All Forum Posts by: Randy E.

@Michael DeVowe, you must not consider this "friend" to be a very good friend.  I would not want to scam my friends out of money.  Any profit I might make would not be worth risking the friendship.  And let's not mince words -- you would be risking the friendship.  That's clear because you're worried your "friend" might learn too much about how the deal is structured (meaning, he might learn how much of his sale price is going to you) and decide it is too much.

Secondly, if this "friend" was a good friend, you would want to tell him all the facts AND he would be okay with you getting a very small percentage as a finder's fee.  Likely not as much of a fee as you want, but something the "friend" considers fair.

My advice is choose the friend over the sneaky end-around to get his money.

Hopefully, you can keep the friendship and make some money.

Two of my SFRs are on residential streets where nearly every house has a driveway ... except my properties.  Initially, I too wondered if the lack of a driveway might cause delays in finding tenants.

While some applicants have mentioned they wished the houses had driveways, I can only think of 1 or 2 in 5+ years who have said that was a factor in not pursuing the rental.  In my market, I always have multiple applicants eager to rent so it's never been a concern for me.  Most of my tenants in those houses are like your tenant in Unit 1, they may mention the lack of a driveway, but they don't base their decision on that.

@Jay Krietzman,

Just call her.  See if she has any desire to sell.  If so, go take a look.

You're a newbie.  You have no experience, and you admit that unless this is a great deal you don't have the financial wherewithal to close quickly ... in fact, you might wholesale it.  Truth is, you almost certainly won't close this deal.  Not as a buyer, and not as a wholesaler.  You're probably not quite ready.  No crime with that, cause everyone starts there.

What you can do is start filling that Experience bag.  You've read and listened to enough.  It's now time to do something.  Call her, talk to her, ask what price she has in mind, and if she'll allow you, visit the house.  Take pictures, many pictures.  Once you're back home, estimate the repairs as best you can, then show them to someone who knows what they're doing and ask them for an estimate.  That way, you can see how far off your estimate was.  

All this will help you get experience/practice.  Experience will help you understand the business.  Understanding the business will help you get your first deal.  You can't do that on the sidelines.

Good luck.

Ten years since first offense and he's now repeating both previous offenses just last year????  This guy is the poster child for not learning lessons.

Easy answer -- Any landlord who doesn't deny him is in denial.

Thanks @Jonathan Taylor Smith

While it may be too late to increase the rent for May, you should not have to wait a year.  In NC, a 30-day notice suffices prior to the end of a lease or on a m-t-m lease.  Just continue to rent at current rate for May, deliver a letter explaining the increase, and have the tenant sign a new lease now that takes effect on June 1.  

However, please check PA law and make sure you don't have to wait longer.  Some states require a 60-day notice.

BTW, I now include in my leases language that stipulate that if the current lease expires without the tenant signing a new lease, that the rent increases $200/month and becomes a month-to-month lease.  If a tenant ever procrastinates on signing a new lease (with a smaller increase,) reminding them of that clause usually gets a very quick signature on my new lease.

Good luck.

 I'm no major domo commercial landlord, but I manage 10+ units in two commercial buildings.  In five years of doing this, I've never had an applicant not tell me what type of business they plan to run out of a unit.

There were two times that stand out where an applicant failed to list the type of business on the application and seemed kind of wary of telling me.  Turns out one was a computer gambling business and the other was an e-cig business.

I don't care why the applicant doesn't want to tell you, but if I don't know the business, I don't consider the application.  I owe it to my other tenants to know what's going in the same building.  Even moreso if those current tenants were residential tenants as in your case.

If it is a Section 8 tenant, you should call your Section 8 representative, explain the situation, and file a complaint.  They will inform you on what to do next.

I'm not sure about FL, but in NC, Section 8 holds the tenants to a very tight list of responsibilities.  This includes maintaining the home in a good condition and no extra people living there. among many other stipulations.  The list is several pages long and basically protects the landlord at every turn.

A few months ago, a thread here at BP caught my attention regarding quick easy and painless HELOC loans using rental properties as collateral available from PenFed Credit Union, often approved without even an appraisal. Knowing I would be in the market for such a product, I bookmarked the link to PenFed and waited until I was ready.

I'm ready now.  Unfortunately, PenFed's product was not the perfect match I had hoped it would be.  The main problem is PenFed allows applicants to own only three total properties (including primary) to qualify.  I own four in my name, and the process stopped pretty quick after that.

So I'm back to where I started.

Question: Does anyone know of any bank/credit union that offers such a product. I don't necessarily mind getting an appraisal, so that's not a dealbreaker. What I'm really looking for is a lender that will allow me to group my three rental houses together to generate a HELOC. 80-85% LTV would be great, but I'd accept less.

Ideas?

Don't.Do.It.