All Forum Posts by: Bernie Neyer

Recently I purchased a small apartment complex. Shortly before we closed a tenant insisted on moving out. The manager at that time let them out and returned part of their cleaning deposit. Our contract required them to give our management company the deposits and 1/2 of the month's rent.

When we got control the vacated apartment was a mess and we needed to replace the flooring and so we didn't return any of the deposit to the seller. Even though the tenant was a pain, from what I've been told, letting them out so quickly should of caused a forfeiture of their deposit.

A few weeks after they moved they started coming back to the complex and hanging out on the stoop of another apartment. Turns out this apartment was the woman's uncle and he began backing them up saying they had just moved to their apartment, which the previous manager did not permit.

The facility didn't allow for wired cameras, so we put up game cameras. When they spotted them, they stopped hanging around. You can always put up  cameras and a sign that says, "This are is being recorded for your safety." You know it is a truth, rules keep honest people honest.

Cameras may help you if someone tries breaking in or there is vandalism.

First of all Joshua, please purchase the Bedford Handbook on English Composition and put some punctuation in your post so this old fart can read them. LOL

CapEx is just a way to calculate the real costs on ownership. If after you include all your costs, for CapEx they usually have a set number they throw in, and you are making a positive cash flow, then the property may not rise up and bite you unexpectedly. It is a way of doing due diligence on the property.

You are correct in one sense, I don't specifically save the CapEx, rather I use the income from my properties at that time to cover the repairs needed. You do however need to keep an adequate reserve of capital to cover unexpected expenses that arise. Problems are like wolves, they run in packs. LOL

The cost for a totally new installation will run as stated $8K to $10K. This would include the electrical and plumbing for gas or fuel oil.

You have to decide what you want though. Do you want a combined unit or dual unit. The combined unit sets outside with the ducting and return going through the foundation some place. A dual unit has the heater someplace inside with the AC unit setting outside. I haven't checked in a while, but the combined units topped out at 80% efficiency. This isn't bad really. I bought a 99% efficient unit for my house, and it wasn't worth the costs over a 90% unit.

If you want to add AC to an existing system, it is almost as cheap to simply update your heater too, as they have to remove it to add the A-coil. If you have an old unit and the AC goes out, you may simply need to replace it for about $1,300. Sometimes you need to replace the A-coil for the new unit though.

Avoid heat pumps unless your cold temperature doesn't get below 30%. There are what they call geothermal units, which consists of burying runs or drilling what is called a well, and running a fluid through it to raise its temperature above 40% so it can extract the heat for the heat pump. It does the opposite when it wants to cool. Geothermal units are expensive.

I'm sorry, you are crazy. Well, just a little. LOL

Think about it. You want to take risks and work harder than everyone else.

You will lose friends because you will succeed while they are treading water.

When you want to talk about your success your friends will become jealous and hold you in disrepute because their cost benefit calculation starts with, "It can't be done."

Your new friends may be wiser, richer and more intelligent than you are.

Give it up. Just have a beer in the hammock in your back yard.

OR . . . do it and have the same beer on the same hammock, only this time on a beach somewhere.

Good Luck.

There is a Blog pertaining to this issue.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/10/17/38-addendums-battle-ready-lease/?utm_source=newsletter

She says charge her 2 month's additional rent AFTER she moves out.

All of my mortgages are local, even though not all my properties are. Every mortgage I have is an ARM, they just won't do a fixed rate. Larger banks will do fixed rates, but usually only for personal residences.

See if you can get them to do what is called a 5-5-1. This means the rate adjusts every 5 years and the maximum rate increase is 1%. This limits the adjustment to a 3% increase over the life of a 20 year mortgage.

Most will do an 80% LTV, but a few will only do a 75% LTV for new investors.

Greg,

I don't care what NOLO says. I have the filing papers in my hand right now and it says differently.

I have litigated 10 Small Claims cases and have spoken extensively with an attorney who happened to be an aquantence. Right on the paper it says you can only collect filing fees and actual damages. I tried to collect attorney consultation fees and the Magistrate wouldn't allow it. Once I won the case I was allowed to assess certain collection costs.

I have been in 4 different county courts appearing in front of 5 different Magistrates. They all handled the litigation differently. 

None of this pissing contest is helping answer the original question, so ignore EVERYTHING on this thread as no one knows what they are talking about. Go counsult an attorney. Most will spend the first 15 to 30 minutes with you for little to nothing.

In reference to Greg above, I'm holding a filing for Kansas and it says differently. 

i stated previously that Small Claims vary by state, but most do not allow attorneys as the whole concept of Small Claims is to not need an attorney.

As far as judgements, that certainly will vary by state. It wasn't that long ago that Kansas had a $2K limit. The problem I run into now days are expenses that exceed a recoverable amount in Small Claims.

Now when it comes to mediation, everything is out the window. They can and will do anything they want. Usually though mediation is for larger amounts and the litigants are trying to avoid legal cost as that can eat up a judgement.

As for the original case, which is what we should be discussing here, they said it was Small Claims. Usually in you can only get actual losses and not punative damages, which is what treble awards are.

If you Google it, I'd bet you could easily find online your state's statutes and a detailed, user friendly explanation as to what is or is not allowed. 

I'm not an attorney, but to my knowledge, no. The whole concept of Small Claims is that you don't have to have an attorney to litigate, nor defend yourself. The courts interpret that as you don't get to have an attorney at trial. Now, he may sit in the gallery, but if he is communicating with you, the magistrate can expel him from the court room. If one party brings an attorney, and the other doesn't that sets them at a disadvantage. Usually in Small Claims, the court holds the hands of the litigants so to speak. In Limited Actions, that is different. You can have an attorney, but I've seen some appear Pro se.

What may differ by state is the plaintiff's ability to collect more than just damages and more than purely money. In a regular action you can lay claim to non monetary items to be sold at auction to retire the debt incurred by the defendant at trial. O.J. Simpson is a case in point. The items he was trying to secure at gun point in Vegas were seized in relation to the trial for wrongful death he had lost.

Here in Kansas, and surrounding states, you can only seize money. You can't seize personal items to secure the debt. You can only sue for actual damages and in Kansas the limit is $4K.

What I didn't mention previously is that if you are an LLC you have to have an attorney. You can't appear Pro se, so in that one case, you can have an attorney. This is because of the masking a company does for its share holders. Your LLC may only have a single share holder, yourself, but the courts don't know this and so require you to have an attorney so that all of the share holders are represented.