All Forum Posts by: Yangyang Jin

Hello everyone, I'm asking for a family friend who would like to start private lending business, what is your advice of to dos and not to dos and even how to start the process? 

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

Quote from @Yangyang Jin:

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

@Yangyang Jin

You are going to spend more in legal defending it so just pay it

Also how did you pay for the inspection? Usually we write a check or pay via credit card so wouldn’t you have a receipt that shows you had the work done?

Next year I recommend using the same company everyone else uses.

Thank you Chris, yes, indeed, I talked to my attorney and he said it's not worth fighting, will most likely end up with paying a lot more. Yes, I wrote a check for the service, but it's not sufficient for the HOA, they'd need the original receipt, which I asked the tenant to keep but they lost. And the service company claim they keep receipts at a " off- premise" location, I would need to pay $500 just for them to send someone to get the copy, this company did a lot of houses in the neighborhood, they might be a scam! Anyways, I guess I just need to pay the fine at this point now. 

If they don't have a copy of the receipt and are charging you $500 for it, I wouldn't use that company again.  Also as you are paying for it, have them send you a copy of the receipt at the time of payment.  They should not have left it with your tenant.

 Yes, never again, such a scam! In June I did another one, they sent a electronic copy to me. Made me realize that, wow, it's a new era now. 

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

@Yangyang Jin

You are going to spend more in legal defending it so just pay it

Also how did you pay for the inspection? Usually we write a check or pay via credit card so wouldn’t you have a receipt that shows you had the work done?

Next year I recommend using the same company everyone else uses.

Thank you Chris, yes, indeed, I talked to my attorney and he said it's not worth fighting, will most likely end up with paying a lot more. Yes, I wrote a check for the service, but it's not sufficient for the HOA, they'd need the original receipt, which I asked the tenant to keep but they lost. And the service company claim they keep receipts at a " off- premise" location, I would need to pay $500 just for them to send someone to get the copy, this company did a lot of houses in the neighborhood, they might be a scam! Anyways, I guess I just need to pay the fine at this point now. 

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

You could try small claims court, but you knew the inspection had to be done (which you did) and documentation sent. Where did the letters go that the HOA sent? If they sent them to you through their platform (which will have different information for each owner), that is the same as sending you an email. You mentioned trying to contract the property manager, did you call and leave a message? and how many times did you try to contact them?

Thank you Theresa, for your reply. I emailed and asked for explanation, and told them in email the inspection was done. The property manager did not reply. Their communication email was sent through their platform and to my personal email address. But the problem with that- they have exact same subtitle as newsletters and mass communication, and the just mixed in with all communications. With an important matter like this, I would expect they at least address the email to me, or send mail in to reinforce the deadline, but they did not, this bothers me as I think they failed on their part as well.

Hi everyone, I would like to get your advice on how to deal with an outrageous HOA issue I am facing right now. I own a unit in cental NJ, and have been a owner for over 10 years now, always good with HOA payment, not once a late payment. Recently the HOA sent a outstanding balance of over $2000 to a debt collection, which consists of fine $1400 and interests. In my opinon, the HOA failed to execute and communicate with owners effectively, and then put all the burden on the owners for not sending in certain information on time.

The HOA requires owners to send in invoices of fireplace inspection every other year, 2022 was that year. I had done the inspection in November, but the tenant lost the invoice and I have just been trying to get the invoice since December 2022. The service company who did the inspection do not store the receipt and just can't provide the invoice. The HOA used a platform to send communication emails to inform me about the missing invoice for my property, they were not addressed to my name, or in the title of what the email is about, mixed in with newsletters and mass communications, they fell off my attention list. The next thing I know, they sent a mail back in March, asking for $1400 fine because I didn't send in the copy of invoice. I tried to reach out to the property manager, asking for clarification and wanted to explain the situation. Never gotten the reply back either. Then in June I received a debet collectio note saying that I owe $2000. I sent in proofs of the text message between myself and the tenant of the inspection schedule in 2022, and my asking for invoice, and the check I made to the service company. As well as my compromise of re-do the inspection again in June so I can get the copy of invoice to HOA for their record. They declined to waive the fee and ask to pay for the fine. I told them that I refuse to pay the fine and will have my attorney talk to them. But I wanted to ask you, what would you do? And what is your opinion? Is it worth to go through the sue process of HOA in NJ？ I would rather pay the $2000 to my attorney instead of the HOA.

