All Forum Posts by: Len Miller

@Percy Matsunaga I currently have property in Florida, I was in Cleveland Ohio a few years ago and it struck me as an area with good potential. I am looking at multi family (2-4 units) in the Cleveland area. The numbers look good, so i'm hoping to talk to a few management companies to see what other information they can offer.  

@Brian Garlington Thank you, I will reach out to Angel.

@Uri Gofman 

Thank You i appreciate your taking time to respond. I will reach out to them

Out of state investor looking for recommendations for amazing property mangers in the Cleveland market. Thanks in advance.

Thanks Joe, Good advice. i appreciate your taking the time to respond. 

Hello BP nation, 

I hope this post finds everyone safe and healthy. I have an opportunity to purchase a 3 bedroom house as a rental In St. Pete Florida. The tenant signed a 1 year lease in March so they will be there until 2021. This is my 2nd investment property and the first i am purchasing with a tenant already in place. I ran all the numbers and everything looks like it should be a decent investment. 

My question is, what do you look for when a tenant is already in place? Clearly i would ask for a copy of the existing lease, but do you run a background check or employment check on an existing tenant? Do you have them sign your lease agreement or wait until its time to renew?

With so many people losing their jobs right now, and evictions being placed on hold, i don't want to find myself buying someone else's problem.

Is it OK to ask a tenant who already has a lease for proof of income?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and opinions.

Thank you again to everyone who replied, I greatly appreciate your taking the time to share your opinion. I will start teh process of getting it rented. Thanks again! 

@Bill B. @Tyler Gibson Thank you both for your input, i value the opinion of people who are more experienced than myself. You both make great points, I thought for sure that i would need to cut my loses but there are benefits to renting that i wasn't considering.  Thank you again.

@Alan Grobmeier Thank you for the response, I reside in Pa and both my properties are in the Tampa bay Fl area, I was fortunate enough to find a tenant for my first property so maybe i can do the same here. I will look at that option. Thanks again   

Hello BP community,

I wanted to share a "not so great" experience with you and see how you would handle it. I am a newer investor and purchased my second unit at foreclosure over 18 months ago. Without going into great detail, I will summarize some of the challenges this property has presented.

- Bought it on line at auction 

- used hard money to satisfy the mortgage.

- Took months to pay off because i had to track down the relatives of the deceased to get their consent.

- Had the unit under contract for sale

- pre-sale inspection found moisture in the wall.

- needed to get out of the hard money and refinance with a bank.

- couldn't refinance because there was an issue with the documents the daughters of the deceased signed

- had to reach back out to them again.

- refinanced the property with a bank. (unit appraised for $217,000. Took a loan for $156,000)

- had a mold remediation company come in, half of the 1200 sq ft unit had to be demo'd

- General contractors are currently installing a new kitchen, new bathroom and half of the living space.

Question is, what do i do with the unit now that it is almost complete. At this point i will need to sell the unit for $245,000 just to break even. The realtor feels that the market has slowed in the area and i will only get about $220,00 which would net me about $205,000 after closing costs (a $40,000 loss). I could rent the unit but between HOA, Property Manager and mortgage, the unit would lose about $150/$200 a month.

If you found yourself in this situation would you sell now and take any cash from the deal ($45,000-$50,000) to purchase something else and write this off? Would you Rent it for a year or so and list it n a year or two in hopes to secure a better sale price, OR have you been in a similar situation and found a creative solution to minimize losses?

Thanks in advance, 

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