All Forum Posts by: Michael Haynes

@John Thedford, Hello, I was doing a Google Search for information concerning Florida Earnest Money Deposit rules and I saw there was a BP post. My problem is that my listing agent for my Commercial half acre down by the AFBase on the main Dale Mabry Hwy. decided to buy the property while he had it listed with his big sign on the property. He tried twice to buy it. The first time the City said he could not build the amount of apartments that he wanted and the second time he was using it for a 1031 Exchange that fell through. He never deposited any Earnest Money. He just gave me a phone call when the deals didn't work and continued to keep the listing. What if any are the consequences for a listing agent to treat me like this? The contract requires mediation for any disputes. Thanks

@Nicholas Moffett, Hello, you seem to be upset as a TENANT, living a house that someone else owns, be it a slum landlord or a good home provider. I have different ways of giving people a lease on my property. Did you pay a First, Last and Security Deposit to live in this house with a One Year Lease? Or is this a Trailer in a Park where there are no questions asked, No Deposit, No Background Check and we only need to know if you have a JOB and the First Months Rent in Cash, for a Month by Month Lease? Do you live in Progress Village or Westchase? If you live in Progress Village with a Month to Month Rental Agreement, then, its your choice to stay or find another place to live. The wave of abuse by the Tenants this last two years has become intolerable for me. That is why I am selling. It started with all the heavy drug use after the explosion of Crack in Tampa. Then, the fights because of the drugs and the damages occurring to my rentals as they get Evicted. Then, there were the neighbors that can't stand the endless traffic and start calling the Police. The threats to my life. The threats of lawsuits for frivolous reasons like you describe. One tenant last year actually has a website that describes how you can stiff the landlord and not have to pay rent.  And calling Code Enforcement for damages that the TENANT does to the property on their way out during the Eviction. Call the Police on the landlord for Domestic Disputes you have with him when he tries to contact you to pay the late rents. Threaten to sue him for Harrassment when you are three months late on the rents. Remember to have your cell phone handy when he shows up, alone, and have your friend there to take pictures as you shove and swear at him, who does not have a witness, in order to provoke your landlord into reacting violently against you in any way that touches your person so you can call the Police and have him arrested for Battery. If that does not work to get you more free time in your smokey apartment, full of cockroaches that you brought with all your used furniture and dogs that were not allowed on the Lease, then, try to file for Bankruptcy before the Eviction Order is Executed and the Judge will give you another 90 days of free loader living in that smokey apartment. You make your own bed and its you that has to sleep in it.

@Alan Davidson, Hello, you can try and do a study online of all the different ways to make money with Real Estate. Spend some time and look on Zillow.com using your own home address in Riverview, to see on their map, the hundred or so homes for sale. Here is the link

http://www.zillow.com/riverview-fl/

Then, try and find one that is waaay below Market Value, for some reason or other. It might be a fixer upper that nobody wants, but, has extra land that is not in the swamp. It might be a friend of a friend who is going through a DIVORCE and she wants to get rid of the bad memories at any cost. You might know a lawyer, who knows a banker, who has good deals for those who have cash and connections. Call on those 1 x 2 white plastic signs that the Wholesalers are leaving illegally on every street corner in the traffic areas of our hot as Hades Hillsborough County. Those guys know how to buy distressed properties low and sell a little higher. Then, when you find a real cheap property, that you would like to live in and you have the means to buy it, with your own cash or OPM, Other People's Money...at least in part if you have a down payment and can get a loan from the banker, BUY IT. Fix it up to look as good as you can, like the FixorFlop show on TV. File for Homestead Exemption, the first of the year as your home Residence. Live there for two years and study some more about Real Estate Investing. Keep your fingers crossed that the rush to buy land, any land on dry ground, South of Progress Village and Bloomindale continues because companies like Amazon pay outrageous prices for raw land just South of you in Ruskin to build enormous warehouse busineses

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/a...

and that the Port of Manatee will be built out, like planned, to be a big container port for the Panamax ships that will be sailing into Tampa Bay to offload everything from China. If the wind continues to blow that way for the two years, you can sell your RESIDENCE at a PROFIT,  TAX-FREE, without having to deal with all the TENANTS and their endless problems and excuses and needs in the middle of the night. During that two years, find one other property to rent and put up with the TENANTS, until you sell your RESIDENCE and move into your rental to do this again...for the rest or your life. If you study the TAX RULES, you may find a few other ways to make legal money, tax-free. If you want to make more like this you can study how to do a 1031 Exchange, find one of the Wholesalers on BP who will get you really good deals for cash and do fix-ups and flip them until this Market Wave dies. I suggest doing them one at a time for when the Crash comes you only have one Short Sale to handle. If you really have the need to be a worn out Landlord, wait until the Crash happens and buy a trailer park.

