All Forum Posts by: Jeff G.

Fair enough. Welcome to the site, Mike! In my own (subjective) experience there is a lot of interest in seller financing among the "I'm new" to "I have moderate experience" crowd. Also, anyone who would objectively fit in the "very experienced" column who has never done seller financing (which is probably a lot of people) would benefit as well.

This post is extremely germane for me personally, because I just finished listening to How to Make Big Money in Small Apartments by Lance Edwards a few hours ago. It's all about seller financing for multifamily homes. I got it at the recommendation of a recent BP podcast guest who's name escapes me right now. 

I've since moved on to Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depends Upon It by Chris Voss and the recommendation of @Darwin Crawford on another thread. (Damn, this book is good and I'm only three chapters in. Thanks, Darwin!)

No matter what negotiation tactics you use, it's always good to know what the seller's concerns are and how best to address them. Sometimes those concerns are rational, sometimes not. It depends.

@Mike Watson, I actually I'd love to know the entire list and what your usual counter-arguments are. I think others in this site would benefit too.

 Besides eviction records, how else might someone figure out who the worst PMs are in town AND which properties they manage? You're right, that would be an excellent source of deal-flow and an effective way to get rid of the crappiest PM's in the area. Some are truly awful.

Craigslist. You will get calls. Also, for the love of heaven do not advertise the street address of the property, describe it and name a cross-street. Why? Because, you're basically putting a great big neon sign over your rental and saying, "unoccupied, please steal my copper! Please, please, pretty please." 

When you post online, show lots of pictures to stand out. If you're in a very competitive market you may want to get the house staged (filled with furniture) for marketing purposes.

If you must list it in such a way as to disclose the address (for example you list it with an agent as a rental) please spend the extra $15-20 bucks to install a simplisafe alarm system: this is an inexpensive alarm system that works over 3G cellular networks. This will make break-ins less likely or less severe. It's a lot cheaper to replace an exterior door than tons of missing copper.

@Daniel Taylor, I use https://www.rentometer.com/ to analyze rentals. Give it a try and see if that helps with your numbers.

@Nerissa Marbury and @Pawel N.

Here is my two cents: start looking for flat rate eviction attorneys in your area -- even if the tenant has already moved out. Call them up and ask them their rates and ask if they do the collections side of things to: obtaining judgments, bank levies, etc. It may take some digging, but you'll find one who will take your case for a flat rate. 

There really isn't much of a point in referring the balance out to a full blown collection agency -- they'll take 20-30% OR buy the debt from you for pennies on the dollar.

Conversely, if you have a lawyer do it 100% in house your legal fees are recoverable. If the ex tenants manages to evade your collection attempts you're only out a fixed fee.

When I was a tenant in a multi-family unit I was on good terms with the landlord. One thing that drove us both crazy was smokers. I get it, if it's your house  and you want to smoke -- smoke away. 

The problem is in a multifamily unit the other renters can neither truly consent to second hand smoke exposure or avoid it entirely -- they're sort of captive in the situation. This leads to unhappy non-smoker tenants who move out early because of that one guy who smokes like a chimney. Oh, and landlords hate it because it takes extra effort to get the tobacco tar out of the walls too. Ugh.

I echo @Matt Lefebvre, this is a very market dependent issue.

Now, if you know you're going to run into trouble due to tenant abuses there is a sometimes a third option. You could pay water but stipulate (in the lease) that if water usage exceeds 120% of normal (you'd have to explain what this means in concrete numbers and have a sound statistical basis for what defines "normal") the tenants will be billed the difference divided evenly.

It takes a bit of legwork up front and some math, but it's a good way to curb tenant abuse of "free" utilities. Some Section 8 landlords swear by this tactic. The only gotcha is, you've got to be willing to evict someone for not paying their portion of the water bill.

@Patti Robertson, have you ever required any of your Section 8 tenants to have renters insurance? We all get that not all Section 8 tenants are destructive or negligent. I think it would give landlords a bit more peace of mind to have $10-15k of insurance to cover them in the event the tenant is destructive. It will also cover the tenant's stuff -- which will prevent drama -- if something unfortunate happens to the property beyond everyone's control. Thoughts?

So, some advice on actually finding a cleaning lady. An old friend of mine swears by this:

This is going to sound like a very strange approach, but hear my out... Contact a nearby Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall ("Church" by another name) and ask to speak to one of the Elders ("Pastor" by another name). Tell them the brass tacks: you're a landlord looking for a cleaning person who is scrupulously honest and hard working. Ask them to put you in touch with anyone in their congregation who fits that bill who is looking for work. They will.

You'll probably end up with a Pioneer ("Missionary" by another name) who just needs to make enough money to meet his/her basic needs. Because their faith is especially strict you're much more likely than not to end up with someone who has a squeaky clean record, works very hard, and wouldn't dream of being dishonest or stealing from you.

Let me know if that helps, @Luke Carl.