All Forum Posts by: Bob Collett

Did you see the house before you bought it?  It’s a half-duplex. What is the situation with the water?

Noam

I work with two or three local attorneys here.  @Timothy Murphy III is an attorney who is active on Bigger Pockets and he can do a fine job for you. I have had the pleasure of working with him on a couple of cases.  He also has a real estate license, and knows the east side.

Bob Collett

Amy

@Federico Gutierrez is correct. However, Great Lakes REIA is worthwhile because you will meet some good people, especially if you are looking for a windows guy (Chris W), or an insurance agent for investment property (Randy R), a local evictions attorney (Gary F), etc. The meeting itself is usually interesting, often with useful topics, but the first 45 minutes to an hour is usually a sales pitch for why you must join REIA, and how great the benefits are and how foolish you would be if you did not join. There may be more than 100 people at the meeting, but they have trouble with retention, so about 25% to 35% in attendance is usually 1st time visitors or investor wannabees, another 25% to 35% are vendors wanting to sell something to the investors, and the rest are practiced investors that come to learn and share.

Meanwhile, lets get together when you are in town... thanks for the referral last week.

Bob Collett

As @Matt Motil said it is a relatively simple process. Keep in mind that once you go from personal ownership to ownership in an LLC, you can no longer represent yourself in court. Only an attorney can represent an LLC in an eviction for instance. Also, sometimes (Cuyahoga County), the county will impute value and make you pay a transfer tax based upon imputed value. They did this to me once, although was trying to literally give the property away for only $500, but the county insisted on imputing the value to be the amount of the past due taxes... a huge number.

So while you may be able to do this yourself, if it is anything other than a vanilla transaction, you may still want to get an attorney involved... its a small price to pay for piece of mind.  If the property is in Cuyahoga County, (Ohio) use one of the eviction attorneys, so you can start a relationship with him for the future.

Bob Collett

Hi Caleb

Probably about $800 for the painting, about $200 for the cleaning, perhaps another $200 for trash removal if there is a lot of it.  I typically use different people for trash out and deep clean. The trash out guys will tell you they have cleaning people, but its usually some guys girlfriend or wife, and not really trained.  Make sure your deep clean crew is bringing their own supplies as part of the job, otherwise you will end up paying for bottles of stuff with only 5% of it being used on your job. You can hire painters for $155 to $175 per day.  These days contractors in Cleveland are busy, so more contractors estimate based upon retail pricing which is higher.  A qualified painter should be able to deal with the dry wall cracks as part of the job.  Get the food out of there fast, or you will also have pest infestation, which will cause you problems with your next door neighbor. A good PM should be able get these things done for you.

Best of luck

Bob

Eric Haug Eric There is no yard and fast rule in the Cleveland market regarding appliances. Some tenants have their own... but most prefer to have landlord provide appliances. CMHA (section 8) will pay less on the owner contract if appliances are not provided.... interesting that two of our largest PMs... one says always... the other says never... each works for their business model. I have seen some leases that state, “we provide appliances AsIs, but if they break, repair is responsibility of tenant” I am ok with this, except not for gas stove.

@Filip Filmar

Filip, I don’t work your area, but I can probably help you find someone. Look for a licensed agent. All PM in Ohio must be licensed to be legal. (many operate illegally) Also look for NARPM membership. These credentials do not guarantee a great PM, but they do represent a good starting point.

PM me if you need help finding someone. Also ask your local real estate agent for a referral.

Bob

@Rivy S.

Good point about water & sewer... however I never pay water or sewer on a SFR... it's always in the lease that tenant pays.

On a duplex, I write into the lease that tenant pays a Pre-determined amount for water and sewer. I aim for approximately 35 percent. Thus is the approximate water/sewer is $100, then each tenant pays $35, and the owner pays the balance.

Sometimes I adjust the percentages based upon total occupants in the unit. I am not sure how this would hold up in court or with CMHA, but it aims at fair and reasonable... which generally keeps me out of trouble.

Bottom line... owner paying $30 instead of $100 is a good deal, and does so without expensive meter install.

Of course the desire for better cash flow is not grounds to win a complaint before the board. Get your realtor to run comps, and show the true value of your property. The folks on the board do this every day, so they will not be fooled... but they are fair, and if the fair market value is truly less than the stated tax value, then you will win.

Yes, you can file a complaint. Be prepared to “prove” the new value. It is not enough to say that because you paid $80k, then it only has a value of $80k.

You can file remotely, but if the value requested is more than 20 percent reduction, they will probably ask for a hearing.

They will typically ask you if you made any improvements. 

PM me if you want more info.

Bob