All Forum Posts by: Brad Gibson

His stuff is in the yard.  Locks are changed.  I have possession of the home.  Its just a question of when his housing materials move from the yard.  Sheriff deputy said I could either store it or take it to the dump if it wasn't retrieved.  Whichever I chose.

I should have stuck to 24 hours to remove the materials from the yard, but at least I have the home back.  Live and learn I guess.

Well y'all.  That sucked, but it is done.

Met the sheriff's deputy at quarter to nine.  Only a pair of the crew of five I had lined up showed up, so my son and I had put in some serious labor this morning.

I had installed a keypad deadbolt the last time this unit turned over with a lock with a physical key mounted on the porch.  Only I have the code to the lockbox and the tenant can change the deadbolt to whatever they like.  Used the key to unlock the premises.  Asked the sheriff's deputy if he should go first, but he indicated I should go ahead.  He's the one with the bulletproof vest, but whatever.  He swept through each room of the home and then told me we had two hours to move all possessions onto the front lawn.  I change the deadbolt code & the locks are now effectively changed.

The tenant had packed and moved NOTHING.  He and his girlfriend simply locked ups and went to work this morning. It was as if they had zero understanding that they wouldn't return back to their home in spite of being served with the paperwork by the court and then the sheriff's deputy.

We worked our tails off to get a full house out onto the lawn.  The laborers as well as my son and I were super careful with all of their things.  This is someone's life after all.  Christmas tree.  Holiday decorations.  Dishes in the sink.  Food in the fridge. Makeup on the vanity.  Bedding on the beds.  Clothes in the closets.  All of the souvenir's from trips (including photos and swag from a Vegas trip in October.  Unmounted a 60' big screen TV, mounted shelves, workout equipment, desks.  Beautifully decorated and the home was in great shape.

Seriff's Deputy asked how long I wanted to give him to remove his stuff.  Hell, I don't know?  I ask what's standard.  He says he legally cannot give any guidance.  I said 24 hours.  So he wrote it up and said if tenants are on premises after 9:00 am tomorrow, then call the cops for criminal trespass.

I notify the tenant to please remove his things, pick up their dog in the back yard and get the gear from the back yard since I didn't want to mess with what looked like a friendly St. Bernard, but taking no chances.  

Tenant pleads with me to take $2,000 toward getting caught up and let him move his stuff back in.  I listen.  I'm polite and professional, but tell him that he had cut off all communication for three months when I offered to work out payment plans or amicably allowing him to leave without an eviction.  He must come get his belongings & that I cannot help him.

He calls my maintenance person to ask them to lobby on his behalf to let him back into the home and not evict.  Says he has nowhere else to go.  I ask them to respond that he needs to remove his stuff from the lawn.

He asks for more time to remove his stuff & I give him an additional 24 hours.  Sheriff says that I'm responsible for his possessions until they're removed.  That doesn't bring me comfort.

I will head back over there tomorrow afternoon to ensure everything is gone and get to work on replacing some blinds and doing some light touch up to the house and then decide whether to put the home up for sale or list it for rent again.

I've asked two or three tenants to move out when they got behind.  All complied.  I've even done a cash for keys with one tenant that looked like they wanted to go the court process.  This is the first one where we put stuff on the lawn.  I guess this is part of being a mom & pop landlord during tough times. 

Thanks for the advice and the support. Better days ahead for all of us I hope.

Hi Tara. Thanks for the response. 

I don’t see the link to his YouTube video. 

 Yes. I fear having to start over again with the writ of possession of I hold off and don’t get the funds in a week. 

Just better to get possession, clean things up, & put it back on the market. 

I’m doing my first ever, move the stuff onto the lawn eviction tomorrow at 9 am. 

Tenant is $6,200 behind on rent. Just stopped communicating in October. Won the eviction case in November, but judge delayed my ability to file for the writ of possession until after Christmas to give tenant the chance to get to current or find a new place to live. 