Quote from @Melanie Thomas:

Hi Yangyang,

It's important to remember that finding alternative housing is their responsibility as adults, and it should not be a burden for you to bear.By issuing a notice of non-renewal, you have already taken the necessary steps. If they choose to remain, it is within your rights to charge holdover rent and proceed with eviction if necessary. It's crucial to approach this situation from a business perspective rather than taking it personally. I've learned from past experiences that being overly accommodating often puts one at a disadvantage. Good luck & happy investing!

Thank you Melanie, I appreciate your advice, and everyone's. I've taken your advice, and have given all of them move out instructions of on the last day. I held firm of what's our stance and hope they do move. If not, we will just need to file eviction with the court. 

Quote from @Patricia Steiner:

I wish I could have read your advice before so now I do not need to go through these kind of struggles. I inherited the tenants from the seller, not now need to take care of moving out the tenants. I gave the notice in March and now they are telling me they can't find any place and wanted to extend the stay.

Hi bigger pockets fellows. If you've used good landlord tenant attorney in central new jsery area, can you please recommend them? I have a few things going on right now, a tenant who was on time paying her rent has recently filed bankruptcy and has also stopped paying rent for the first time. I would like to consult an attorney for what I should be doing to address this, from the last post I did, I learned legally the tenant is supposed to continue paying the rent if she would like to stay, but seems like this is not the plan any more. The property is in location I can sell very quickly, and there is a clause in the contract that the tenant would need to move out with 60 days notice. So alternatively I can list the house and sell it quickly instead of going through eviction and I plan to sell the property quickly anyways. But the tenant has been the most cooperative in letting me know their schedule for me to stop by and check a few things, so I guess I need an attorney to advise as well on what I can and can not do with a tenant who is not very cooperative. The attorney I was working with has not gotten back to me for over a week and it's an urgent situation, I would like to find an attorney who has the bandwidth to take care of things for the case. 

Thank you Jim, thank you for your reply. It's my first time dealing with challenging tenants, and would like to avoid if possible a hassel situation with them. Me and my husband will try to talk to them and help them understand that they can not avoid the deadline.  

Quote from @Jim K.:

You definitely need to get ready to evict @Yangyang Jin.

Twenty years and no credit history? You are not responsible for what is, at this point, your tenant's long-term, willful disregard of the realities of living in America. You are not their mommy or daddy. You are their new landlord, who ponied up the scratch to buy the roof over their head, because they've been in this country twenty years and never realized the risks that come with not owning that roof.

As soon as you point any of this out to them, however, I guarantee they'll be ready with another set of excuses or some general excuse about how this is all about landlord greed (and not their own outsized stupidity over decades).

I am an American Born Abroad and an infant immigrant to this country. My father was an immigrant. My mother was an immigrant's child. My wife is an immigrant. Immigrants just aren't allowed to be that stupid and irresponsible in America. They're just not. I'm sure you know it, you're sure they know it, somewhere in time these people lost the thread and decided to bask in their ignorant bliss and go with the flow for one group of BS reasons or another until the wheels came off whatever no-credit-history-necessary lifebus they've spent the last twenty years on.

The wheels are off and they're in the ditch, and it's not your problem or your responsibility to put their wheels back on or get that lifebus out of the ditch. The best help you can offer them at this point is a long-delayed reunion with some of the unavoidable realities of immigrant life in America, namely, and once again, that immigrants are not allowed to be dead from the neck up in this country. Put your boot in their butt and get rid of them and their twenty years of BS excuses as soon as possible.