New MF purchase w/some non paying tenants

[Steve K.]

I'm aggressively looking for my first MF rental purchase. I just found 9+ MF Units deal, that I need to act on asap.

After looking thru some public records. I found about 12-15 eviction cases over last 9 year since she has owned it. All cases were closed in favor of Landlord and 2 are still open.

Here are few questions that I've:

1. After settlement, would I have to deal with non paying tenant? Or a can have I not paying ones evicted.

2. How much can eviction proceedings cost if lawyer is involved? Can it be done by an educated landlord without help of lawyer?

Thank you

[Marcia Maynard]

Sounds like poor property management in the past. If you're not shy of handling tough tenant situations, step in to solve the current owner's problem! Buy it with tenants in place, but ask for a discount. If it was a turnkey property, well managed, empty or with great tenants, you would pay more. Your opportunity lies in getting this deal at a good price and cleaning up the mess.

Once you take possession, spring into action. Eviction can be costly, time consuming and stressful... for all parties involved... lose-lose. Instead, go for a win-win. 

As soon as possible get the tenants onto your rental agreement. Preferably month-to-month. Introduce to them a different management style. One that is open, honest, firm, fair, polite, respectful, flexible when necessary, attentive to maintenance issues and swift to enforce the terms of the rental agreement. We find that "bad apple" tenants will leave on their own once we take over management. If they don't, we sit down with them and talk with them about a move-out plan and serve Notices to Comply when warranted. Listen to BP Podcast #83 to learn some of our landlording strategies.

Happy Investing! Happy Landlording!