All Forum Posts by: Ryan Evans

@Benjamin A Ersing I ended up moving out of state so things back in WA are on hold. This is still on my radar, but I'll have to pick it up when I move back and have a better handle on things. 

Is this for ongoing maintenance or a one off rehab? I have some friends there who are firefighters and do side jobs on their 1-2 weeks off at a time. 

You should dig through the forums if you want more names to look into. This question gets asked weekly so there are a ton of threads on it. 

You can post a notice on the 4th and file the eviction three days later, and then who knows when the case will get heard. But it will be 4-5 weeks after the court case before they're out anyway. Cash for keys is your best bet. Sure you can see it as rewarding the tenant, but your alternative is several months of lost rent and you'll pay the court fees, plus likely a few hundred for a cleanout and dumpster. $1000 now could get your unit ready months sooner and you could recoup that loss if you can move quickly. This is just the expense you took on with the non-paying tenant. 

@Ryan Daigle thanks! That's very helpful. The due diligence period starting after getting docs and the section 8 verification could have easily caused hangups down the road and I wouldn't have thought of those. I'll definitely incorporate your tips! 

I'm a realtor and own 10 units of small multifamily myself. I've done plenty of deals for investors and am familiar with the ins and outs of navigating offers on a smaller scale (1-4 units). Though, I'm about to write an offer for some clients to buy an off-market 15 unit apartment where much more is at stake. It's fully occupied, in good condition, has financials, and seems to be a fairly straightforward deal. 

My question is, what additional contingencies and aspects of due diligence should I be sure to include when making an offer to not miss anything that could potentially screw us down the road? I've heard horror stories of folks buying apartment buildings and getting caught up on things like zoning issues, utilities, etc. 

So far, I'm thinking inspection contingency, attorney contract review and acceptance, review of leases, financing contingency, estoppel agreements to prove the ownership of appliances and the status of deposits (many deposits on file are far lower than the monthly rents and sellers in Ohio regularly lie about who owns appliances and what the actual deposits on file are), unless there is a better way to approach this? And then all the usual purchase agreement stuff. 

My buyers have some concern about the current quarantine affecting our ability to see the units as well as the banks potentially having issues if things keep getting worse. It seems the financing contingency should have us covered, though. But I'm wondering if there is a good way to present this on a contract. 

Lastly, how can I ensure the financials are accurate? Review of bank statements?  Anyone can make up a spreadsheet and I always assume sellers are lying until proven otherwise because that happens 9/10 times in my area on investment properties. 

Thanks for any insight! 

Where are you getting these numbers? They're all over the place and many are way off.

If you get your 26k back maybe you should put it towards buying one of his houses in Indiana, get yourself scammed, and put the final nail in the coffin for your case! haha

Short term rentals (Airbnb and such) are being hit pretty hard it seems. There is enough shortage of housing in Tacoma already where you shouldn’t have to factor in all the latest developments with the crisis. Maybe renting out rooms could work, but this whole situation hopefully won’t be long term so I wouldn’t expect to make drastic changes. A day school like you mentioned probably has all kinds of insurance and business liabilities that could complicate things  so be careful. Investing in stocks could be a much easier way to place bets on the next few months. 

Always remember that anything is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.