All Forum Posts by: Patricia Steiner

Do nothing...the tenant isn't renting that area and has no right to dictate how you use it as long as it poses no security/safety risk to them.  What you want to discourage is the tenant 'helping' you with feedback/action that is outside the scope of the lease.  

Fun business, huh?

Buy a lottery ticket!  You've got gold with that kid.  Most his age just want to be a TikTok star.  

I recommend teaching him basic construction and property inspection (4-point items); 'lipstick on a pig' can kill an investment and reputation faster than anything in this business.

Best...

What starts out crazy, ends crazier.  

He's not worth the thought process/second guessing your putting yourself through.  Move on to finding a credible/chaos-free tenant.

I love that you're considering a new and better way to compete in the market.  Kudos.  A lot has been said on dual agency already so you now know the risks of pursuing that. But here's another risk that maybe you haven't considered from your clients' perspective:  the value you bring to the transaction; your expertise, your worth.  If you discount your fee dramatically, please know that your client will discount you as well.  You are no longer a professional, valued resource because you've told your client through your pricing that you're not worth paying much for what you do.  

Value yourself and your expertise to position yourself as a trusted partner.  Value is one thing; 'cheap' is a whole lot of not worth it.  

OMG...the parents lent money for the down payment and did not expect/want to be on the deed.  Wow!  Those are some generous parents.  And, during the ownership, the 'owner' turned everything over to a PM, was losing money, and didn't appear to become actively involved/learn the business.  Now there's a capital expense that came from the sale.  There's a lot of lessons here - one for the parents:  don't lend to this ungrateful child of yours again.  For the owner:  time to cowboy up and pay your own way - and that means settling this transaction.  Real estate investing is a complex business - with the key word being business.  When you fail to manage and learn your business, it will manage you and teach you some rough lessons - as it has in this case.

Get it done and over...chalk it up to a lesson learned (once; if you learn it twice, then it's just a 'hard to overcome stupid' thing).

@Kate Yanov

No, Kate, it is not.  "Another colleague" obviously hasn't engaged a policy in Florida and home inspectors consider it to be 'suspect' as it is a coating, not a new or reroof.  As both an investor and Florida Real Estate Broker, I have spent way too much time on this topic and have found it to be dead end.  As such, I'm done with it too; no need to engage me on this topic but happy to know that you can insure in many states.

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@Victor S.

A loss is a loss and the one this investor is facing is $115k; there's no upside to that.  It's just done and ugly.  I would prefer, personally, to invest a substantially lessor amount to fix the property to give the option of either retaining it as a rental and/or selling it without the loss or a much lessor one.  There is no one right answer we can give this investor. We all have different pain thresholds and experience in creating value. 

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@Summer Dechanukul

I hate that this happened to you and I hope that you will report the realtor to their Broker at a minimum.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of everyone - realtors, contractors, lenders, insurance brokers - who are not qualified to be advising others on real estate.  You haven't made a 'fatal mistake,' just a lesson learned...there will be more.  You can still turn this around and move forward to something far better.  I  recommend making the repairs; prepare a Scope of Work. If you don't have one (the form), the are available for free download online.  Get real specific on what needs to happen - step by step - and get bids for each job. Have each contractor sign off on the Scope of Work for their specialty and manage to it.  This will save you time and money while expediating the repairs.

Once you decide to settle into the current reality, dig in and move forward, all this will be far behind you.  You got this...

Suggestion for you:  find the opportunity first.  Get pre-approved.  Start looking - and see if you find anything worth buying within your price point AND in the right market.  Thinking about doing something and discovering if the opportunity exists are two different things.  About inflated prices and high interest rates...I've bought my best performing properties during the worst economic cycles.  If it's an opportunity - regardless of the size of the property - it's an opportunity.

Start kicking the tires...the market will tell you if you can do what you're thinking about doing.

Best...

Geez...there's a lot more to this than what you have so generously shared.  The first step would be to get a good grasp on what it will cost to provide him with the care he needs now - and for the remainder of his life.  (Been here, done this...). And, the reason why most people sell the property outright is that there is an immediate need for money, an immediate need for your attention to be with your parent, and no time and money to make the rehab needed to tenant ready the property, much less to learn how to successfully landlord.  Can you weather the financial storm if a tenant is delinquent on rent or requires eviction at some point?  Do you have the resources to put into the house now to prepare it for being rented?  Do you have the time to manage the property and deal with tenant issues?  And, what do you do with your father financially the property starts to generate monthly cash flow?

A real estate attorney may not be the best fit for this scenario.  A financial planner, CPA, and others may be better resources for you in deciding which is the best play here based on the immediate health needs and life expectancy.

Hope this helps.  And, how blessed your Father is to have such a great son to make these important decisions for him.  I'm proud of you.

Best...