All Forum Posts by: Michaela G.

That sounds terrible.

in 2002 Vine City in Atlanta had major flooding, due to an unexpected rain storm and an old sewage system. The city ended up paying homeowners or buying their properties. So, it might be worth contacting the city, if there really are drainage problems

Call a bonded towing company and give them the make and model and vin#.

They will come and pick it up on their dime and tow it to their bonded yard, where they will go through all the legal steps of informing the owner and then auctioning it of. They have to have a bonded storage yard for them to be allowed to do it.

Or as Rick said (hi, Rick ;-) ) , let it roll off your property and put it on the curb and call it in as abandoned. If it's on public street the police will ticket and eventually tow. But they won't do anything on private property.

While you may be correct in that he's done everything by the book, I really think a good landlord would also have some empathy for a 30 year tenant.

This is the kind of stuff that makes us landlords look like the bad ones. The media always likes to write about cases like this.

I guess, I lived in Miami and did victorian bungalows in Atlanta. So, I'm used to those colors . Some parts of the country are traditionally white or off white

Had a sister call for an apartment for her little brother. They both came and the brother didn't say a word - his sister did all the talking for him. They filled out an application and I found his facebook profile, which showed him with his homies, with guns, throwing up gang signs.

Next......

I'm amazed how nice some of you are and are still taking their applications, when you know that you're not going to accept them. I'm just plain rude and tell them that I won't rent to them. if they've been evicted or don't have a job or whatever

How long have they paid that rent? Can you get them to increase to $ 850 for the next year? But they'd have to be willing to work with you and do their part:

Are you saying that even if the rent went up to $ 950 you'd only be breaking even? Why did you buy the property? I think a $ 200 increase would be unreasonable and I don't think a judge would be ok with it, if they've been there for 30 years.

I keep bringing up the judge, not to scare you, but to keep in mind, if you're forced to go through with the eviction. The judge will say that it's your problem if you bought the property at a loss. These people considered the apartment their home for 30 years and it does require special treatment, in my opinion.

Yes, you can require them to keep inside and outside clean. If they're hoarders, they'll have to make sure that it's not cluttered, as code enforcement would otherwise create a problem for you. It's a fire hazard, if there's too much sutff

Also keep in mind, if you have to go in front of a judge for evicting a 30 year tenant with 60 day notice - I seriously doubt that the judge would be on your side.

Is your goal to renovate and sharply increase the rent and that's why you gave the tenant notice? Or are you just trying to bring it up to housing standards?

If it's the later and you're not trying to increase the rent dramatically, why not try to find a temporary place for the tenant for a month and pay for it? Having a long term tenant would be so worth it to me, especially one that has been there for 30 years and helped pay off a mortgage and who wants to keep living there.

Keep in mind that having a new tenant every year might cost you a month vacancy in between each. So, having a steady tenant would be worth getting less than market rent, in my opinion

It also depends on whether your end buyer is farming an area or going wherever the deal is.

When I renovated Victorians, I was in a neighborhood in Atlanta, called Grant Park, where I also lived. I knew every street, spent Sunday afternoons going to open houses and knew what sold and what didn't. You could have called me and told me that you have a house on such and such street and I'd know exactly what the ARV could be without looking at it.

When I wholesaled vacant lots I also farmed an area. I knew every street and knew every builder that built there. And whenever I got a lot under contract I just sent it to this list of builders. I now own rental properties and they're all in this same neighborhood.

So, what I'm saying is that you can have a huge wholesale buyers list and they're all over the place and you'll have a big quantity of lookers. Or you can have a list, targeted to those buyers who are actively working a particular neighborhood and they may be fewer, but quicker to pick up a deal

Oops, meant 'baking soda"