Filed for writ of possession on the 27th of December. Sheriff scheduled the eviction for tomorrow. 

Tenant starts blowing my phone up this afternoon pleading for more time & to not show up with the sheriff. Indicates he will pay the balance in seven days. 

I’ve ignored the communication just as he has mine for the past four months. 

Any advice for conducting the actual eviction? I’ve got three movers, plus me and my son (he’s 20) plus 100 massive trash bags. 

I've looked all over for information concerning the portion of the Covid Relief package that was passed in late December and cannot find anything other than it seems it will be administered through state and local governments.  

That is worrisome in that each state will have a different set of criteria and rules for who and how folks get assistance.  My home state of Texas took about 117 million in CARES Act funding for rental assistance and built an "Eviction Diversion" program for use in 6 pilot cities.  None of the moneys went to renters or landlords, just a system to mediate a payment plan for those who have fallen behind on rent rather than sending evictions through the local courts.

Super frustrating.  I don't need help working out a payment plan with folks.  I do that already without an outside mediator.  Tenants who have fallen behind due to Covid disruptions don't have funds to pay on payment plans.  I either need the unit back so I can rent it to someone else, or I the tenants need cash to pay their rents.

The moratorium has simply set up a massive forfeiture of assets by the US Government without due process or legislation.

Hi Jared.  It is always a good time to buy if you find the right deal.  The market in Midland is a little wonky right now due to Covid.  Rents have fallen significantly year over year (Maybe 25% or so) from their highs at the end of 2019.  Covid and the resulting crash in WTI price has certainly taken their toll.  In addition, there were 3,000 new rental units that have come on the market in the last couple of years.  Those large corporate additions have added to the inventory at a time when demand has softened.

Something of a perfect storm.

Another factor is also that home prices have not fallen significantly from their highs last year.  Low interest rates and people waiting out Covid mean that rents are falling and home prices have remained fairly steady.  That's a bad type of inversion for investors looking to purchase new units.

Take your time.  Run the numbers very conservatively.  Force equity by rehabbing distressed properties.  There is money to be made, but be very selective right now.

Good luck and let me know if I can help.

I just signed up with a company to do just this for my units & had a tenant decide to utilize them for the first time last week.

Process was simple and relatively easy to get set up as a landlord, but the customer service/phone support is very light.  They do much of the support via e-mail and don't have a real system where you can talk to someone.  This seems pretty common for businesses that try to do all of their stuff online.  Ever tried to get someone on the phone with Venmo or Ebay?  Even Amazon funnels most of their customer service to e-mail and chat.

Tenant was able to get a policy in place in less than a couple of hours after I sent the online invitation.  I got the damage insurance paperwork and they were moved in the next day.  You may have to change your deposit to hold language as well as some of the language in your lease.  The company really didn't have sample language for a landlord, but I think I re-wrote those sections fairly well in lieu of paying an attorney to review an amended document they already completed.

I'll let you know how it goes as soon as their is an initial claim.

I thought I might revive this thread since it became the subject of blog article sent out by Bigger Pockets.  

Good stuff by Tamar Hermes & something that I'm seeing in my units.  Those who were unemployed because of Covid were making it Ok if not great from May through July.  August has been tough and most of those jobs have not come back...especially in the service industries.  That means rents are being unpaid or are late/very late.

It seems the next stimulus package is stalled in the Senate & will likely be a political football up until election day.  Hoping for a therapeutic soon that will make the impact of Covid significantly less.

Coronavirus Fallout: Housing Market Tumble Begins

There are parts of the EO’s that are clearly unconstitutional. All spending and revenue bills are to originate in the House of Reps. 

Plus it mandates the states pay $100 of the $400. EO’s cannot mandate spending by states or local governments so that’ll likely be ruled unconstitutional as well. 

I don’t know about the legality of placing a moratorium on eviction proceedings. That may have to be a boba fide law from Congress with presidential signature.