All Forum Posts by: Mark Tabah

Kyle, that's an awesome approach to the MTM side!  That's exactly why I posted here for ideas I hadn't considered. The MTM side rent is ~$150-200/mo. under market value, but they are good tenants and may be willing to absorb the increased rent. The side still under a lease is approx. $300-350/mo. below market value, so I'm motivated to get out of a bad deal.  Thank you for the input and have a terrific rest of your holiday season!

Yes, hoping that cash for keys will be an incentive to vacate, and I'll be offering an extra bonus, something like $100-200, if they leave without additional damage between inspection and move-out.  I don't want to evict unless absolutely necessary, it makes it so difficult for the tenants to find a new home and I think it engenders bad karma from the RE gods.  Thank you for your input and good luck with your project, happy holidays!!

I appreciate the input Theresa.  Great point about offering first dibs to the displaced tenants once rehab is finished, I'll definitely be using that tool for this project and going forward.

Happy Sunday and holiday season all! I've got a duplex under contract with tenants who are paying WAY below market rent. The plan is to rehab one side at time to mitigate costs. One side is on a month-to-month and the other side is on a 1-year lease that expires in April. Is it a better option to stick with the current management to help displace the tenants or let my new management company take the reins? (I switched management at the beginning of the month for my other property and haven't established a strong working relationship with them yet.) Also, if anyone has any tips or anecdotes on displacing a tenant still under contract, I'd love to hear it. Thank you in advance for the help!

Happy Sunday and holiday season all! I've got a duplex under contract with tenants who are paying WAY below market rent. The plan is to rehab one side at time to mitigate costs. One side is on a month-to-month and the other side is on a 1-year lease that expires in April. Is it a better option to stick with the current management to help displace the tenants or let my new management company take the reins? (I switched management at the beginning of the month for my other property and haven't established a strong working relationship with them yet.) Also, if anyone has any tips or anecdotes on displacing a tenant still under contract, I'd love to hear it. Thank you in advance for the help!

What are the advantages of initiating a new tenant agreement with initial month-to-month terms versus the more common initial 1-year agreement?  This is in Los Angeles, I'm curious as to why a landlord would prefer to start off a lease that way?  

Thank you in advance for your input and happy holidays!!!  

Thanks for reaching out Ryan!  I've thought about self-managing, but unfortunately my job just doesn't give me enough time at this stage of my career.  Do you find that OOS self-managing takes up a lot of your non-working+non-sleeping time?

I'm not with either of those firms, so it sounds like I dodged some bad apples.  I'm currently with Moudy & Co., I don't believe that they're tangled up in that mess.  But it's a very good cautionary tale.  I understand that real estate investment isn't easy, especially OOS, and that there are going to be stumbles and obstacles.  Thank you for your advice!

@Caleb Heimsoth Great idea to get key copies made!  I'm hoping this is just a bad apple and not an experience I will need to repeat.  Thank you sir!

Good day BP community!

I purchased my first investment property, a duplex in Indianapolis, on the 1st of October.  I bought it post-renovation, so the place was move-in ready at close.  I had a property manager lined up at closing and they setup some website pages for me (Trello & Buildium).  But then a couple weeks went by and the property manager called me to ask if the place was ready.  I told him yes and swallowed my frustration that we had wasted a couple of weeks just letting the place sit empty.  At the end of October I got an email from the title company stating that they still had the keys!  Since then the property manager has put a lockbox on the house (I believe) and that's it.  No listings, no pictures.  Worse, they've stopped responding to my emails; I haven't heard from them since the 13th.  

I don't have a signed contract or anything other firm agreement in place, but I want to make sure that I am protecting myself when replacing property management companies.  Any advice or property management recommendations are greatly welcomed.  Thank you for taking the time, have a wonderful holiday season!!!