All Forum Posts by: Calvin Lin

Hi Shaun I also invest in the Triangle area (2 units in Chapel Hill near UNC, 3 units in Raleigh near NCSU, 1 unit in Cary and soon one more in Holly Springs soon).  All my units near the university campuses rent fast, 2 weeks or less if priced correctly and right before school starts, otherwise during summer it may sit for a couple of months.  The Cary townhouse I rented in 1 day after closing but it is Cary and you know how desirable that town is with the school system.

 Just out of curiosity what part of Hawaii can you buy a condo for < $250K?  Can't be anywhere in Honolulu, right?  That place is out of control price wise.  My sister lives there and seen first hand the high prices.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.  My PM finally got back to me after my pestering and said "NC law forbids utility caps", which is a surprise to me.  I offered to pay for an energy efficiency expert to come in and do a survey and also to have the A/C checked out as many have suggested.

Thanks Alex.  The condo is half the size of your house, at 1,220 SF.  I own a similar unit nearby and the electricity bill was $175 for that unit.  That's why I think someone is wasting energy in that unit to get to $300.

Hi folks,

I have a sticky situation at one of my condo rentals in Raleigh, NC.  It is a 4 BR unit where I pay the utilities.  The renters are all students at the nearby State U.  The electricity cost is paid by me due to the fact that it is easier to rent that way and some of the renters were holdovers when I purchased it late 2015 and that was what the old lease said.  For some reason the last few months the electricity bill has gone up to almost $300 per month.  The lease does not have a utility cap.  Questions:

1) I have a manager for this unit but she has not responded to my concern about the high electrical bills while other issues do get her attention.  My guess is that she doesn't think this concerns her and her only job is to collect the rent and pay the bills.  My contract with her company does not mention anything specific about a situation like this where tenant technically did not break any rule but is costing me a fortune nevertheless.  What do you think a property manager's responsibility should be in such a situation?  

2) If my manager does not get involved I feel that I still have to find out what is going on myself by sending the renters a letter to ask them what is going on in the condo, like are they just setting the thermostat too low all day every day or is there something malfunctioning in there.  What is the best approach here, given that they are under no contractual obligation to help me to lower the utility bill?  Do I just flat out ask them to reset the thermostat or something or is there a better way?

Thank you for your inputs.

I did the same as you, I have 5 units (all cash purchases) in one LLC, each unit having max liability insurance of $1 million individually and then the LLC carries a commercial umbrella policy of $3 million.

Hi,

I purchased a 3BR condo in Raleigh, NC closing on 9/25/2015.  There are 3 tenants in the condo and one of them mentioned to the last owner that he was leaving by end of Sept.  During closing the former owner asked me if it is OK that the security deposit can be returned to the departing tenant since it is only 5 days left before he departs and I said yes without thinking too much about it.  Since then this tenant said he can't leave until 10/31/2015 and asked for an extra month and I said yes and he promised to pay the one extra month of rent.  But so far he has refused to pay rent and won't answer calls or emails.  I have a new tenant coming in on 11/1/2015.  I do not have a current lease with this tenant, only with the other 2 who resigned with me after the closing.  I am hoping he will really leave by end of Oct as he said but since there is no valid lease between him and me, I am not sure what happens if he doesn't.

Of course now I know that I should not have agreed to the return of the deposit until he has actually moved out, maybe that was part of his master plan from the beginning and I am not that interested in pursuing a $450 rent in small claims court.  The most important thing is I want him out of that condo.  I read up on the NC tenant eviction laws but the thing is I do not even have a lease with him; to me he is an unauthorized squatter so I am not even sure the tenant law is applicable in this case.  I am wondering what option I have if he refuses to leave?

Thanks for feedback.

HI all,

I just purchased 4 condos in the Raleigh, NC area using cash.  Now I am thinking of taking out equity line of credit against each of the condo's.  I tried TD Bank and the closing cost is really high, from $3,000 to $12,000 is what they said.  PenFed CU said they do not do first lien, which these are.  Does anyone have any other leads that can help?

Thank you in advance.