All Forum Posts by: Annette Schneider

 When we purchased our two properties, the water, sewer and garbage were billed by the local municipal government. A larger water/sewer authority took over these accounts and its been very problematic. It takes over ten business days for a payment to be credited to the account. The billing sometimes arrives around 12 or 13 business days before due date, sometimes less than that. Sometimes the online billing works, sometimes it doesn't. At least four times a year, we need to call them and straighten out payments and demand to not be assessed late fees. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. A copy of the utility bills and late payment notices are also sent to our tenants also so our tenants think we don't pay those bills. Both municipalities demand that only the landlord pay the account - so the tenants have to give us the amounts for those bills. We tend to pay them before we receive their payment since it takes an excessive time for the payment to be processed. 

Our own home has the same water/sewer authority and I personally take the bill down to them in person. Its the only way I can get it paid on time and not late. My husband handles the income properties bills and I'm tired of him going through this billing fiasco multiple times a year. I posted our woes on a local forum and many similar complaints. The only way to get the bills paid is to go in person. Mailing the bill or using a bill payment via bank account does not work well. 

To me they seem criminally slow - who else is allowed to take over 10 business days from receipt of payment to credit the account?? What company is allowed to receive payments and not credit the right account three to six times per year?? We have confirmed with our bank that payments are sent way ahead of due date yet they keep charging us late fees. Is that legal? What can we do to get this fixed? Before we hire a lawyer, what should our strategies be? 

Quote from @Kevin Manz:

A popular one is Wealty Dad Broke Dad by Bob Yamaha to get the mindset right. Wish you riches!

Did you mean 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki? Excellent book!

I don't think there is a too old as long as the numbers work out. Any age home can have hidden problems covered up by previous owner. I think it is more a matter of what are the known issues, what are the common unknown issues that could there be. The more inspections the better - provided the market and seller allow for it. If I had done a sewer inspection on my first home, I could have saved myself over 10K total costs. 

Realtors prefer 'make it sell' home inspectors that barely look at anything. Look for one that will dig deeper - they can't look inside walls but aside from that they can look at attics, crawl spaces and etc. We found a retired general contractor that does home inspections. He's saved us some money when we were newbies. 

I'm curious also. We were using a tenant finder company that only matched tenants to apartments but they shut down. Did you find some sites that worked for you? 

I had used Zillow in the past but when it was free. I have used Trulia also. Zillow and Trulia also pushed to other rental sites they had agreements with or owned outright. I heard Zumper was the place to go around here and I'm seeing a lot of Facebook listings now too. I would want to use a different account if using Facebook Marketplace. 

Did you manage to make a deal with this one? 

As far as tax strategies with interest - business expense interest is generally deductible if the interest goes directly towards business expenses. If any of that loan amount did not go for business expenses but part goes to personal nonbusiness then its a complicated mess. Just don't do that if you can avoid it. The bill to the CPA null and voids the benefits. 

The best advice I got on credit was building a credit history was using a loan when you could have paid cash. This is for newbies to credit. Save up the money for something (plus some extra for interest) take out a small loan, make regular payments and if necessary use the amount sitting in savings to make the loan payments. 

I am fond of using interest deferred loans. Apparently most people muck it up and forget to make payments because you don't get phone calls or notices if you don't pay. The real interest on most interest deferred plans is often 29.99%!! If you are one day late, then you get nailed. I see it as no interest loan for X months or X years with a nasty surprise if you don't pay it off on time. I treat it like a loan, because it is one. I calculate my own pay off plan and stick to it. I prefer to pay them off one or two months early. The majority of our appliances packages for our updated units have been purchased on interest deferred plans. My regular payments to these interest deferred plans count towards my credit score just the same a loan payment with interest.

These days the credit services have 'self reporting' systems you can report utility bills, cell phone and other monthly bill payments yourself. That does help. We have seen tenants applying with those self reported bills on their credit reports.

There are plenty of gurus with advice on credit and money. The bottom line is live below your means - accumulate that extra and then start making it work for you. My two favorite books on changing mindset were: Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the Millionaire Next Door. With your experience, skill set and contacts there is bound to be some opportunities you can take a hold of. 

I hear Dave Ramsey's courses are very good also. 

Eric Ashby - did you ever successfully stop the calls? We are facing the same problem. Its becoming unnerving, especially work phone calls to an unlisted work number. They pester our tenants for our information, they ask neighbors of the buildings for our information. Its heating up again though. We've gotten ten phone calls this week alone and four pieces of mail with correct building addresses on them. 

We have no desire to sell. These are OUR investments that we put our time and money into and our reaping our rewards. I guess its the new rude way of making money in real estate. Pester landlords enough maybe they'll get tired of it and sell! 

I remember my Grandfather complaining about people pestering him to sell his custom home by a slightly famous architect. One guy was persistent and finally made him a ridiculously good offer when they wanted to move into town, closer to Drs and etc. We have countered with ridiculous amounts and that slows down one or two. 

I think a lot of investors are circling MFH properties expecting them to fail and snap them up for cheap. 

I would look at this as 'self-employment'. If she's managed to cultivate a following over time (2 or 3 years) its the same as someone self employed. Just look at the numbers. They either add up or they don't.

You mentioned only one account is problematic. Sounds like she has other credit accounts. Have verified that she has enough income left to afford rent and utilities?   

The debt issue is worrisome but its understandable that a child would help a parent and vice versa. If that's the only negative, we'd probably nibble. 

Yes! They work better than spraying and 'sealing' treatments. We had one unit with cigarette smoke smell remediated with the spray/seal method only to have smoke smell return within 5 months of remediation!! What a waste of time and money!! During the next turnover, we used ozone generators and smoke smell has not returned. We've used them several times since then: not just on smoke but other bad smells in units. They work and are simple to use -of course follow safety precautions. 

There are a lot of solid areas to invest in Pittsburgh. Since we live in the North Hills, we like Etna, Shaler, Millvale, West View, Ross, Sharpsburg, Blawnox and lesser (cheaper parts) of O'Hara (mostly bordering Sharpsburg or Blawnox). We have also considered West Deer, Reserve, Indiana Township, and Springdale. Its just a matter of what you can get when you're ready to buy. The best value properties move quickly. If a property has been on the market for some time, there's a reason why other investors passed it up. I've seen properties listed in Penn Hills with 'can rent at' marked too high for what you can actually get. Perhaps with section 8 you can get more rent but you'll have more work also. Always do your own ROI calculations and property tax calculations (county, school, local). Some properties don't make sense for pure investment but are good to offset mortgage cost when you live in one unit and rent the other(s). Sometimes the property values get so high in the desired areas that the rents one can charge won't cover the mortgage and other costs (ie flood insurance). We do have one property in a flood zone but the numbers still worked. Tight at first but as we raised rents, fixed up units the numbers got even better. You can do an address search on a FEMA website to check for flood zones.