All Forum Posts by: James Leake

Chris T. In regards to the property being “grandfathered in as a 3 unit” I went through the same thing with one of my properties...I called the state of NJ and they told me that it was in fact a 3 fam but the city had registered as a two fam. The state supplied me with proof and they city changed it...so my advice is to get paper trail and call the state. Secondly, yes every unit would have to have two forms of egress in NJ, now of it didn’t have a back door you might be able to get away with putting a fire escape but I would speak to the city and find out!

Andrew Jenkins Jr. In NJ the law states that you can charge no more than one and a half month rent. Sol G. In my opinion from my experience, In general, I would wait to let them move in until they pay you all fees. All of the misunderstandings sound like it was deliberate as tenants always seem to have those types of behaviors. Furthermore, these tenants seem really shaky and what I can foresee is that they will have these same behaviors when it's time to pay rent in the future and then they will play the same game with you so I wouldn't even move forward with them to be really honest. Question...did you screen these people (credit, background, criminal and verify income). Do you have qualification standard I.e. 575 credit score, gross income to be 3x's rent or better, no evictions in last 4yrs etc? If not you should trust me it will take out a lot of these people!!!

What's your email address? I'll send you a copy.

Hi Kay, those number depend on location and management companies as they charge different percentages, however, I can tell you that in Northern NJ the vacancies rates right now are about 3.1% and management fees are about 10%. As you are analyzing these deals normally the banks would use a 5% vacancy rate and a 10% management fee. So I would use those numbers and you will be just fine. Keep in mind, if those are less than you will realize more profit. Good luck! James L

Hello, I'm in NJ as well. What you can do is have her fill out an application to rent, when she does charge her the amount for the application and then $100 hold fee. Let her know that the $100 hold fee is refundable within the first 72 hours of applying. After 72 hours, then it's non-refundable. Make sure it's written on your application to cover yourself. That should buy you some time to have the city come out and inspect and also for her to come back from vacation. If she decides to cancel afterwards, then you keep the $100 hold fee. Good luck! James Leake

Hi Jordan, I am a licensed broker in NJ and can tell you that you need to have your salesperson license and if you work under broker and that broker has to allow you to do it through his brokerage. If they do not allow it then you can not do it even if you open a separate entity. Reason is because the law states that the entity that is managing 3rd party has to be licensed. Remember your broker will the only person that can pay you directly. If you decide to go through with it without permission from your broker and not through his brokerage then you would be issued a $5000 to $10000 fine plus revocation of license. Good luck! James L

Hi, if you are getting a FHA loan then yes it would get flagged since that is strictly owner occupier loan. If you try to get conventional then it won't pass appraisal due to the amount of work needed especially if it's inhabitable. Best bet either private money or hard money! Good luck James L

Hey Guys, I am doing some research on what everyone thinks about hiring a property manager. Any help would be much appreciated. Please see questions below: Do you currently manage yourself or do you hire out? What do you look for in your manager? What do you expect from your manager? How often would you like to communicate with your manager? When do you expect your rent from your manager? How much do you keep in reserve for manager can use in case of emergencies? How much percent would you pay? Would you pay the one month commission for every apartment rented in addition to percentage? Would you pay a renewal fee for every time they renew and retain tenants? If so how much would you pay per renewal? Thank you guys all help would be much appreciated. Remember I'm in NJ and would like this research to reflect that!!! James L

Hi Derek, it's a very difficult thing when you have two paying tenants and don't want mess around with as you are getting your rents, however, tenants will take advantage of you every chance they get. So you need to establish a policy across all of your properties that once their renewal is coming up they have 60 days to sign renewal if they don't they have two options A. Move out or B. Pay an additional month to month fee of say $250 or whatever on top of there rent. Whatever fee you decide make sure is a substantial amount higher than the increase and I guarantee they will sign renewal. Or move out and at that point you can get a bette tenant who will abide by the rules. Good luck

@Rafael Norat Thanks! Absolutely and we like to see what you got going on as well. I will look forward to your message. Thanks