All Forum Posts by: Patricia Steiner

@Russell Brazil

Unfortunately, it's not a hiring situation and 15% isn't an acceptable referral fee in my market.  I get those texts/emails too - from 'referral companies' who find out after-the-fact that they are required to have a broker. They're looking to acquire 'the license' - not the person.  The poster got the scenario right.  

This is professional suicide...you can't 'rent' or assign your Broker's License - that's an illegal act in itself.  

BOLT.  

As a landlord, you have a legal responsibility for safeguarding keys and providing a safe environment for tenants.  Since anyone entering your office/premises would have access to the keys, that puts you in a position of risk/liability for failure to protect.  Your claim of being a victim will not negate any claim he could make against you; you had a duty to safeguard/protect and it wasn't met.  I would recommend that he file a police report against your sister and that you ban your sister - in writing - from entering the property at any time.  She obviously cannot be trusted to adult.  And, for dang sake, take the keys off the wall and secure them.  Make the repairs to the property immediately. If he takes you to court for damage to his personal property, he more than likely would prevail if he claimed negligence on your part. If it were me, I would do my part first (advise tenant to file police report and provide you with a copy of it; secure the keys NOW, ban sister from property, repair property damage) - and then persuade your sister that she really doesn't look very good in orange so she should cough up some damages and make this right.  Go secure the keys.

Why not sell it yourself as a 'cash out transaction for the convenience of the seller and tenant." You can use a service to put in on the MLS, Zillow, or even hire a realtor (you can negotiate the commission fee). When you sell to an institutional seller like OpenDoor or the Ugly Guys, you sell at a larger discount than if you simply sold it on your own. I recommend trying to sell it yourself first and let the buyers - of all types - come to you.

Best...

There is a Tax Estimator feature on the property appraisers' websites. Key in the address and the price paid and it will give you a range for estimated taxes. The taxes listed on the MLS and other third party sites is the tax the current owner is paying; it will not be what you will pay which is based on the sale price and ownership (like primary or not).

Hope the deal works with the new assessment; and better to know now then after acquiring it...good for you for vetting this.

Best.

You know who always asks for 'creative financing?"  People who don't have money, credit, or the knowledge to do the deal.  And, you just said the seller wants too much for the property - and he's stubborn.  What is the 'too much' based on in your estimation?  Is he stubborn or does he simply know the value of his property?

I get these calls every day and every day I find that what is meant by 'creative' is will the seller carry the financing or do a rent to own or adopt the person.  The answer is always no.

Be the real deal and find a deal that is priced right and within your means to acquire it.  That's what serious and successful investors do...

@James Wise

A great post, James...it's an issue in Florida too. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people representing themselves as 'real estate investors and real estate professionals' who are far from either. They complicate the market. They add risk that isn't inherent to the transaction. I won't do business with them and more and more listing agents actually note 'no wholesalers' on the MLS listing itself.

What starts out crazy, only ends crazier.  

Pull out that PM Agreement and find out how the requirements to terminate. If it will be painful to do so under the Agreement, I would let the PM know that you need daily updates on what is being done to rent your property and set up a time for that call.  You're going to have to make yourself a priority in that PM's life and/or suggest that you mutually agree to terminate.  

What you've experienced would be unacceptable to me.  My recommendation:  BOLT!

Get a 4-point and a wind mit on the property before you call anyone...because they will be required.  My clients and I who have property on barrier islands - even when built to hurricane standards or higher - are finding that there are just a couple of carriers who are still writing coverage.  We haven't had any problem acquiring insurance - but the cost this year across the board went up 40%.  I recommend contacting multiple insurance brokers; they don't all represent the same carriers so it pays to shop long and hard with your clean 4-point and wind mit in hand.  And, know that each carrier has an allocated risk that they are willing to carry and once they reach that portfolio threshold, they stop writing.  

Fun, huh?

You really ought to google this and see the pages of responses to this issue.  What has changed is the liability that landlords face whenever they give a reference - even if factual in nature. You'll see online the whole menu of 'lawsuits of the day' filed by tenants who end up not getting the next rental because of something said/not said by the former/current landlord.  And, what hasn't changed is that for the apartment complexes and most other landlords, these are time consuming requests to fulfill with nothing in it for them for doing it - other than risk.  Most now report rent history to the credit bureau and there are several online sites for verifying someone's address by date.  It's never been an issue for me in vetting my tenants...fortunately/unfortunately, it's all out there on the internet.  

Vetting tenants is something that I spend a lot of time on in addition to using a national screening resource.  Online searches of not only the tenant's name - but of their employer and any address they give is very telling.  I have helped BPers in the past with some tenant issues and it was amazing how creative the bad tenants can be in covering up their past:  their last apartment complex was actually a car wash but they arranged for someone to answer the phone by the 'complex' name, their employer's address was an empty field, another's previous landlord was a bail bondsman...and that said a lot about their employment as well.  You're not going to find any of this out without skipping their contacts and independently vetting the information.

Entertaining business...