All Forum Posts by: Patti Robertson

On another note, I know this is not a popular opinion, but I wrote a BP blog about why I feel sub-to should be illegal.  Here is a link if you want to check it out.  https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/9232/65349-why-i-...

IMO you would be way better off with a commercial loan than buying these sub-to with his inferior mortgage. The MTM leases don't bother me.  Once you figure out what tenants are work keeping you can put them in long term leases.  In every single case I have even seen, my lease is far superior to the one the seller was using.  I prefer tenants to come with no leases for this reason.  

Be careful looking at the published HUD rents. They are quoting rent PLUS utilities. You can only get that rent if you include all utilities, which you would never ever want to do. Typically the actual max rent is $200-300 less than what is published there.

I looked this portfolio up in our court records and this seller has only taken two tenants to court - ever.  It's pretty much impossible that there would only be two situations where a tenant didn't pay in a low end unit - and all of these are located in very low end neighborhoods.  It is likely he has tenants with big delinquencies.  I suggest asking for a rent roll that includes current tenant balance just to see how healthy the rent roll is.  That said, I never don't buy because of a tenant.  In Virginia a bad tenant is pretty easy to replace.  You just want to make sure you will have the ability to replace the bad ones one at a time, preferable, to keep cashflow coming in and spread out your expenses.

This topic comes up so much that I put my reply in a BP blog to save my fingers from so much typing.  https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/9232/55313-intro-...

FYI that you can advertise rooms for rent on the official military website - homes.mil.

Think about the responsible people you know in your life.  How many of them would ever be looking for a place to move a week before they need to move?  None of them!   Responsible people plan their moves 45-60 days prior to when they need to move.  It is better to have a qualified tenant than to have a tenant who can move in immediately.

Hi there.  I don't know any property managers who are willing to do room rents.  Honestly, in all the properties I have managed for military members, the very worst take overs have been homes where the military member was a roommate, and left before the others.  The remaining tenants never take care of the house the way they say they will and they tend to leave a lot of property behind when they leave.  I had one situation recently where the owner had all the room rent leases staggered so we were stuck with only one tenant for 7 months, with the owner paying all utilities.  The advice I have is to have all the leases end when YOU deploy and if you ignore this, at least have all the other leases end on the same day.

Has anyone else noticed the new field on the Virginia Court website - Writ of Eviction Executed Date.  We have always had the field for Writ of Eviction Issued Date, but the "Executed" field just popped up a few months ago.  I've been tracking and haven't see any dates entered into the executed date field, so at this point the data isn't accurate.  I have done evictions recently and those date fields are still empty. Once the sheriff offices and general district court clerks figure out a system to get this data entered, it will be way more helpful that what we have had in the past.  In my experience, we cancel about 75% of the evictions we file. Finally our court records are going to be reporting accurate eviction data.

 Depending on the state law, you can set up a utility charge based on a formula to charge the tenants monthly, without separating the meters.  IMO, as long as it is legal in your area, it is a waste of money to invest in separating.  Just use bill history to figure out a fair formula and write it into the lease.  We based our water bills on occupancy.  Electric and gas on SF.

Hi there.  Hampton Roads PM here. We always offer to coordinate the lease term with a military member's orders. Be sure to ask for a copy of their orders so you can confirm their Projected Rotation Date.   We just had one apply who had orders to be here only for 6 months, but knew his orders can get him out of a lease.  He was applying for 12 month places because they are cheaper than 6 month rentals.  We only accept military applicant's who's orders show that their intention is they can fulfill a full term lease.  That said, we find that most military members prefer to stick to a one year lease, because of all the horror stories they have heard over the years.  If we are able to get a multi year lease signed, we sometimes include an escalation clause.  It just depends on how the price is now.  If you are at or above market, we would likely leave it set for 2 years and add a bump for year 3.  If you are advertising during the winter, you probably won't be asking top market, so we would escalate annually.

@Trisha Pascall-Lopez - The post you are asking about is 4 years old.  All the rehab players in our market have changed since then.