All Forum Posts by: Ben G.

Looks like a great deal,@Amber McCarthy. Could you give some deal details, like how you found the property, what shape it was in, what you did to increase its value, etc?

Thankfully I have not had to deal with the courts (yet) with anything real estate or investment related. That said, my regular 9-5 job is as an investigator for a statewide law enforcement agency, so I deal with the courts a lot in that aspect. In my experience, once a person gets elected or appointed as a judge, all legal processes go out the window. They gorge themselves on their new found power and any real aspect of justice is lost. I have actually had a judge say to a defendant, "All the evidence presented demonstrates that you are, in fact, guilty. But you seem like a nice person and I'm sure you have learned your lesson from this process." The judge then made a ruling of not guilty.

Judges don't follow laws, because they most likely feel that as interpreters of the law they don't have to. I have also seen, in my experience, that appellate courts are much more just than the district or circuit courts. So if you have a chance to appeal, I'd do it.

Originally posted by @Trevor Aydelott:

@Joe Villeneuve

Okay keep telling yourself that Joe. Good luck in life. Also I'm a veteran, no down payment. And why put rent, if I buy the house I don't pay rent. 

And told you how long, this is why you got to read the entire message instead of jumping in to respond. 

And you're not proving anything to me, just being a keyboard warrior. 

 I'm not sure why Trevor became so defensive and aggressive so quickly here. Clearly Joe is just giving his opinion based on his experience. And I personally agree with what you are both saying to an extent. My house is not an "asset" in terms of an investment, but it is an "asset" in terms of net worth. My personal home appreciates in value, but it does not cash flow. If I sell it for more than what I paid for it, great. But odds are if I have a mortgage on it, if you include the interest, taxes, and utilities paid on it for the time I owned it, it's unlikely to net me any profit.

I get what you're saying Joe. Thank you for your input. And I get what Alex is saying. Thank you for your service in the military, but relax a little bit. No need to get so aggressive on this thread.

I've had all mine pay so far.

@Walter Aaron Poling I disagree with offering a discount on rent if it's paid on time. The incentive to paying on time should be avoiding a late fee and the possibility of not getting your lease renewed.

I charge my state's maximum late penalty (20% of monthly rent) which is meant to really sting if they're late. Hopefully the sting motivates them to pay on time.

Originally posted by @Irving Keighley:

Bob if you ask ur tenant why he is late it could be he gets paid every two weeks.

I have found this in the past and re wrote the lease to read rent is due on the 10th 

U have to pro rate for the 10 days 

Reach out to them and see if this is the case

 My personal opinion is that a lease is a lease is a lease. My mortgage is due on the 1st every month, and the bank doesn't care if I am lousy at budgeting. I would say the same thing would apply in this situation. If the tenant is lousy at budgeting and can't keep enough in their account to pay the rent on the 1st of the month then that is their problem and not yours (well, it is a problem for you, but you know what I mean). I wouldn't go re-inventing the wheel for them.

Now, if you are a nice person and don't have that many properties to manage, I'd say go ahead and revise the lease for them if you can. But the more properties you acquire, the more of a headache special treatment is going to be. It is a lot easier to give all your tenants the same treatment across the board.

@Bob Romano, I am in a similar situation, though not as extreme. My lease states rent is due the 1st, with a 5 day grace period. As soon as the grace period is up, I hit them with a 20% late fee (IL's highest allowable late fee) and I send out the Pay or Quit notice the same day.

I have had a tenant since June 2018 and she has paid on time only once or twice. All other times she pays during the grace period, and this month was her third time paying past the late fee/pay or quit deadline.

I'm not sure what your laws in Rhode Island say you can do, but in Illinois it works the same as what your lawyer is telling you. As long as they pay their rent balance (including late fee), you are stuck with them until the lease is up. Then you can simply just not renew the lease and they will have to leave. If they don't leave, you can evict them because they are staying there without a lease.

My recommendation is increase your late fee. You can't do it on this lease because the $50 is already instituted. But on future leases, get that late fee up to whatever the maximum is that your state will let you.

$50 bucks is cheap.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

I work, otherwise I'd be there. Thanks for creating the event, though.

I say the numbers look good if YOU are OK with 8% cashflow. If that's you're standard, then you're good to go. I did notice you have 1% management expenses. Most management companies are going to be around 10%, or if you manage it yourself 0% (don't tell Paula Pant I said that).

If it were me, I'd go for it.

I'm working on the 28th. Maybe next month.