All Forum Posts by: Aaron Smith

Maybe they were ineligible for the rent control exemption. The requirements to gain a rent control exemption are owning less than 5 units and have to own in your own name (not an LLC).

There are a bunch of ways to evict tenants in DC, this is from DC guide to eviction:

The landlord may evict a tenant for only one of ten specific statutory reasons:

• Nonpayment of rent;
• Violation of an obligation of tenancy, of which the tenant failed to correct after notice;
• Tenant performed an illegal act within the rental unit;
• Landlord seeks in good faith to occupy the rental unit for personal use and occupancy;
• Landlord sells rental unit to a party who seeks in good faith to occupy the rental unit for personal use and occupancy;
• Landlord seeks to renovate rental unit in a manner in which tenant cannot safely occupy;
• Landlord seeks to demolish rental unit;
• Landlord seeks to substantially rehabilitate rental unit;
• Landlord seeks to discontinue rental unit for housing and occupancy; or
• Landlord seeks to convert rental unit to a condominium or cooperative after securing governmental approval.

@Russell Brazil Are you sure about being grandfathered in? Can you point to a law in particular that states that?

*You would also need combustion air / exhaust air penetrations

You may want to weigh how old your hot water or steam radiator system is, and if you my incur some capital expenditures in the near future as a result. Boilers usually last about 25 years. I think expansion tanks, air separators are maybe 20 years, not sure. Pumps are 10-20 years. Refer to ASHRAE Equipment Life Expectancy chart. If the heating equipment will have to be replaced soon, you might want to go with the new furnace system.

You could also put the new furnaces inside the units, and encase the ductwork in soffits of drywall instead of under the floor. Only the gas pipe and refrigerant lineset will have to go through the concrete floor or exterior wall.

Central equipment has less pieces to maintain, so that's a consideration too. But nothing wrong with the split systems with HW baseboards. I would weigh the costs and near future capital expenditures and make your decision based on that.

I think in general title companies either have an attorney that does it or know someone that does it

Thanks @Cynthia Hartley, that's a very good idea. But my brother will soon purchase his own 4-unit, and we don't want to risk him not getting that loan with the extra debt under his name. Other than that, that would be a very good solution.

Go to:

http://www.avenuesettlements.com/condoconversions....

Check out the condo conversion flow chart. But the best way to go is talk with a title attorney that specializes in condo conversion. Just ask how many condo conversions they do every year. They will file all the papers for you.

PM me if you want the one I will use (I also haven't done this yet).

To clarify, the title is in my name, but I live in Denver. We are exploring the possibility of getting Josh's (my brother) name on title, as it is proving very difficult to get a heloc on a non-owner occupied (rental) property. Banks don't like this.

My main question is, does anyone know if you can just add someone onto the title? And then, for the purposes of a HELOC, would a property count as 'owner occupied' if my brother was on title (technically an owner), moved into the property, but the loan was in my name.

I was in a similar situation. Then I hired a good property management company. Try irem.org, cpm certified property manager Vetting property management companies on the BiggerPockets forums http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/202515-vetting-property-management-companies

I hired the wrong management company once. They stole about 10k from me when i was living out of the county. I didn't vet them at all, they were just the first listing to come up on google. Since then I've come up with this system to vet property managers:

1.irem.org

2.Search for CPMs (certified property manager - for multifamily more), or ARM (accredited residential manager).

Deal Breakers: 

1.Any clause giving the management company a commission at the sale of the property.

2.You must have signing authority on the bank accounts for the property. Both Checking (operating) and savings (deposits). If you find they are stealing from you or incompetent, you can simply take out all of your money, have your lawyer send them a cease and desist letter and change the locks. easy.

3.Must have the ability to cancel contract giving 30 days notice. Never sign a year contract.

Other Questions:

1.How long have you been in the business

i.Needs to be at least 5 years with apt buildings

2.Ask for a few addresses of buildings they manage

3.Ask, what is your tenant retension policy?

i.They should go on for 10 minutes about this, and say some good things.

4.How long is a typical unit made ready after a tenant moved out

i.Should be three days

5.How do they market for new tenants?

6.Will maintenance be done by their staff or by hiring out contractors?

i.Its better that they have a staff…cheaper

1.Ask what their hourly wages are

7.Ask for a few references and call them

8.Ask if they have been sued at any time in the past five years

i.Especially look to see if the prior owners filed suit

9.Are there managers provided with any special training? Either in house or courses at the Institute of real estate management or national apartment association.

10.Who would be directly in charge of managing my property?

11.Ask management fees. Should be 50-100% of one months rent for each new tenant they deliver (in properties up to 20 units). This will add up to about 10% of gross rents.

Record Keeping

1.Has to be computerized

2.Ask for a sample report and have them explain them to you.

Tenant Screening

1.ask who will be screening the tenants

2.Decide upon minimum income requirements (2.5 times rent), minimum credit score, and which crimes are ok.