All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Taylor Smith

What does your lease say about criminal activity taking place on/at the property by the tenant(s), occupants or guests? If such is prohibited in your lease, then they are in violation of that lease and subject to all that it entails.

Welcome to the DO'ers Club @Gee Williams! Are you seeking only to flip properties, or do you also desire rentals? I am interested in expanding to your area, but currently all of my properties are in the Triangle and Triad areas of NC.

Are you seeking to increase rent? I can't speak to Memphis specifically, but most housing authorities have a form that needs to be completed for a rent increase and it must be submitted in advance of the lease renewal (like 60 days or something like that). But if not increasing rent, then you'll likely only need to get the tenant to sign, and then send it to MHA. You may also consider adding a provision to your lease that it automatically renews either for another term of equal length or on a month-to-month basis.

I'm curious... Living in CA but the property being in MI - what would have been your capital gains tax result on the original flip attempt had it appraised for $200K as you expected? Would you have really gotten to keep those funds or just owe a large portion of the "win" in taxes? And then how would that compare to your tax-free cash-out refi and rental income profit that is likely offset by depreciation and other tax benefits from still owning the property? Personally, when I got into REI, my wife and I owed $14K in taxes each year beyond what was already withheld. We bought 2 rentals and got a $6K refund that next year... So right there we profited $20K on taxes alone. Had I flipped those properties, I would have just been increasing my taxable income. And because I kept them, we got the benefit of their value more than doubling in the following years and continued tax benefits, instead of these going to whomever I would have sold them to in a flip.

And if you got 100 rental applications in 3 days, you're rent is far too low. So, it would seem you have a rental property that beats the 1% rule - which most everyone here on BP would LOVE to have in their portfolio. You really want to sell your golden goose? And why not split the lot and build another house on it yourself? It should also have great numbers when the land was essentially FREE.

In most states it is required to send an adverse action / notice of denial of some sort, with details on the reason(s) for denial and details on how to obtain the credit report (or just credit reporting agency) on which the decision was based. True that a co-signer cannot be evicted; however, they can be held liable for any monies owed should an eviction be required. They can also put pressure on your tenant not to do anything that might cost them money or cause them a credit issue. If I accept a co-signer, I increase the security deposit to the maximum allowed in my state (2x rent). I also require 3x rent as income or a housing voucher, but do not have a minimum credit score requirement. Instead, I let the credit score (and other factors) determine if the security deposit requirement will be 1x, 1.5x (default) or 2x rent. More so than credit score, I am concerned with non-medical and non-student loan collections, liens or judgements, service-related or small collections, prior evictions and recent criminal activity. I do not care about medical or student loan collections, because you're going to the hospital when needed and a person should try to better themselves through education - both of which are predatorily expensive.

First, get to know the agency and personnel at the particular housing authority covering the city/county in which you are targeting properties for acquisition. Some housing authorities are very well run and relatively easy (for a government agency) to work with - and others are a train wreck for which simply getting someone on the phone is impossible and you can hardly get an email response. These are also the ones that will fail your inspection for petty reasons having nothing to reasonably do with any legitimate safety concern and likely a problem that the tenant caused.

When running your numbers, know what HUD/S8 will pay for X bedrooms in that County - but don't count on always coming in at the max rate, as it depends on the tenant. And tenant screening is critical... There are both great and horrible potential tenants with S8 vouchers. But if you do poor screening, you're more likely to get horrible ones - as they are actively seeking landlords who are lack on screening.

Approximately half my tenants have S8 vouchers, and it has been a great experience overall. I was confident during the early COVID shutdown days, knowing that I'd be getting my S8 rent. And I'm now at the point where the housing authority refers people to me directly - as they know I have nice properties that accept vouchers; whereas most landlords don't.

Lastly, know the inspection requirements (rehab to them), do your own inspection in advance of theirs, and get to know your local inspectors.

Hello @Vladimir Amazan - My markets are NC (Raleigh/Durham & Greensboro/Winston-Salem), SC (Columbia & Charleston), VA (Danville & South Boston) & FL (Tampa/ST. Pete & Bradenton/Sarasota) - and I'll go out up to an hour from each of these cities for single-family and small multi-family. Are you seeking distressed properties for rehab or turn-key? And will you be house-hacking?

Maybe squatting can be mitigated by putting alarm systems into vacant properties, so that the break-in can be proven. Maybe then police can take immediate action against that crime instead of having to prove the unlawful occupancy later in court. I have several SimpliSafe alarm systems that I move between properties as they become vacant. But thankfully I've yet to have someone break-in to test this theory.

Certainly a good personal connection attempt that may get through the clutter of other more generic mailings they are also likely getting for a long vacant property. I would follow up the mailing by "skip tracing" the owner and calling them referencing the letter and asking if they mind having brief conversation with you about the property. You may also be able to engage them on social media depending on the skip trace results. If you do get a response and a chance to speak with someone, let them name the price and see if there is any opportunity for subject-to or seller-financing before going with a conventional purchase.

So exactly when does "breaking and entering" (an obvious criminal offense) transition to "squatting" (apparently solely a civil matter)? If someone breaks into my house, I can call the police and they'll arrest the person. But if that person stays and makes a sandwich, now the police can't do anything because it's no longer breaking and entering and has somehow become squatting!?