All Forum Posts by: Robert Lindsley

Hi @Deanna McCormick.  Thanks again for your help with this.  He normally pays rent on the first and the lease is month-to-month.  Either of us can terminate the lease with 30 days notice for no reason.  I gave him verbal notice on 7/1 and followed-up with an official 30 day or quit notice (delivered by a Marshall) on 7/15.  

He's been trying to find a place to live (I believe he's been looking in good faith) but hasn't found anything.  On 8/15 I offered him a cash bonus to be out by the end of the month.  If he's not out by 9/1 I'm going to need to contact a lawyer and proceed with eviction.

So his official written notice was delivered 7/15 and he paid his full month rent on 8/1, which I have not yet deposited.

Connecticut tenant laws seem very favorable to the landlord (I could have him out in 3 days if I went to court), but I'm trying to keep it civil.

Thanks!

Thanks @Deanna McCormick.  Clearly I need to get back to the property and take some new photos.  The price is good compared to other studios in the area.  I am also preferring month-to-month, so I mentioned that in the ad as well.  Thanks a ton for your suggestions!

Hi @Shaun Patterson.  It was a 30 day notice.  The 15th of this month was the end of the 30 day period.  I've offered him a cash bonus to be out by the end of the month.  If he's around into next month I'll need to start proceedings.

Hi there,

I have a tenant that I am in the process of evicting due to having two pitbulls.  I served him on 7/15 with the hopes of him being out by 8/15 -- he's still not out but I'm giving him until the end of the month before taking him to court.

He paid full rent on 8/1 in cash (which is how he normally pays).  Is there any reason I shouldn't deposit this money?  Somebody suggested that depositing the rent was essentially an agreement that I'm allowing him to stay and I wanted to get the groups thoughts.

Thanks!
Robert.

@David Gonzalez Thanks for taking a look.  I will definitely post it in other locations and repost on Craigslist every couple of days.  Better pictures definitely would help as well.

@Nick B. Thanks for your thoughts.  I will get rid of the mattress and change out that picture.  It was remade about a year ago so new (brighter) pictures are definitely in order.

Thanks for your help!

Thanks @Filipe Pereira.  Norwich is weird because buildings with great financials will sit on the market for a long-time.  It seems people are more interested in investing in the surrounding towns (Mystic, Pawcatuck, etc).  Norwich definitely needs a gentrification initiative (better elementary schools, more for kids and families to do, etc).  Hopefully the town realizes that and can act.

Thanks for the offer @Ryan A.!  I wonder about that old mill in Taftsville.  It seems like if that's a nice building commanding high rents, that could help the overall Taftsville area and not negatively impact the rents of the building I'm looking at (3BR ~$850).  Ultimately it's probably not an area I will invest in because it may be a little too up and coming for me.  My current building is in Norwichtown and I'm looking to expand my portfolio there.

@Jason Chen The building I'm looking at is a 5-unit for $145k.  The financials are terrific and the structure is sound.  There may need to be a lot of exterior work to make it nice though.

Hi there,

I'm in the middle of my first tenant turnover in my first building so forgive me for such a newbie question.  I posted my first apartment on Craigslist last week but haven't got any calls.  Can you take a look at the ad and let me know your thoughts?

https://newlondon.craigslist.org/apa/6268034914.ht...

I'm wondering if there's something wrong with the ad, or if it's just off-cycle for renters right now because it's so late in the month.

Thanks!
Robert.

@Andrew Johnson Good advice.  The area isn't bad, per se (doesn't appear to be a lot of crime).  Not sure I'd let my wife go there by herself at 10pm simply because there's not a lot of activity around - it's pretty industrial and quiet other than the major street (which has a lot of buildings just like this one).

@Jeff Greenberg There's no graffiti or people hanging out on corners.  There's a fireworks store across the street, a DQ and a gas station a couple of doors down.  There's a driving range and nice coffee shop a couple blocks away.  I wouldn't say it's a bad area, but there's so little going on there I don't imagine it's going to be an area for investment anytime soon.  My strategy wouldn't be to sell the building, but rather buy-and-hold long-term.  But it would be nice to be able to sell the building if I needed to :)

@Joe Hughis after reading that article (thanks for posting) it looks like this building is in a C neighborhood.  It's probably a C- just because there's nothing going on in the neighborhood.  It's definitely not a war zone though.

@Filipe Pereira I see you're from CT, which is where the investment would be.  I'm not sure if you're familiar with Norwich, but the property is in an area called Taftsville.  It's a low-rent area with not a lot going on, although I wouldn't say it's crime-ridden (but I could be wrong).  If you know anything about this area I'd love to hear your thoughts.

@Jeff Kehl Most of the buildings in the area are pretty old -- this one was built in 1910.  I imagine long-term if the area gets revitalized then it would be worth it to fix up and add lots of value.

Thanks everybody for your thoughts!  There's also the possibility of adding two additional apartments in the attic, although an additional ingress/egress would need to be added.  Maybe there is some potential here...

Hi there,

A little background - I started investing 2 years ago and have a 7-unit multifamily property. My investing strategy is to buy B-/C+ buildings with great ROI to keep for buy and hold rental income. I am in acquisition mode, now looking for a second building.

Over the weekend I looked at a property that has terrific ROI but I'm not sure it's something I want to invest in. It's a 5-unit building on a major street with low rent (around $800 for a 3BR). The building is not pretty and definitely needs work (it's over 100 years old). However, the tenants all seem pretty happy and have long-term leases; one tenant drives a late-model Jaguar and showed me a picture of an AMG he's picking up later this month while another tenant has been there 10 years.

If I bought the building, I doubt I would ever be able to resell it.

So I guess my question is, what is a "D" property? The financials are great but I worry that my standards are dropping because of the ROI.

What’s your experience with lower-rent properties?

Thanks!
Robert.

@Mauricio A. Another strategy you could look at is investing outside of the City.  There may be better opportunities as close as Yonkers.  I’m in a high-cost area (Boston) and had to invest outside my home area because the numbers didn’t work otherwise.