All Forum Posts by: Chan K.

@Val Csontos 

Thank you for the encouragement. I have an onsite maintenance guy who did not have plumbing license tries to address it (risk). I call a few companies, and either they could not come today or wait unit tomorrow. I don't have the time to waste.

I called my onsite maintenance guy, and gave him direction to try to disassemble the broken one and put a new one back. He already ordered the new tank, pipe,.....etc.

I replaced one in the past in a different building ..... etc

@Account Closed 

I was looking for a solid explanation in regard to rule and regulation, and not a brush off tenant bias solution.  If you put a drug dealer and a gangster in your unit, do you have to suck up and let him do anything, because he pays for your mortgage?

Hi BPer,

I would consider myself a decent landlord, where I would address every issue or concern that my tenants have.

Recently, my hot water boiler broke, so this issue negatively affect 2-3 units in the building. Two of the tenants seem to have no concern, but there is one tenant seems to be very ignorant about the situation.

Here is the story:

The first time the hot water issue was encountered, the lady called me at 7:45 PM telling me that she has no hot water. I told her I can come down at 8:00 AM in the morning. She seems very annoy by my answer. I told her that I could not just come instantly when you call, there is standard protocol .... etc.

The next day, I came by at 8 AM (on Saturday) to reset the boiler. Everything came up normally and everybody has hot water. Two days later, the boiler's light went off again. I got a call again. I told the lady this is something serious, and I have to call professional. She asks me when is it going to get fix. I told her I don't know, because I have to call the maintenance company, and make the appointment. Again, she seems very annoy. I got a schedule the same day a few hours later. The plumber came, and found no critical issue. He reset the light and charged me $95 for 25 minutes of work. This morning the same tank went busted, and gone (water starts coming out ..).

So, I have to replace a new tank, in which will require to order a new part, tank, schedule with the plumber, ..... I told everyone in the building including the lady that I am really sorry, but the boiler is broken and I proactively call around to get someone to come down and replace it. Everybody seems to understand, but this same lady is so ignorant and she demands that I get her hot water immediately.

I told her mam, even at my house when my boiler broke, I have to wait until the maintenance guy can come down and replace it. I told her nicely that I am really apologize for the inconvenience this might cause, but I have tried everything to my best to get the boiler up and running again.

Question:

When we have problem like hot water boiler (broken) or other similar issues, how soon does landlord have to get it up and running again?

From my view, I also have to call someone else, and I also have to wait until plumber's queue is clear to come down and fix my issue. Even though, I have the money, but it is not like I can force the plumber to come down instantly.

I look through "landlord responsibilities mass", I could not find the mention of such turn around timeline.

Can any experience property management or landlord give me some insight into this?

Thanks,

@Dmitriy Fomichenko I read the blog. It mentions that you have to be self-employed and work less than 1000 hour to qualify. It also mentions that you don't need a custodian. I am assuming in term of financing, it also has to be non-recourse loan.

If you have money in tradition IRA, how do you start the solo 401k process?

Who do you contact, a local bank?

How do you submit qualification application? 

It sounds like if you qualify, you can roll money into solo 401k. Then use a checkbook to buy investment property, and no custodian involvement during the transaction. 

On the other hand, if you are not self-employed and did not qualify for solo 401k, the only alternative is self-directed IRA. If leverage is used for financing, then 35% tax hit could not be avoided.

Hi BPer,

For those with self directed IRA experience, can you explain what is the UDFI (Unrelated Debt Financed Income Tax) impact on real estate investment using self directed IRA?

Thanks,

-Chan-

Hi BPer,

I am looking for a commercial insurance company in MA.

Do you have any recommendation?

@Mike, can a partnership be formed under solo 401k?

The partner that owns solo 401k will contribute the 25% down payment

The other partner will seek non-recourse loan. The property will then be bought into the LLC, and both partners are the trustee.

@Doreen Chaisson @Dmitriy Fomichenko 

I am sorry if this is shifted a bit from the original topic. You seem to have a lot of experience in the self-directed IRA space.

I have question regarding partnership

When partnering with someone, I will use 25% from the self-directed IRA as down payment and loan another 75% from non-recourse lender. Establishing an LLC, and buy the property into the LLC. The LLC will be owned by both partners 50/50 and both of us also will be listed as manager of the LLC.

Is this kind of structure possible or allow? If it is, is there any custodian out there that you can recommend?

@Sandra Reese I have question regarding IRA and partnership. Here is the scenario,

Person A and Person B are partner

Person A has a self-directed IRA which will contribute the 25% down payment

Person B has good credit and will loan the other 75% from non-recourse lender

Can Person A and Person B buy the investment property into an LLC and get the company under their name as 50/50 business owner? The LLC for asset and law-suit protection.

Hi Senior Landlord of BP,

I would like to PDCA my screening process to be more cost effective. 

In the past, for any qualified tenant candidate, I would send him/her through credit report, criminal, and background check (pay $30-$50) after filtering through all the applications. 

I also undergo an eviction check through court (it is free).

Keep in mind, in MA, we don't allow to collect application fee. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

For a few cases, after spending $30-$50, I found that the tenant failed either credit report, criminal, or background. This money that I spent would go to waste as he/she is no longer qualified to move into the unit. 

For those senior landlords, what are your screening processes?

Do you have any reference site or method to pull out the information for free?

1. Credit report - Site - ??

2. Criminal - Site - ??

3. Background - Site - ??

4. Eviction - Site - masscourts.org

Thanks,

-Chan-