All Forum Posts by: Mike Adams

My question is how are your local courts viewing the CDC directive? There are many jurisdictions who recognize the CDC has no authority to keep an eviction from occurring.

The whole thing almost certainly ends up at the Supreme Court, but by the time it gets there it will be over and a moot point. Only good for future reference. It is an important constitutional question, however, and I would just about guarantee it will be heard. This is a huge 5th amendment issue in both the takings clause (government appropriation of private property without compensation) and due process (the rights of the citizenry to a fair legal process).

True. However, this would in fact prevent this from happening again. Not trying to make this political, and in no way did I support the former Presidential admin (I'm a reg democrat), but the powers that be wanted him out. Thus, a worldwide pandemic was a big enough coup to remove him. We now have an admin that is going to throw money at the symptom, but not cure the issue. We will have to hang tough for a year and things will improve for land holders (we're not really landlords anymore since the gov't took financial possession of our rents en masse). I figure it will be very tough for any tenant with below average credit to rent in the future without a gov't guarantee. The people en masse just think of today, not tomorrow.

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We purchased a 8 unit building in Stamford, CT last year a few months prior to the lock-down. Regretfully, we have two out of the eight tenants paying sparingly and they've also wrecked their units. Atty says we cannot evict due to the moratorium and the tenants refuse to apply for aid. These are the only people in the world that claim to contentiously catch COVID, but were "fired" due to the pandemic and "do not work". They also cannot produce one COVID results test.

Anyway, we received an offer to purchase the building, in cash and verified funds $140k over original purchase price. We would have a 5% pre-pay penalty fee from the bank, but the bank (M & T Bank) also holdings about 2 million in notes on our other properties. If we sell the building, does anyone think they'd be pissed off enough to cease doing business with us and call the other four notes they have on our properties?

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Originally posted by @Bjorn Ahlblad:

@Nathan Gesner If that really is the case how come I can't find anything to buy? What's most likely being sold is properties with non paying tenants! Buyer beware!!

That and perhaps they owe more than it's worth or the property is no longer in a desirable area.

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I read that too. A shame what the gov't is doing to the mom and pop.

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Originally posted by @Carlos Ptriawan:

I agree with @Mike Adams above if the property is located 100 miles away.

But if I have 10 properties 1000 miles away I've no choice other than a good PM.

One thing is true though, a 100 miles property is much much easier to manage compared to a 1000 miles property.

At that case, then a PM is a necessary evil.

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Originally posted by @Drew Sygit:

Things to consider:

1) Can you legally manage it yourself? Many cities require an owner or their agent to be within 25 to 50 miles of a rental property.

Depends. It's always wise to invest within a 100 mile radius to one can check-up on your property.

2) Are you 100% familiar with federal, state and local municipality laws and ordinances regarding your rental property?

Really, it's not that hard to do this.

3) When do you plan to take a Fair Housing course, so you can avoid Fair Housing lawsuits that cost on average $50k in attorney & settlement fees?

See above. Common sense is always a good tool to use. Plus, having an attorney on standby is always a good plan.

4) How much do you plan on paying an attorney to create a lease for you, that complies with all federal, state and local municipality laws and ordinances?

Shouldn't cost more than a few hundred.. And we had State specific leases drawn up for each State we operate out of.

5) How are you going to show the property when it is vacant?

Hire a real estate agent.

6) How are you going to get repairs done and avoid being ripped off - as you won't be able to inspect the work?

Most property managers hire out and do not check the work. Tradesmen can be found on Task Rabbit, Thumbtack, Yelp and Home Advisor.

7) What systems are you going to set up to receive and process rental applications?

One can use a realtor or Cozy, Tenant Cloud, Appfolio, etc.

8) How motivated are you to take weekend and midnight maintenance calls from tenants?

Setup a support ticketing system and support phone number. Maybe 20 bucks or so a month

9) What attorney do you plan to hire to handle your nonpayment of rent and eviction cases?

Avvo and Yelp can find decent attorneys on this. Google reviews are also a good guide.

10) Who's going to regularly inspect your property to make sure the tenants aren't trashing it?

Cameras are a good option. If one is in a hundred mile area, they can visit the property quarterly.

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Originally posted by @Sachin Amin:

@Mike Adams - depends on location , but yes for my properties in OH (big no-no to Section 8) - my properties in Mississippi and Baltimore - Big Yes to Section 8)

OH is bad for section 8?

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Originally posted by @Johann Jells:

Originally posted by @Mike Adams:

Originally posted by @Sachin Amin:

every maintenance call costs investor $100 period(labor + parts + what not) . (unless you own PM company)

because in section 8 we have to abide by certain standards and these maintenance calls are often made by tenants as they know its not costing them anything -sometime tenants take advantage of this

Then you choose not to renew their lease when it's up. We've never had this experience, and rarely hear from the section 8 / HAP tenants since they do not want to rock the boat so to speak.

That's not an option here in NJ, lease renewal is mandatory per our "anti-eviction" statute. Saying 'yes' is the last choice a landlord gets.

They can't force you to renew. I know several landlords in NJ, they've opted not to renew tenants before. I know, because of COVID, the threat of evictions are not possible. However, the gov't cannot force you to accept a tenant at renewal. Another option may be month to month leases. We do them in NY and CT.

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Originally posted by @Nina Zou:

Originally posted by @Mike Adams:

Each property should be in their own LLC. Since you no longer have a mortgage, then this should be very easy for you to transfer the asset to an LLC. It's best to have two owners per LLC for additional protection. Additionally, you can setup another LLC, such as a parent and then lien each building thus showing little to no equity. Lastly, you should have a separate policy for each LLC. All of our LLC's have a 1m liability policy with a 2m aggregate. That's the safest one can get.

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Thank you for your advice. I will definitely dig more into it. When you say separate policy for each LLC. Do you mean separate landlord policy or separate umbrella policy or both?

Each property has it's own LLC and each has their own GL property. Therefore, if you have 5 properties, you would have five separate LLC's and five separate insurance properties. The reason for this is that if something major happens on one of the properties, the other 4 properties and your own personal finances are not generally touched. It's limited to only that LLC and property. You would also go with an A rated admitted carrier for your properties as well; in terms of insurance.

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Originally posted by @Sachin Amin:

every maintenance call costs investor $100 period(labor + parts + what not) . (unless you own PM company)

because in section 8 we have to abide by certain standards and these maintenance calls are often made by tenants as they know its not costing them anything -sometime tenants take advantage of this

Then you choose not to renew their lease when it's up. We've never had this experience, and rarely hear from the section 8 / HAP tenants since they do not want to rock the boat so to speak.

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All Forum Posts by: Mike Adams

Mike Adams has started 35 posts and replied 205 times.

Post: Small Landlords are choosing to sell

Post: Selling building only a year into a mort. Piss off bank?

Post: Small Landlords are choosing to sell

Post: Small Landlords are choosing to sell

Post: Property Management alternative

Post: Property Management alternative

Post: Why are you refusing section 8 vouchers?

Post: Why are you refusing section 8 vouchers?

Post: Paid off my rentals. Now what?

Post: Why are you refusing section 8 vouchers?