All Forum Posts by: Steve K.

Follow the eviction procedure exactly as your state requires. If they don’t have a lease and aren’t paying, it should be a very cut and dry case that you will win easily. Do not accept partial rent or use any illegal measures such as removing the door. Doing anything that could be considered a “self-help” eviction such as intimidating or threatening them, locking them out, removing their belongings, turning off the utilities, etc. can put the eviction process in jeopardy and put you in legal trouble. Follow the eviction process exactly as your state requires or hire a lawyer to do it for you. 

Tough one. I would reply with something along these lines: 

"Dear Misty, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom's health. It's a good thing she went to the doctor and caught the issue early on. It sounds like she has a good doctor and is in the best hands. Thank you for being straight forward and informing us of the situation regarding not being able to sustain the monthly rent for this unit. There are charity organizations that you may be able to apply to in order to get assistance on rent, and we would be happy to accept rent from such an organization (insert charity names and contact info if you know of any, in my area there are several grant programs that help single women specifically). Or, if you need a few weeks to find a less expensive place, we will let you out of the lease agreement with 30 days notice. Unfortunately we have our own expenses such as bank payments, taxes, insurance and maintenance that require us to rent the apartment at the set price. Wishing the best for you and your mother during this difficult time. Our prayers are with you that the surgery goes well and she recovers quickly."  

It's especially sad when evictions are due to health issues. 100% of the evictions I've had to execute had some type of health issue component, either real or made up. I'd wager that a high percentage of evictions are due to health issues. Everyone gets sick or injured eventually, and it's expensive to deal with. As a landlord you can't act as a charity, you have your own financial obligations to your lender, your investors, your reserve funds, your other tenants, your family, your goals for growing the business, your own health issues, etc.

 Also as an aside, she should have told you from the beginning that her mom was subsidizing her rent, and you should have screened her to make sure her individual income was 2-3 times rent.   

@Joe Splitrock I agree with you that there is little value and unnecessary risk in using a personal name for a new business (unless like Michael Jordan you already have a valuable brand built around your name). When I had to evict a crazy tenant with gang ties last year, I was very happy to have the plaintiff in that case be an LLC and the plaintiff's address as our PO Box. It made the whole thing less personal. If you're in RE long enough you'll probably deal with desperate people and lawyers at some point. It doesn't make sense to pay for an LLC, a PO Box, etc. in order to separate oneself from the business and then use a personal name IMO. It's true an LLC doesn't provide full protection and crazy people can still find you, but why make it easier for them? In the case of the eviction I mentioned, I don't think that person was savvy enough to track down my personal residence through all my layers of protection and it made it easier for me to sleep at night. I dealt with them professionally and they were evicted for not making payments to a business. If my name was on the paperwork as the plaintiff evicting them I would probably have been on the top of their mind during that desperate time, and a few minutes on google would lead them right to my doorstep. I keep properties in LLC's and the business is a generic name for that reason. If I needed an impressive business card I would use World Domination Inc. and list myself as "Head Honcho". I find it's better to fly under the radar though.

In my reply to your previous post I mentioned that including your name in your LLC "may" undo any good an LLC might provide in separating you from your business. "May" being the operative word there. I'm glad you re-asked the question because these replies have been informative. I did not mean to imply that choosing a different name will provide 100% anonymity or remove the risk of being sued, but I do think that naming it after yourself creates a grey area that MAY make you seem like an easier target for a lawsuit. In my experience grey areas are places where lawyers can make a lot of money so I avoid them wherever possible. All the different opinions on the matter on here further implies a grey area exists. To me the whole point of creating an LLC is to separate oneself from the business and limit personal liability, so naming it eponymously goes against that idea. Do a cost benefit analysis of using your name in the LLC vs. having a totally different name, and decide for yourself. Another thing to consider is whether or not having an eponymous name reduces the possibilities of the company in terms of growth. I wouldn't start a businesses that isn't easily scalable and I always think about being able to step away personally or, even better, sell the business down the road. It may give the business more flexibility if it has a generic title. Just my opinion for what it's worth. For business card and marketing purposes I actually think it looks more impressive to have a business name and then list yourself as "Owner", "Principal", "Founder", "President", "CEO", "COO", etc. Having your name as the business name can come across like a one-man or family small time operation. Of course A.G. Edwards, Audi, Abercrombie & Fitch and many other giant corporations named after their founders are exceptions to this, so who knows maybe Handel Housing will be the next Trump Organization. Then again, Trump has been involved in over 3,500 lawsuits so maybe that comparison actually supports my case! Whatever you name it, the most important thing is that you like the name yourself.