@Josh Hackett, Hello, since you know how to study, you need to do your Due Diligence about the subject and study everything you can about Real Estate. I didn't attend College, but, I know that almost everything is a "study" by someone out there. You can do a Search on Google and find out the basics about almost any subject under the Sun. The idea that you want to "invest" and you don't have a JOB, with a $10,000 down payment says that you really can't think about buying anything except a Trailer. There are two Parks over on Rome, South of Sligh Ave. with trailers and pre-fab Homes that you can buy with a down and finance by the owner. I did all my investing in multi-family duplexes, in S. Tampa 30 years ago with $10,000 down, financed by the owner at 9% for 30 years. It can be done, but, I also was working in the Oil Field, where I was making up to $145 a day on the ships, with benefits. I could save $10,000 on my 90 to 120 day tour at sea, With that I would buy another rental or build another simple house in Rio de Janeiro. You don't want to bite off more than you can chew and you have a time limit of needing that property for school. Be like Warren Buffett. He is investing big time in Trailer Parks. There is no other way to make more Monthly Cash Flow, than a good Trailer Park. I don't hear any feedback from BP guys who have trailers to rent and what their results are in the Tampa Bay Area. 

@Joshua Sclafani, The thing that I am pointing out is the government and new rules that Obama and his kind want to enforce on all the home repairs. If you do any repairs the State wants you to do them with a licensed guy and pay for a permit. I had a leak last year in the wall behind the bath tub and the stupid tenant calls Code Enforcement. The Code guy shows up with a Code lady like this is an auto accident and they got to have six cops on the scene. They both want to talk rough to me and why the heck did the tenant not call me about the leak? The Code guy says that the floor feels a little soft and he wants me to fix a spot next to the wall. The Code lady wants the work done by a licensed plumber. Gave me a month to fix things, but, never sent me the complaint with the order to fix and their names to call them back for inspection. I called Code after I did the repairs and started Eviction on the deadbeat tenant. She moved in with her 90 year old father and he took a trip the first month to Texas and died. So, this daughter has no money and a ton of junk furniture and called Code on me for what? So, Code says they will send another guy because the first Code guy is on vacation. The new Code guy does not even know what to look at or what repairs were to be made. I just wanted the Release form. The tenant had moved after the Three Day Notice and left a ton of junk and broke things on the way out. Your talking about rental property repairs. Things can get really complicated with the new Code guys trying to force us to use only licensed repairmen for things that I have been fixing on my own for thirty years. The crap flows downhill and this is coming from Obama and the 33,000 new rules and regulations that they want to enforce on the small businesses. 

@Linda Merus, My lender pointed out that just because they are a Lawyer or a CPA does not mean that they know Real Estate Law. CPA would also cost more and an Accountant who is keeping up with the Real Estate Tax Laws should be sufficient. I have not found a Lawyer or an Accountant in Tampa, for thirty years, who talked to me like a human being or a paying client. They all make out like they are soooo important and you are just some ingnoramous. No friends in this town and you are the one who is paying their bill. 

@Eric Delcol, Hello, we moved to our rental in the 33604 zip code area, just across from the Lowry Park Zoo on the Hillsborough River. Our Flood Insurance has tripled to over $3000. Congress is in a real mess with Flood because it won't pay for the next big hurricane in Florida. They made a deal to just raise it 10% per year until they can figure it out, but, they wanted to make some properties like we have in Beach Park to pay tens of thousands and continue to charge more. Totally unfair as the banks would automatically begin to own all the prime, beach front properties as the home owners bail out and go into Foreclosure. Stupid politicians have to make Flood a charge on all Home Owners insurance and let Florida back into the National Pool of Insurance instead of keeping us separate to fend for ourselves. We don't have a solvent Home Owners company of the 14 companies out there that are private and Citizens cannot sustain another Andrew disaster.

