All Forum Posts by: Karl B.

I wouldn't be surprised if they located her watch and the eldest son is mortified. 

Thanks to a tenant not reporting a leaking toilet her new lease states if more than 30 CCF of water is used in a quarter they're responsible for paying that amount (above 30 CCF) as well as the excess sewer consumption charge.

I use my personal phone. I turn the ringer off when I sleep. 

My tenants don't blow up my phone.

They pay me VIA check/money order and have the option of paying using Paypal friends & family as well. Don't give them SASEs: if they don't like paying .50 for a stamp they can send payment VIA Paypal or some other app or they can go to your office/some other place you'll be where you're not wasting time waiting for them if they want to pay VIA cash (I don't chase rent - they send/bring it to me).

Favorite lease addendums: "A range and refrigerator are provided but maintenance and repair are responsibility of the tenant and...

...All drain and toilet clogs are the responsibility of the tenant" are my two personal favorites. I also add no smoking inside the building in the addendum because I like to spell things out.

Tenants tend to like me because I have pride of ownership and fix/upgrade things that need fixed, plus I show them respect. 

Ask the neighbors to capture some video of the 2 AM music. This will be useful to have as proof for just cause later on. Plus you won't feel a shred of guilt initiating the eviction process when you are certain 2 AM music is without a doubt happening. 

If possible, also take photos of the illegal tenants' junk and get your tenant to admit in writing (I am fairly certain texts hold up in court but do your research) that he has his girlfriend living there.

Once you begin the eviction process contact the Section 8 Housing Authority office and tell them you've begun the eviction process. 

Once the tenant is out, if there's unpaid rent and/or damage do these two things: 

-Take the tenant to small claims court. When you win (bring all evidence and the odds will be in your favor), if you're not paid by the tenant, file paperwork to get a lien. 

-Contact your local Section 8 Housing Authority office and let them know you've won a lawsuit and (if not yet paid) plan to file the necessary paperwork to place a lien against the tenant. The tenant (if he's still part of the Section 8 program) will need to pay his debt to remain in Section 8. 

Also, a civil judgement will appear on a former tenant's credit report for seven years and lowers their credit score as well. Plus it lets other landlords know not to rent to the person.

I would like to get @Scott Smith opinion on this. He's written in-depth blog articles (on BP) on LLCs and asset protection and knows his stuff. 

Erie zoning is rather particular. What's interesting is there are plenty of 4-units in Erie but 4-units are much rarer in Millcreek. Duplexes do appear in Millcreek though they're semi-rare - there's one I kind of regret not buying but I bought a duplex on the border of Millcreek/Erie for a song so it worked out. 

Millcreek has a lot of larger multi-family properties (lots of 6-12 units) but of course those run more expensive. Heck, I've even seen a few duplexes in Fairview (typically on or near 'Main Street' near Avonia Road). 

Erie has a lot of pockets of nicer VS not-as-nice. If you have any questions about areas/streets let me know. I live in California but grew up in and invest in Erie and know the city well.  

This happened to me. In my 2nd ever multi-family purchase everyone's sitting around the table at closing and someone asked about the security deposit. Both RE lawyers had no clue. Turns out the former PM had it. 

That was a valuable lesson and luckily it didn't end up burning me. 

Also, if you're married the capital gains exclusion is $500,000

You can also add to it the cost of any work/rehab you performed on the home that improved or extended the life of the house (known as the adjusted cost basis). 

I didn't know about  this until maybe a month or two ago but I'll be using it in the future when I sell my primary residence here. 

There are a lot of bad, lazy realtors in Erie. 

I worked with Craig Arneman (he ended up being the dual agent - he was originally the seller's agent) and he was pretty good. He's an investor, was good at responding to calls/texts/e-mails and the process was good. If you want his contact information send me a PM and I'll send it to you. 

 Yes - neighbors may do that. The incident happened in the second floor unit and the dim-wit next door neighbor told my newly-moved in first floor tenant that it happened in her apartment. 

I wasn't happy about that, as it wasn't true. I have great renters in the second floor unit now (where the suicide happened). In all likelihood they were told about it by either the downstairs tenant or the next door neighbor but they never mentioned it to me.