If you had taken Jim K.’s Soaring McRib Eagle course you would already know this high level stuff. Don’t forget to find your freedom number first and just buy as many White Houses as you need to reach your freedom number.

That said, I agree with the others that the LLC name isn’t really something to spend too much time on. If you like the name go for it. A lot of folks start a new LLC for each property and just use the property address for the name, such as 142 Main LLC

If you name your LLC after yourself it kind of defeats the purpose of having an LLC (separating your personal finances from those of the business). It may even make it easier for someone trying to sue you to “pierce the veil” and go after your personal finances if the company is named after you. Also IMO any business should be scalable and setup so you can eventually step away and let it run itself without your involvement, so an eponymous name is a poor choice in that regard because the name implies the company will never grow bigger than you.

What’s wrong with 100 year old houses? As a carpenter I can tell you that newer houses aren’t always better. A house that has survived 100 years of neglect has probably got good bones, while modern construction is often all about slapping stuff together as quickly and cheaply as possible in order to maximize profit for the developer. As one extreme example of newer homes not being better, in Connecticut there are 15,000 houses less than 10 years old that were recently condemned because the builders used bad concrete on the foundations. Many brand new houses I see being built in Colorado are built so poorly I’d much rather own a 100 year old brick house instead. I’ve seen brand new patios slope back towards the house, joist hangers attached with deck screws instead of nails, brand new roofs that leak, etc. there are a ton of hack builders out there creating problems for whoever buys the houses they build that’s why it’s recommended to hire an independent 3rd party home inspector even for new construction. I love old houses with big moldings, cool original details and some character. Cookie cutter subdivisions and contemporary designs aren’t my thing. There were some periods of really bad construction over the years and some questionable materials used, just learn to avoid that and do due diligence on any home new or old, at least on the old ones it’s easy to see if the foundation is going to sink or not, if it was gonna sink it would have started by now. I feel like some of the new materials being used today like MDF which is basically glued together sawdust will be looked back on in the future like what were they thinking to use that stuff. Even the new automation and internet of things houses that are controlled by apps, I don’t want to use my phone to adjust my thermostat. I’d rather put another log in the wood stove. I’d much rather have a 100 year old brick building with good bones (and updated electrical, appliances and plumbing) that was built by true craftsmen than a new stick framed house covered in glued together sawdust built with poor workmanship and controlled by smart phones but maybe that’s just me.

Mavi Unlimited in Lakewood is a great local PM, they manage a few properties for me and have done a stellar job. The owner Mike Hoover is a great guy and his whole team is excellent. I’ve also heard good things about Grace Property Management (and I think the owner is on here), but I haven’t used them personally. A competent local PM should be able to get things back on track for you. There are some good management companies in Denver, but there are a few crooks here too. Vet any potential manager thoroughly and carefully. I interviewed about a dozen companies before I found Mavi which was the best fit for me. Denver is currently a hot sellers market so you might also consider selling.  Condolences for your loss. 

Have you seen the short video about fracking in Erie called Fracktured Erie? Link to it (and lots of other good info) in this article, sorry couldn’t find a link to the actual video: https://www.coloradoindependent.com/165168/fractured-boulder-fracking-moratorium-regulations whether or not you believe fracking wells emit carcinogenics or contaminate ground water, these wells are definitely not good to have nearby imo. Would you want your neighbor building a 30 foot tall fence, making loud noises all the time and pumping a bunch of chemicals into the ground causing weird smells? Having a well within a few hundred feet of your home (I believe the setback from residential areas is 350 feet) would certainly limit the number of people willing to buy that property (it’s making you think twice, the next guy will have the same reservations) and could negatively effect resale value. Most Erie real estate is appreciating because it’s one of the last affordable towns in the area, but  not houses unlucky enough to be in close proximity to fracking wells. Colliers Hill and Vista Ridge have been written about a lot in particular and definitely don’t benefit from articles like this one: https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/neighbors-are-fed-up-with-fracking-smells-noises-in-erie-subdivision. If I were you I’d make sure any home you buy is as far away as possible from capped, current or future wells. Boulder county has had far less fracking than Weld county historically (Erie spans both counties), so you might look as far into Boulder County as possible but the future is uncertain because the moratorium was recently lifted in Boulder County. 2 people were killed last year in nearby Firestone when a new house exploded because it was built close to an improperly capped flow line, and these flow lines are not mapped, so it’s definitely an issue to be concerned with. http://www.timescall.com/carbon-valley-news/ci_30959619/firestone-explosion-started-by-gas-from-cut-flow