All Forum Posts by: Kareem Aaron

I bought a luxury home for my family to live in a few years ago. We never would have thought we'd have to use it as an investment property.

To get access to a better school district for my children, we had to move to another state. I decided to put my property up for rent months ago. I haven't been very successful finding good prospects, I even had to evict my recent tenant.

We're not getting a lot of applicants, and the few who apply have really bad credit scores.

What are some of the strategies that might work so I can get better prospects? (As an FYI, the house is advertised for $4K/month in rent and if I were to sell I would do so at a loss).

Thanks.

After reading through all the posts here, I decided to just cancel my home warranty plans. Thanks for all your valuable input. 

I have two rental properties (one of which is currently occupied) and I have home warranty plans with Complete Appliance Protection, Inc. for each of them. My question is, is it necessary to have home warranty plans in place?

If not, what are some best practices for landlords handling repairs? 

I need help finding attorneys who will handle my case on a contingency basis.

I have a rental property that was abandoned by my tenant. The lease started June 1, 2017 and ends May 31, 2018. She paid the deposit and the first month's rent, but has not paid her July, August and September rent.

I filed two Failure to Pay Rent cases with MD Prince George's County district court , one in July and another in August. The one for July was scheduled for a hearing and I got a default judgement in August, then I filed a Petition for Warrant of Restitution and a few weeks after got an email from the sheriff that the schedule for eviction would be on October 5th.

The tenant abandoned the property September 29, just six days before she could be evicted. Before she moved out, she sent me partial payments (via money order) totaling $2,700 in her attempt to stall the eviction. 

After sending a letter of intent to forfeit deposit, her unpaid dues (rent, late fees, court filing fees, unpaid utilities, etc.) total a little over $9,000. This will be the amount I'm suing her for (in addition to incoming attorney fees). I'll file a Writ of Garnishment as soon as I get a judgement.

I've contacted attorneys referred by Prince George's County Bar Association (lawyer referral service) but they're all charging by the hour, their rates range from $200 to $300. I've also talked to more than a dozen attorneys within the county (did a Google search and found their phone numbers from lawyer search websites) and the fixed price quotes range from $1,200 to $2,000.

After not getting paid for three months I've gotten into a really tight budget situation so I'm not looking to pay high attorney fees upfront. Can anyone point me to a good contingency law firm or an attorney who works on contingency that can handle landlord-tenant cases? Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

@Stephanie P.  

I was considering doing exactly what you've suggested, but the houses are worth less than I paid for them.

I'm not underwater or anything, but I'm holding on with hopes that they appreciate at least to the value I paid for them.

My mortgage rates are currently 3.125% and 3.750%, so I'm thinking refinancing would not be beneficial.

-Kareem 

I know my subject doesn't make sense - right? 

Experienced... 

Newbie...

Here's my situation. 

I'm experienced because I've already done 2 deals.

I'm a newbie because I had no clue what I was doing :)

How do I know this? My cash flow sucks!

I'm starting from ground zero now in an effort to learn how to do it correctly.

My goal is to get $5k in passive income from real estate. And I look forward to crossing paths with those on a similar journey.

Take care,

Kareem

DC Metro