All Forum Posts by: Susan H.

I have invested small time real estate for several years now.

 I now want to start making more money off of it.

I have found a really nice duplex for around $150,000.

I don't know if it's a good idea, a good deal, if I can get financed or anything about buying something like this.

I've spent hours listening to bigger pockets podcasts and reading forums, seeking advice and a mentor but I just haven't found the key to unlock this mystery.

I work a hard job physically and mentally demanding that I hate and I'm looking for a way out.

Can anyone give me a simple rundown on how to get started in multifamily properties or put me in contact with someone in or around Arkansas that is honest and can help? A link a book, anything will help!

Thanks and God Bless,

M. Reece

@Susan H. I think it is location, it is just over the other side to what is seen as a less desirable part of town. That and electric heat, which in Ontario is very expensive. The electricity budget amount for this unit is now $178 a month, and that is for a two bedroom. On the plus side there is no gas to pay and water is not metered, it is included in the condo fee which we pay and therefore included in rent. But the words electric heat are toxic to tenants at present in Ontario, even if you point out that the costs are not that different from a unit in which water is metered and you pay electricity, water and maybe gas.

In any event I continue to market the unit. I have another showing on Saturday and then I am headed for a brief vacation and break from viewing the parade of would be tenants.

I had a tenant this week who called to say she was two hours early and could not wait to see the unit. I said I could not really come over, I was at work. This seemed to surprise her. Then she said she could not come at all if she could not see it soon. This should have been my cue to cut her loose, but the unit has been difficult to lease and I said I would drive over. I get there and she is quite normal, asks the right questions and is fairly pleasant. She and her boyfriend were moving from Saskatoon and were looking to rent. 

Then we were chatting by the elevators on the way out. She asked innocently how long was the lease. I said a year, that is standard. She said they might not be able to wait a year because they were just renting until their condo sold in Saskatoon and they were able to buy here. I said, "Well your condo could sell tomorrow, that might mean you could be here for as little as twelve weeks or less." She said, "Oh yes, but the other landlords said all we had to do was find someone to replace us."

In Ontario a common means of tenants getting out of leases is for them to advertise and find some deadbeat willing to take on lease payments. If the landlord is held to arbitrarily refuse an assignee then the tenant is out of the lease and can leave with seven days notice. I once had a tenant find someone whose credit report revealed that they had umpteen delinquent accounts as well as court judgments against them from some of the big corporate landlord REITs. They filed with the Landlord and Tenant Board claiming we had been totally unreasonable in rejecting them! This lead to the interesting question of whether you can share a credit report with an LTB adjudicator when they are supposed to be secret and not shown to others, but I guess that is an issue for another day.

I told my current tenant that if she were to leave we would want to choose who lived there because it is our property. Then I said this just isn't going to work. We can't lease to someone like we are a hotel. We were on our way to view the covered parking, gym, hot tub and sauna. it is a nice high rise building and has lots of amenities. But I hit the button for the ground floor and took her to the door. On the way out I asked her for my application form back. Application forms cost forty cents from the printer our landlord association uses. I was not going to let forty cents walk out the door with this high needs, no return tenant.

I guess the moral of the story is never race out to see a tenant who is two hours early and wanting an immediate response. Right away they have demonstrated that they are needy and not respectful of your time. But hope springs eternal for a landlord trying to lease up a difficult property. It is tempting to go the extra mile. Next time I will not do so. I will remind myself of the tenant who had no intent of fulfilling a one year lease and only revealed this to me in passing toward the end of the showing. The fact is the average showing leads nowhere, so the average outcome of racing across town will be nothing. On the other hand all it takes is one. There are contradictory pressures when showing units.

I checked on the unit everyday. Stopped by one night and noticed the sheriff's sign was ripped off the door. Tried to open it and the key wouldn't fit. She paid the locksmith with a check that of course bounced. Two weeks later he shows up at the unit looking for his money. New tenants pass my name on to him and we have a good laugh.

She was a referral from my best tenants. Had an income of over 4x rent which I verified. Also received letters of recommendation from the doctor she worked for. Because she was a referral and I verified income, I accepted a personal check for first months rent (big mistake, never doing again). Check bounced, she gave excuse after excuse as to why it bounced. She then submitted another check with a numerical value of $1,200 and a written value of twelve thousand. Dated it for 2015 too. Filed eviction papers 7 days after she moved in. Turns out she's been evicted 9 times in the last 18 months and has active warrants for fraud. Sargent says she's a professional con artist and has been involved in fraud for quite some time. She has the ability to pay rent, but would rather spend it on material items than her bills. Unit was loaded with designer purses, $1k shoes, jewelry, expensive furnishings, etc. Ended up pressing charges for breaking/entering, obtaining property under false pretense, fraud, and criminal trespass. Sargent said she will eat every charge. One professional tenant down, many more to go.

Just evicted a tenant who moved in and never paid a dollar in rent. Sheriff evicts her on a Monday morning while she's watching Netflix in her pajamas. She tells the sheriff and I that she's kept the unit "clean" and doesn't understand why she has to leave. Sheriff tosses her to the curb and padlocks property. She strongly believed that she was entitled to the unit since she kept it "clean and in good condition" so she hired a locksmith to drill through the locks and moved back in. I bet you can guess what happened next.

Susan, be aware that Arkansas law considers fees as interest.  The usury limit is 17%. 

eRentPayment...they are quite good

Just got an email from my Rent Processing company.

The rent for August was stopped.

Return Reason: Payment Stopped
Details: The Payer or account holder requested the payment be stopped by their bank.