All Forum Posts by: Ariel O.

@Michael Tempel and @Rob L. 

Do you guys ever worry about ACH and Credit/Debit chargebacks? You have a tenant move out to another state, and 2 or 3 months later does a chargeback on say the last 3 months rent. Sure you can litigate in small claims, but it might be a while until you see that money.  ACH is a bit more difficult to reverse but you can still do it. 

Much harder on checks once they're deposited. Curious to hear if you guys have encountered any issues.

Ariel

I would take those reports with a huge grain of salt. If you mapped out where felons/ex-cons lived in the US you'd be shocked. I would concern myself more with the actual crime committed.

I love AirBNB. When you travel somewhere with a family you get a whole apartment for the price of a hotel room. Great deals. I also love Flipkey, HomeAway, VRBO. and yes, I know the irony is thick ;-)

 Credit scores are truly bizarre, actually, and I Don't even think most PMs/LandLords even really understand them. For example when we get a report to provide to a PM, there are like 40 (yes, 40), different models of credit scores we can choose to provide. The most common is FICO Classic 04, but others use FICO Classic 08, and then of course the proprietary ones used by the bureaus (TU has VantageScore, for example). Because the models are so different, the exact same stats can produce wild fluctuations in the score depending on the model.

What's more important is to look at the report, too, even though it takes more time:

1. Any recent bankruptcies, collection items (and a lot of people are more forgiving of medical related debt)?
2. Are bills typically paid on time?
3. how many open credit accounts, what type, for how long?

This is part of what the credit score is trying to do for you, but let's say you have a $50 collection item from Verizon - it will ding you for this, even if all your other bills are paid. So it's best to look over the whole thing to get the full picture. 

I don't know about the laws, but it might be an interesting idea to monitor problematic tenants for bankruptcy filings. Of course if you can't evict when they go into bankruptcy, I'm not sure if there's value but from a technical point of view it's very doable.. Legally, you'd need their sign off.

 You'd have to have huge volume to get it, at least if you wanted Credit Reports. The problem is that the credit bureaus charge x for the credit report so it makes it difficult to create an unlimited package.

I suppose you could like an up to 50 for x or something, though.

http://www.pacer.gov

you can search the federal courts for all sorts of good stuff (bankruptcies, criminal, civil). not free but useful

This is just off the bat but generally:

• Are they incorporated/llc/lp? If not, that's a red flag.
• Did you google them?
• Are they on LinkedIn?
• Involved in the local RE scene?
• Any weird civil lawsuits - your local state and PACER are your friends

The thing is assuming you're not the mob, you hold the cards, right? I'm not 100% sure what the issue is.

@Max Galka 

Sure.But what are the returns in places like Rego Park or Pelham Bay or Staten Island or wherever? Has the appreciation there matched the trendier parts of NY (Manhattan, parts of Brooklyn)? Does it make sense to get involved in the rental control madness just to own in the cheaper parts of NYC, which has a very different type of tenant?

I don't know the answers - these are real questions that I have.. Of course these other neighborhoods exist , but they're cheaper for a reason usually.

Hey Hal,

What exactly happened with the SSN that it wasn't valid/didn't check out?
Ari