All Forum Posts by: Arthur E.

Thanks, @Account Closed.  I am too.  My hunch is that they're just trying to be difficult every step of the way because I'm not hiring them to do property management for my building.

@Account Closed, because I refuse to pay their $75 1099 processing fees.  Are you suggesting that I should pay them?

To be honest with you I thought I had gotten the prorated amount of rent for August when we closed on 8/14/15, but this wasn't the case.  Being that this is my first deal I probably should have paid a little bit closer attention.  Ever since I told the old property management company that I wouldn't be retaining their services they've become a pain in the butt.  I still haven't gotten the security deposits back from them and I just got keys earlier this week.  Then their manager sends me this email today. 

"I ran into a small problem with printing your check. The two prorated rent checks I have for you total more than $600 ($657.22) – my system won’t print the checks without a W-9 on file then at the end of the year we will send you a 1099. Our fee for processing the 1099 to the owners at the end of the year is $75. I can write you a check for $599, thus eliminating the need for the W-9 and 1099 at the end of the year, or you can fill out a W-9 form and I can write the check to you, less our processing fee."

I wrote her back telling her that her figure seemed off to me.  The rents they collected for August were $1415.  Divided by 31 that's about $45.65 per day which means I should be receiving about $821 because I owned the property for 18 days in August.  I asked her to share her math with me, we'll see what she says.

Now on to the part about my question.  Can she really force me to fill out a 1099 for her company and charge me $75?  This seems ludicrous to me.  This is in Michigan.  

@Brandon Turner, yes he's a colleague.  I approved his request a couple months ago.  What I didn't expect was for him to take my email address and spam me.  Is there anyway to prevent colleges from seeing my email address unless I choose to give it to them?  Also, do you want this guy's name so you can tell him to knock it off?  It's pretty poor etiquette if you ask me.  

I just received the following email in my gmail account.  I don't really care for members spamming me from this site.  Is this behavior within the rules of the site?

"Hi Arthur,

And instead of giving your money to a bank, have you ever thought about becoming one? You too can be a lender and collect monthly payments from the borrower/landlord.

I would like to invite you to our upcoming webinar where my guest speaker will share some tips and strategies of become a private lender. He will explain how you can start earning 7% to 8.5% consistent return without worrying about property management, tenants, or vacancy. Reserve your spot today:

Webinar: How to Become the Bank and Collect “Mailbox Money”

Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - 6:00 PM (PDT)..."

I have a duplex under contract right now in Michigan.  The seller's disclosure said that the septic system was pumped and inspected in 2014.  Because of this I didn't schedule to get the septic system inspected while the house was being inspected.  My home inspection was completed on Thursday and I requested that my agent ask for the paperwork on the septic inspection from the seller.  I just got this email from the seller's agent tonight.

My client emailed the following and included the attached:

I went back into the records and either didn’t recall the pump out correctly or lost the invoice record. Attached is the last pump out I can find, in November of 2010. There was no “report”, but the licensed septic man (Walt Steuer) did not recommend any repairs; he simply hauled the waste away.

Sorry I can’t be more informative, however we’ve not been informed by either tenant that there is an issue (e.g. slow drainage from sinks/toilets, gurgling or other symptoms of a full septic tank). Nov ’11 is within the typical 6 year pump out recommendation, however.

As I was looking through the records, I did note that the well pump was replaced with a new one in 2012.

This is frustrating to me because my deadline for addendums is on Monday.  I scrambled and was able to find a septic inspector that could get the inspection done today at the price of $350.

How should I handle this?  What if the inspection shows that the septic needs to be pumped?  Should the seller knock the cost of the inspection off the purchase price?  Did the seller break any laws by providing inaccurate info on a disclosure?

Thanks for the feedback, All!  I offered her $300 and she wouldn't take it!  She said "We'll have none of that, you stay positive, and we're going to get you a house!"

I like her even more now!

Yeah, I was thinking pay her $300 and write a yelp review for her.

Long story short, my real estate agent and I have been chasing after a deal for about 2 months and now it's looking like it's probably not going to go through.  This deal has been a huge pain for everyone involved.  My real estate agent has gone above and beyond the call of duty on doing everything I've asked her to do and I feel terrible about her walking away empty handed.  I would never be able to afford to pay her for all the time she spent on this, but I'm wondering if $300 would help her feel better about all the time she spent on this?  Am I crazy?  Should I do this?  Would you do this?

I'm getting ready to have my first property under contract and I just introduced myself to the neighbors.  They have been in their home for about 34 years and I actually dated their daughter 20 years ago (small world).  The husband asked me "did that a**hole agent tell you about the sewage line?".  I said no and asked him what he was talking about.  He said the last lady that lived there didn't have any money so she couldn't fix the sewage line, but he says it's leaking near the house.  He says every time you flush the toilet the air starts to reek of raw sewage and you can see bubbling on the ground above where the pipe is.  I can't test this yet because the house is still winterized.  The neighbor said that the city came out to fix the problem but what they did didn't remedy the problem.  He also claims that he told the seller's agent about this but that he's hiding this from potential buyers, but he's telling anyone he sees touring the house about it.  The pipe that runs from the house to the main in the back alley is about 50 feet long.  This is a foreclosure through Homepath.  Is this a deal breaker?  Should I walk?  Is the agent being unethical?  Is he breaking the law?  What is Homepath's obligation?