All Forum Posts by: Shannon Sadik

Could anyone recommend an affordable exterior painter to do some touch up work? Our normal guy is unavailable. Thanks. 

@Marie Edwards, look at other rentals and what they are renting for in this same area on Craigslist or whatever people use most there. And then watch them for a few weeks. See if they rent quickly or not at all (too quick and they were priced too low, too long and their prices too high). Also use rentometer to see what the average rental price is for this area. That should really determine what you're willing to put into the home. However, as you said, get to know your area's rental market. I look at rentometer and find that for most of my properties, the average rent listed is much lower than I can get because this area is very up and coming, but sometimes it can take me longer to rent my units when I'm trying to get top dollar. Sometimes I start high and if I'm not getting a ton of interest right away, I just lower the price. My first few (and each new house or neighborhood still) were all real learning experiences so don't expect to get it perfect the first time! :) 

Also, some improvements you may make are going to be more for you in the long run than for the tenant. For example, redoing the floors from sticker tile to sheets of vinyl or porcelain might be best just to protect the subfloors/ water damage, etc long term. I also typically rip up the carpet and refinish existing hardwoods underneath. Carpet gets so nasty so quickly and hardwoods are just so much more durable and everyone seems to prefer them. Remember that tenants are really hard on properties so keep this in mind as you update. Good luck! 

Please PM me if you know of anything. Thanks!

Congrats @Erik Baker! Best of luck to you. BP is a great resource that can surely help you accomplish your goals. 

@Todd Ryan I think it will be even more difficult to convert in the suburbs. This will be an uphill battle for you to find something like that. Your best bet is to focus your energy on finding an off market or wholesale deal for a MF in your price range. especially since you are handy and willing to do the work yourself. You are probably more willing to take on a project others wouldn't as an owner occ. Try HomePath homes for sale. They give first dibs to owner occs. 

My lender just sent this to me. I thought this might be helpful for some. 

Wow, so something NY actually does right?? LOL Our process is exactly like I described. I guess i can see why cash for keys would be better than all of that. 

I like the way you think @Edward Mccracken! Very creative. 

@Aaron Mikottis, am I really the only one? I don't claim to know it all, but in my experience, I don't see the need for cash for keys if you start the process of eviction immediately upon not receiving your rent by the 3rd or 5th. If you push your lawyer to file right away, you can get a court date before the end of the month. The judge can then require the tenant to either pay the rent or move out immediately and if they don't do either, then you can get a marshall to come to their house within 3 days and physically make them move. If you take care of everything immediately, the tenant will be out by the end of the month. You hopefully have their security deposit but if not, then you can garnish their wages now that you have a court order (which is free as opposed to collections). I am currently in that phase and am hoping that I will eventually get everything back, including the legal fees as that was in the lease. It is a hassle, but your lawyer and the marshall do most of the work. You may have to push them along to get things to move quickly and the wage garnishment process itself takes forever, but that doesn't cost me any time or money. 

Our tenant in this situation was just so spiteful and mean. She had the money and told us so, but refused to pay because she 'didn't like our lease" which prohibited smoking indoors. She sent us nasty text messages, and while I tried to be nice and fair, i could tell that was not going anywhere with her. I told her the ramifications of being evicted, but she didn't seem to believe me, so i felt it was necessary to follow due process 1) to teach her that she does have to follow the rules and 2) because she seemed like she would do it again, and hopefully the next landlord will see her eviction and she will feel some of that pain and maybe learn her lesson. (Although I have yet to have one person call me about any of my previous tenants, including this person's next landlord.) She presents herself as intelligent and responsible and has a good job, so it's important that this go on her record as she really was a Jekyll/Hyde type person. 

Ultimately, you have to ask yourself: is it better in the long run to REWARD this person for not paying her rent (not only did she save on her rent, but now she's getting EXTRA cash and has learned she can work the system) or PUNISH her for doing something illegal? Yes, it could be a bit harder work, but I think it's worth it. And if I don't get paid in full, I will be upset, but it's a tax write off in the end. However if I evict immediately, I am actually saving more money then letting time pass, missing another month's rent and then trying to pay them to get out. 

I guess an exception to this might be someone who you cannot get the money from, such as someone who pays with SSI since you cannot garnish this. I am in that situation now as well and am wondering if come the 1st, i will have to evict a tenant who, even though given two months to find another place, tried not to pay her last month's rent (so we served her a notice to pay or quit on the 4th) and immediately got our rent, but now claims she has no money to pay the next landlord so cannot move. She has to be out on the 30th and I'm afraid she won't be. (Both of these tenants were inherited, not ones we picked, so we do not have security deposits for either). 

The eviction process is flawed and greatly favors the tenants, but to me, that's all the more reason to fight against it. 

Interesting ideas @Edward Mccracken. What other checks do you have in place? I am not aware of any other resources here besides going down to the courthouse. 

As to your last comment about the landlords, i agree. I have evicted people through the whole process, just on principle alone, so that no one else can get screwed like I did. If all landlords just give up because they think they won't get their money, or worse, give cash for keys, then these folks will NEVER learn and never have any consequences and more landlords will be punished in the future because it won't actually hit their record.

I'm still curious if anyone has found a good background service that they really trust? Obviously it's needed! :)