money that is earmarked for capex! Where do you keep your reserves? Money market, mutual fund, savings? Do you keep different acounts for each item, or put everything into the same pot?

@Joseph Scorese any future plans for a meeting in Dover?

@Paul Khazansky just curious, why the $250k minimum for DE? 

@Donovon Rogers Welcome to BP and good on ya for figuring out what you want to do so early! Even though you're targeting NJ and NY, are you interested in doing any deals in Delaware? DE is small, but there are plenty of deals to be found. Shoot me a message if you would be interested in working together to find some deals here!

@Raymond Patrick Hopkins Welcome to BP! I just turned 22 and bought my triplex about a month before my birthday, so don't let anyone tell you that 21 is too young to buy your first deal. I also disagree in part with @Thomas S.. Financial independence is absolutely an attainable goal by age 34 if you start now. Just don't lose sight of your goal. I'd recommend @Scott Trench's book, Set For Life, the entire Mister Money Mustache blog, and the BP podcasts to help get your mental wheels turning in the right direction. You are only a few mindset shifts away from financial freedom. He is correct in that real estate is not truly passive, but with the right systems in place it can be damn close. Either way, it beats a cubicle! Wish you the best of luck.

Thanks @Bob B.. That's exactly what I'm going to do.

@Corina Eufinger Thanks for those tips!

@Scott Schultz His rent is $375/month in an apartment that should rent for ~$550, his utilities are paid for by me, he has a history of non/late payment, he doesn't meet my standards for tenant screening, and I'd like to update his unit because I'm trying to renovate the whole thing one unit at a time so I can refinance next year and pull some cash out. In addition to that, he's just a high maintenance tenant in general. At this point the only option I'm interested in is finding a new tenant for that unit. He's got a pretty sweet deal and I don't anticipate him wanting to move. Pair that with his in-depth knowledge of the law and his history of taking people to court and I'm worried that I'll be looking at the business end of a lawsuit if I try to get him out.

Hello all. I have an inherited tenant in my triplex whose lease is ending soon, and I don't want to renew it. I am going to have to give him a 60 day notice this month to have him gone by september 1st, which is when the lease is up. However, I know that he is somewhat of a "professional tenant". He has taken the previous owner to court before, he's also tried to sue a judge and happens to be a paralegal. Once I give him the 60 day notice, what can I do to further protect myself? If he doesn't leave once the lease is technically terminated, do I follow the normal course of eviction as if it was for non payment of rent? Five day notice, etc. Or can I have him immediately removed since he'll be a squatter at that point? How long could he potentially drag this out? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!