@Malcolm Barrett, Do Top zip codes make for profitable investments? All the big Politico's with tons of money live in Beach Park. That's South of Kennedy on West Shore with all the canals and boats behind their multi-million dollar homes. But, its the first place to flood when it rains. Same with New Tampa. It was built on a swamp. Lots of humidity problems coming up from the ground. I talked to an owner on Davis Island and she has an extensive drain system throughout her yard to pump the water out of the back when it rains. Probably illegal, but, she don't want it coming in the back door. All the brokers want to sell downtown Tampa, but, no one lives in all those high rises. Its dead at night. Remember, Tampa is a 100 year old town, trying to be a City, without the infrastructure. Its really just a big mess. I need the airport. It sounds like you need the highways on the West side to do business. You want a place to live in or a beautiful place like Westchase with a discounted house to rent/invest? I was talking with a young Broker yesterday and I was surprised that he did not understand the basic principle in investing in Real Estate. I don't see anybody talking about this on BP either. The theory is that "investing" for the long term in Real Estate can give you tax advantages and you can Leverage with borrowed money. You are supposed to look for a property to buy that has some reason to be discounted from the Retail price and buy as much of it as you can with Other People's Money at the lowest interest rate. Living in Tampa with the need to do business in Pinellas and Pasco says you need a residence on the West side of the endless and increasing traffic that we have in the City of Tampa. That says to me Westchase like from Citrus Park West. The whole place looks like a well groomed, Golf Course. You want to buy something at a big discount? Do you have time to wait for a year to buy? Wait till after the Election and see how things turn out and if the Fed tries to raise the interest rate, then, expect a collapse in the Market. Big slow down at least. The highest priced real estate is going to take the hit, last. Then, act like Warren Buffett and Buy when everybody is Selling and there is blood in the street like in 2008. Time your purchase and if you can get the 3.5%, 15 Year Mortgage or there abouts, with a good down payment to eliminate the Mortgage Insurance cost and not in a Flood Zone...you could be a winner in the long term as long as Congress does not eliminate the Home Mortgage Deduction etc. Wait a few years and you can sell with a tax-free profit by selling your Residence and move onto the next one. Or just buy two and live in one and rent the other, but, make sure you only Buy the properties that you would want to live in. 

@Rick C. What a hard thing to do. Recommend a contractor in Florida. Something that will show outside like stucco and vinyl siding really has to be done by a licensed company and not the illegal Mexican or Cubans which abound here. The reason is Code Enforcement and what they will do to you if they drive by and see someone working without a permit. Try the guys that advertise in TheFlyer.com or the Yellow Pages or Angie'sList.com 

Maybe, someone else can suggest the guy they use, but, an absentee owner wanting a big JOB done and the "contractor" will want at least 50% up front with all kinds of whining and crying about the money needed before the JOB is done and then he does nothing and your out of the money. You really need eyes on the JOB and someone that eyes has used in the past.

@Armando Payano, This is one of the problems that I see with BP participants and the Flipper or Flop type shows on TV. They make like a guy with one to ten rental houses can show positive Cash Flow from them by paying full price for service calls and repairs. You can't. Rental houses typically do not pay for themselves with rent. I have had rentals in S. Tampa for 30 years and since the 2008 Crash, I have not been able to afford a handyman. That's why I am selling. The guys that need work are standing on the street outside Home Depot and most of those you don't want in your house. You can try the trades guys who advertise in the Flyer.com. I used to have one guy who did it all for me for a flat hourly rate that I could afford, but, not anymore. The State of Florida wants any person who does work on houses, to have a Permit and a LIcense for each JOB he does. Code Enforcement lets you get away with things done on the inside of the house because they can't see you working. But, if your tenant becomes hostile and files a complaint, you will be under their supervision and have to pay licensed, expensive, repairmen. The guys that I know who do general repairs, almost never have time for a small repair JOB and you have to schedule time at a later date to get it done, when I need it done today. You can take numbers off the trucks and vans on the street and start with an AC guy and ask if he knows a roofer etc. Try Angies List. If you are starting out with rental houses, get ready for more impossible rules and regulations and higher costs for repairs.