All Forum Posts by: Tim Booz

@Scott Scharl Wise agent is great, and affordable. HighRise is free up to 250 contacts. Realty Juggler has a free 90 day trial, but the interface feels a little 2002ish. 

I'm trying out Liondesk right now, but haven't fully made the switch.

Hey Heather!

Here's a link to the wholesaling forum, if you haven't already checked it out. 

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93-wholesaling

@Mark Graziano

I speak to a lot of angry sellers, either foreclosures or expired listings. One thing I've found that helps a lot is to put  salesmanship aside at first, and try to come from a place of contribution.

Do you have any resources that can help them? How have you helped other people in their situation? What does the foreclosure process look like if they don't do anything?

In my experience these homeowners are frustrated, and feel like it's them against (whoever - the bank - the market - the economy...pick your bad guy and insert here). If you have some tools to help make that fight easier, or at least make them more informed against their adversary, you'll have their attention, and maybe a little of their trust. 

If you show up selling something for your own good right out of the gate you may very well be the adversary - they're probably receiving a lot of calls, letters, and knocks from people trying to profit off of their hardship.

 If they don't want to work with you, now you have a positive experience with someone who will probably take another phone call from you, or maybe even a referral to another service person. 

I know as a real estate broker and a property manager I'd welcome an introduction to them, and it definitely has value. I'm sure that contact would be valuable to others as well, you'd just have to figure out the who and the how.

@David Swygert

Hey David, welcome! 

Given the goal you mentioned on your profile I think you might like episode 127 of the podcast.

 Podcast #127 - How to Use a Partnership to Acquire (and Manage) 100+ Units with James Wise

I'm curious - why specifically mall pizzerias? Also do you know of any food business sites like Bigger Pockets?

@Denise Curtis I'm not aware of a way to do that, but I sent a text to my landlord tenant attorney to see if he knows a way that I don't. 

Have you seen proof that they've been paying the rent? Probably good to double check the amount of the security deposit as well, so you know exactly where you stand if/when you take them on as tenants.

If you close and need to displace them you may find it's helpful to soften the blow by contributing to their moving expenses. Depending on the location in Jersey City they'll most likely have to pay a 1 month broker fee too. It's definitely not a requirement to do this if you're going to owner occupy and they are month to month - but it will probably build a lot of good will, and may even get them out of the property sooner than expected. 

I'll keep you posted when I hear back from my atty with info on the eviction question.

@Dan Kolov

 Definitely screen both tenants, and only take certified funds for the security deposit and first month's rent at the time of move in. (What if a check bounces, and they've already moved in?)

As for the dangers of only having the one tenant sign - My main concern would be that the signer (Milhouse) leaves partway through the lease and leaves his roommate (Bart) to pick up the bill. What if Bart was only paying Milhouse $400 per month? Milhouse is gone, and now you have Bart on the hook for the entire rent amount of $1200, but no lease in place to enforce. Obviously you'll be heading to court, but it's not going to be a fun experience. ---

Bart has a history of trouble with the law, and this won't be his first eviction. He knows how to work the court system based on his past experience. He comes to court with everything he needs to prolong the eviction process. (You don't know about this ahead of time, because you didn't do a background/eviction check.)

Also, Bart works in construction. He likes to fix things around the house, and has all the tools to do so. He has the tools, but he's not exactly good with them. You end up with floors that are half coming up, and a ceiling fan that looks like it's part of a Final Destination movie. (You missed this, because you didn't have an application, and didn't call the landlords on his application)

Sure that's overkill, and probably won't happen. But it could, and you can wipe out the small % chance by having them fill out the screening docs/application.

It can all be done online - if you need signatures from someone in a different geographic location just use Dotloop. It's free, and you can add signatures and initials to any document that you scan in. (Don't have a scanner? Use the tinyscan app in the appstore - or several other cell scanners).

Good Luck!

@David Choi Welcome aboard, David! You'll find a ton of info to get your rolling between the forums and the blog here. 

If you have any questions on anything Northern NJ specific or otherwise, I'd be happy to help. Feel free to message me anytime.

Be Careful . A service dog or emotional support dog is not a pet, so a pet restriction would not apply. If you choose to question the validity of their service animal claim you'll have to be mindful of how you do it. Here's a HUD document with lots of info on service and emotional support animals. It's probably best to talk with an attorney about this if you decide to pursue it - it sounds like your tenants are intelligent - so a wrong step in how you go about it could cause legal problems.

https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=servanimals_ntcfheo2013-01.pdf

@Vannessa Craven-Moser Out of curiosity, did you check public records to see if she actually owns the property? I caught a pretty in depth scam running from Rhode Island and a few other parts of the New England area last month, and that was how I got them. They had built websites, and social media sites and had been actively posting on their own accounts with relevant area info. Something seemed odd, so I checked the tax records - which didn't match up. I then checked in with the owners regular real estate agent and found that the people I was dealing with had been accepting paypal and wire transfers for summer rentals they didn't own for the last 2-3 months.

Anyway...

I have no idea what the laws are in MA, so I'll explain as if it were in my home state of New Jersey. We have what's known as a three day attorney review period for leases. This means that you have three BUSINESS days to review the lease, or have an attorney review the lease. During those three business days either party can change their mind and cancel the agreement. It's best to do this in writing, or via email to have a paper trail in case one side doesn't comply and tries to move forward or hold money.

Here's the kicker - the 3 business days starts on the first business day that you receive a fully executed (signed) lease. So, if you signed the lease and gave checks to the landlord and they did not provide you with a signed copy the attorney review period is still active, and you can cancel without any penalties. She can cancel as well, which it sounds like she's done. Totally legal on that end of things

I wouldn't worry about her coming after you for the $50. She'd have to take you to court for it, and you'd probably have no trouble if she did. Just make sure you document all of your communications with her.

Again, double check your local laws - this is how it would go in NJ, but things could be totally different where you live.

@Monique Sanders if you're not friends a message will go to her "other inbox" and may not be seen. Here's some info on how you may be able to avoid that via paid messages on FB.

https://www.facebook.com/help/320160428099000

How about asking the friend to introduce you? LinkedIn and Twitter can also be pretty useful.