All Forum Posts by: Marlene Michael

Interested as well. Please forward information to [email protected]. Thanks!

On our tax assessors or commissioner's (I forget which) website, the tax lien sales are listed. This is where I can find everyone in my county who is behind on their property taxes, for how much, and when the tax sale auction will be held. Hope that helps.

@Steve Babiak

 So funny....so true...so sad. As soon as the story started, I knew it was all hogwash.

@Michael R. I sure will. Thanks for the advice.

 Thanks Billy! I will be sure to read ALL of the fine print.

@Ursula B.

 That is pure foolishness!! I have another one who I think may be nuts. She came in with a whole story to explain why I won't be able to verify ANYTHING. This is proving to be harder than I thought, but this is what I want to do, so I will make it work!

@Sally O.

 Please do. After talking to the former landlord, it was as though she was talking about two totally different people than the ones I met today. She could tell me what jobs they would say they held (which they don't), and pretty much negated every thing they told me. To be sure that she wasn't biased against them, she recommended that I ask for the pay stubs to be sent to me by email/text to prove that he was working. I haven't heard from them since...

@Eddy Dumire

 I choked at the last minute :(. None of the homes that I was following met the reserve, as of the last 15 min of the auction, so I will see if they reappear on the site. Thanks for following up. If I ever find the nerve, you'll be the first to hear about it!

Tenant screenings can be a nightmare, and today was my first time screening with knowledge gained from BP podcasts and members. My very first tenant was chosen because I needed a tenant, and she was the only one who applied. Big mistake. My second tenant  was a friend of mine who left when she purchased her own home. She turned out to be a great tenant, so our friendship remained intact. Now that she has purchased her own home, I have to find a new tenant.

Today, without the knowledge I've gained on BP, I would have likely made a mistake that could have cost me not only a fortune, but months of heartache. 

The couple was in their late 40's, had adult children, and would be moving in without any other occupants. According to them, the husband had been hurt, and their previous landlord was not compassionate enough to accept their rent on the 6th when his disability checks were coming in, so the landlord kept filing for eviction.

I made it clear that they would not be able to move forward without me speaking to their former landlord(s). She finally emailed me (after leaving) with the information. What happened next was mind blowing.

I called the landlord. She could not believe that the tenants actually gave me her number since she is still in litigation with them for damage to her home, thousands in lost rent, cost of having to remove all of their belongings, etc. She walked me through searching the magistrate court records online where I was able to see that they had been evicted NUMBEROUS times and have other pending civil suits against them. They were using the address she evicted them from 9 months ago as their current address.

But they seemed so nice.... 

Newbies, make the calls. Take the time to really investigate potential tenants. I'm sure glad I did!

@Michael R.

 The Ultimate Guide was extremely helpful! Thanks again.