All Forum Posts by: Brian Kloft

Don't worry about the inspectors being nit picky. If you are taking care of your places then that isn't a problem. The bigger problem is going to be the numbers. Which tends to be behind the times when if comes to the amounts their vouchers are paying. With rents rising the way they have they have not kept up. Most people building any multi family are having to rent them out in the top range of the market to make any money on the costs of a new build and Sec 8 would not pay that amount. The only multi family I have seen built for sec 8 is subsidized to get built so it can pencil. First find out what the Sec 8 voucher pays for a 1 bed, 2 bed, 3 bed etc in your area and look to see how those numbers work for you. 

 In her original post it sounds like the seller did not mention a 1031 until the day of closing so she didn't know. My guess, pure speculation, is that the seller found out right before closing that they would be hit with huge capital gain taxes. According to my 1031 person they get a lot of people who come to them after they close wanting to do a 1031, or like this seller, only realizing the rules right before closing and contact a 1031 company just days before closing. 

I could be wrong but I doubt any judge or jury will hold her to a higher standard because she is a broker since the seller is an attorney. I doubt the judge would allow a lawyer to say a broker had more knowledge than the lawyer, and I believe most juries like attorneys much less than brokers so I doubt the argument would hold with them either. 

I agree with others, proper screening of tenants, doing what you are supposed to do, don't be a slumlord, respect your tenants and treat them nice. Those are the main things to do. Also know the rules and laws so that you don't step on a landmine.

We are all doing a bunch of speculating here because none of us have all of the details or the contracts. However with all of those saying that they think there is no contract because your lawyer canceled it, I think they are missing your other statement that you only ever signed the original agreement. I don't think your lawyer can actually cancel the contract without you signing the cancelation notice. Without your signature on the cancelation I would guess that it is just a warning from your lawyer to them that you would be canceling. Perhaps NY is different but here in AZ your lawyer can't modify or cancel your contract without your signature on the notice. So if you didn't sign the cancelation notice I doubt it was an actual cancelation notice. Normally on something like this our answer is check with your lawyer so I think that answer still applies to this as we are not lawyers. 

Personally I would hold their feet to the fire for one of two options. Either they close the deal that they agreed to. (You may be in a town of only 50k people but what is she going to say? You made her do the deal that she agreed to? and that is horrible how? To complain she has to say that she was breaking the deal because she didn't read a 4 page document selling a property for $750k. Or she didn't have her attorney review it. It will only make her seem foolish.) If you don't want to hold their feet to the fire and make them close then you should at least demand damages for canceling the contract. Since you went under contract I am assuming that you have spent money on inspections, attorney fees, getting other things ready for close? Plus you are now out the interest on the money that you have wired and your time. I am certain that if you breached the contract and didn't close after all of your outs were gone that they would want to keep your $10k earnest money and wouldn't just give it back to you. How hardball you want to be is up to you.

 That sounds great, I am sending you a pm.

First off I am not familiar with the laws in your state. However most states allow non licensed people to do all activities on one property. Typically this is so that apartment complexes don't have to have all of their office staff licensed. Also often if you are working directly for one owner and not multiple owners then you are an employee of that owner and that is often a way around the licensing rules, but you would need to be their "employee" not a manager their hired as an independent contractor. Again every state has different rules so verify it. As far as compensation goes, hourly is fine since you don't know how much time it will take; but make sure to have a minimum amount to compensate you for being 'on call' in case there is very little to do while they are on vacation.

 I am looking at mini splits as an option but with it just being the bedrooms it will not pencil very well. For the main living room it might if that one is dead. 

 Thanks, I have one property that has one of those in it already and I replaced that old dial one with a digital thermostat. The two bedroom baseboard heaters are dead so I need to replace them anyways. I am also looking at minisplits. 

Good info, thanks for the insight. I didn't even know where Langlois was before your post. If someone had said that name to me I would have thought it was from Lord of the Rings. :))  

I have a property on the Oregon Coast that I need to replace some electric baseboard heaters. These and cadet heaters are very common in the area. However I am looking for a more modern option. For example when I replace a cadet heater I typically spend more and replace it with the new digital thermostat ones. You can actually set a temperature (instead of guessing the temp with turning the dial) and it will also adjust the amount of power it is using based on how far away from the set temp that it is in the place. I am looking for something like this for the baseboard heaters. More controllable and more efficient. I am also open to the idea of a different style of heater such as a wall mount as I have seen plenty of those that have modern controls but for replacement simplicity I would prefer to stick with baseboard heaters if I can find what I want. Any ideas? Thanks