All Forum Posts by: Liam Goble

@William Baumann I'm not aware of any restriction to the increase in the S8 payment.  I've got a S8 tenant and I found out that the local PHA actually anticipates rent increases, which makes the increase easier...the tenant doesn't care so long as the increase is within the PHA's increase.  For instance, I learned that my PHA anticipated an increase of almost 7.5%.  I didn't increase rent this year, so the PHA decided to pay for part of my tenants water bill.

So I have a crazy neighbor.  Crazy as in Bat Guano Crazy.  She hand feeds rabbits.  She and I had a cordial conversation, where we both shared some very personal stories and at the end of the conversation she told me that she keeps a shot gun by the front door and if anyone knocks, it's shoot first, find out who was there second.  

In August, my property was hit by a drunk driver.  It caused the building to be condemned until the structure could be fixed.  The residents in the side that was hit returned to the duplex, but the other family moved out.  The grandmother (in the 'other' family) was friends with the crazy neighbor.  

The crazy neighbor complains about the tenants on the far side of the building.  She claims that the kids are a nuisance and that the parents yell all the time.  In addition (and this was the big one), my residents had not installed curtains in the year that they have lived in my duplex.  

I've been working on the side that the 'other' family vacated and every time I enter or leave the house, the neighbor is outside asking me if I'm going to find other "hooligans" to rent the side I'm working on now (I replied "no, you've got it wrong...not hooligans, hoodlums!"  I'm kidding)

All joking aside, has anyone else had issues like this?  I've gotten to the point that I just ignore this lady, but I feel bad for doing so, but she's making life miserable for me while I'm working there.   

Is there any potential liability issue here?  If @Tony Ngo knowlingly allows a criminal to live in her unit and that tenant causes trouble, can Kayla be held liable in any way?

This was the first that I've seen this article, but interestingly enough, my wife and I are non-committaly designing a house.  Our kitchen design incorporates some of the ideas in that article.  

It's nice to see that I'll be trendy for one year.

I know that some of my local utilities require a township code inspector to conduct inspections if utilities were turned off.  This is their way to slowly force the upgrade of older systems (usually K&T wiring).  I assume their thinking is this: If an investor can purchase a foreclosure that has been vacant for 2-3 years, they've got the money to upgrade the house/apartment to keep it safe for the new tenants.  

I would jump on those permits and get that ball rolling.  

There's no way they will pay up.  Get rid of them and get good tenants in place.  It'll make your grandfather happy to see that you are able to maintain the asset he gave you.

Definitely look at this asset as how you can make it perform.  Assuming you've analyzed the deal/property to make sure it cash flows and you take into account maintenance, vacancies, etc, have you performed your due diligence?  

I generally check ads on craigslist/zillow/trulia/?? to see what types of places are being rented?  I check my proposed rent based on both the craigslist ads but also rentometer.com (unsure of the actual accuracy, but it's a data point).  

I once bought a duplex that was half rented and had been half rented for two years.  The reason it had been half rented was because the previous owners let slobs live inside.  The slobs allowed their pets to defecate and urinate inside the house to the point that I had to replace two rooms worth of subfloor.  If I had asked for a rental history, it would have looked really poor.  However, after repairs, it only took two weeks to get the unit rented at 15% more than the other (rented) side.  

These types of properties are NOT set-it-and-forget-it, unless you want to sell for a loss to someone who will make the property perform.  

John, I tend to agree with @Nathan Emmert .  Like you, I also have a contracting background; was an owner in a design/build company that I helped to start and ran crews for 10 years.

One other consideration that hasn't been mentioned yet is the taxation.  If you hold the property less than a year, I believe that is taxed at your nominal tax rate vs. long term gains rate if you hold for more than 366 days.  In addition to the taxation, depreciation is also a factor for the long term holds.  

I have done both a flip as well as buy-and-holds.  The flip did not sell, and is not a buy-and-hold that is just treading water (I'm not losing money, but certainly not making much either). 

If the deal is right and the terms make sense, any of your investors should not have a problem with a longer time frame.  10% for 30 years due in 5 is pretty attractive right now.

@Andrea Shields I had a similar situation with tenants that I inherited.  When I inherited the tenants, I immediately raised rent to market rates (the tenants stayed).  I knew the inherited tenants side was in need of work, but since they were paying and it was meeting my cash flow needs, I let them stay.  

I did have a few odd episodes with the tenants, but figured that so long as they didn't completely destroy the interior, and since I had purchased it knowing I would need to do work, I could let them stay, but not do any work to the place.  As point of reference, they had broken kitchen cabinet doors where the stiles/rails come together (it's a pretty strong joint and would take a lot to break the door there).  They had put holes in some walls and were requesting that I fix some of the holes.  There were other issues within the house as well.

I was 'fortunate' that in August, a drunk driver hit the opposite unit of the duplex forcing a condemnation of the whole property until the structure could be improved.  Well, after a month and a half of living in a motel, the tenants threatened me with a law suit because "you" (ie: me, the landlord) condemned the property and two days later informed me that if I wanted to keep them as tenants, I would have to start paying their motel bills, paying their gas costs to get to and from work (?!?!?) and paying their meals out.  (I said no).

They left, very uneventfully, and now I'm repairing their unit.

Bottom line: Stick with your lease and talk with your attorney for advice on how to handle the situation.

@Abou C. , I've purchased three buildings with no(ne of my own) money down.  I had some friends that were tired of getting 0.01% in the bank and I offered to borrow the money at 5%.  They were stoked and so was I.

Def. talk with an attorney about your legal situation.  Insurance is always a good option (umbrella policy).