All Forum Posts by: Nat C.

Impressive and inspiring!

What's the answer to the mystery 70k profit? 

I purchased a property in Miami Dade a few years back. A year after owning it, a new tenant moved in and when she tried to turn the water service on, she was told there was a lien for unpaid water. The water company wanted $3000 before they would turn the water on. I paid it immediately so that the tenant could have water but then it took month of emails and phone calls to get to the bottom of the issue.

It turned out that prior to me purchasing the property, there had been some illegal tampering and excessive water usage. This occurred when the previous owner held title. I do not know why the actual lien was not recorded until years later but that’s what has happened.

I do have a document in writing outlining the dates of the unpaid water usage and tampering and also naming the prior owner as the one responsible. I do know that this isn’t covered by the title policy as only recorded liens are covered.

I guess my only option then is to lodge a small claims action a against the prior owner. However she had the property within an LLC and she dissolved that LLC after she sold the property. I am therefore concerned about the ability to carry out a claim and collect. It was a single member LLC, so assumably a disregarded entity.

Can anyone advise the best course of action?

@Rafael Trinidad

Puerto Rica is part of the US, so to answer your question; yes of course you will get the same tax benefits.

Also, to quote from investopedia-

“In 2012, Puerto Rico passed legislation shielding new residents from paying most federal income taxes. Since then, the island is swiftly emerging as a hot new tax haven for Americans. If you reside on the island for a minimum of 183 days annually and meet other qualifying criteria, you may pay minimal, if any, taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains under the “Act 22” tax law. These tax incentives are attracting more U.S. citizens and plenty of new, luxury developments that could pave the way for good capital growth conditions looking ahead.”

 This is good advice.... however I already countered at $2200, on a 3 month lease, with 60 days notice required to vacate. He eventually agreed to this. Again, not my ideal situation but neither is a disease spreading like wildfire through Miami. 

 That's amazing and such a good idea! I've never even thought about doing that.

Your Dad is my absolute hero. I wish all landlords had such tenacity. If your Dad had not of gone through this process, that tenant probably would have serially repeated the same behavior at a multitude of rental properties. 

Let's talk about debt collection. It's a prevalent topic now more than ever because many states are letting tenants stay in our investment properties for free and taking away the landlord's right to evict.

I've noticed that many landlords don't sue for unpaid rent or damages after an eviction. I believe the general belief seems to be that you'll never collect on those debts anyway.

I would like to hear some success stories of landlords who did get a judgment order against a tenant and were able to garnish wages, bank accounts or something else. 

You may not recover the money immediately but even if it's years down the track, it's worthwhile. More importantly, these people who I basically think are scammers, will be held accountable for their actions.

If you do have a success story to share, please do include the step by step action you took, so the community can learn something. 

So Miami is now the COVID epicenter of the US. How thrilled am to own a dozen properties there. Argh.

I have a tenant on a one year lease who moved in in February, 2020.

She requested a lease clause allowing Airbnb and has been running her own Airbnb business out of the house.

She has informed me that due to the COVID situation in Miami that she is leaving immediately and moving back to her home city.

She told me she found a replacement tenant to take over the lease.

I have just spoken to her replacement tenant and he said that he will only sign a month to month lease and he also plans to continue the Airbnb operations there. He said that if Airbnb tanks, he wants the option to get out. 

ALSO he wants to reduce the rent from $2400 to $2000.

My background check of him came up clean but obviously I don’t like the offer or situation at all. However I don’t feel that my options are rosy either. If I outright refuse, I will be left with a vacant property, extended vacancy and re-leasing fees. 

The lease permits me to retain 2 months rent from the tenant for liquidated damages but I expect the actual cost to me will far exceed this.

What would you do if you were me?

I am thinking of countering at $2200 on a three month lease with the lease becoming a month to month contract thereafter. 

@Peter T.

I’ve been on BiggerPockets since 2013 and at that time it was a much smaller community and I feel it was much better back then. With the higher quantity of people, there’s come a lower quality.

There were some highly experienced and qualified professionals who used to be active almost daily, who are now inactive. I’ve spoken to some of those members and they basically said the high standard of the forums is no longer there.

There is still some exceptional talent and expertise on here and there’s been many new additions which we are lucky to have. But at the same time, I feel the rookies and wannabes are far outnumbering the experienced professionals.

@Melanie Stephens

I’m sure I could fill at least 2 dozen pages in the magazine with my anecdotes. Ugh.