All Forum Posts by: Chinmay J.

Is there a signed lease? If you signed a NVAR Common Law Lease then there is language in it where it allows you to have access to the property in case of an emergency. That being said, you are the owner of the place, and you need to have a key - emergency or not.  Have you tried talking to a real estate attorney to see if he can be threatened with a lawsuit? Contact some local real estate attorneys in Fairfax County

Thank you to all those who have contributed to this thread in one way or another.  I have been pretty busy dealing with this mess for last couple of days, so couldn't contribute to the thread. 

First of all remember, I can't start the eviction process until December rolls, but we may not have to go that far. Based on the legal advice I did get AFFIDAVIT from the neighbor and got it notarized at the local bank. Today was the 16th day since they allegedly abandoned the place.  I went in with the cleaners and got the place cleaned.  I moved their stuff and sent them the notice by USPS and followed up by text that it will be disposed off in 10 days if they don't collect it from me. 

Just got a text an hour ago from the girl's father that he wants to meet up and talk about negotiating a deal.  We will see how it goes. In the past, I have broken lease agreements with 2-3 months worth rent and then brought the place back on the market. Meeting is scheduled at 6:30 today. 

Never had this happen to me before. I own a place in Loudoun County, VA and recently rented it to a young couple. Seemed like a decent couple and passed the background check just fine. About 10 days after the lease was signed, I got text from the guy saying he wanted to be out of the lease. because he was having issues with his girlfriend. Met with both of them to sort things out, before I left town for a week to basically drill some sense into them and also underline that the entire rent on the lease is due if they decide to break the lease agreement.

I come back from my out of town visit to realize that that the place has been abandoned. Upon inquiring, the neighbor told me that she saw the guy move some of his personal belongings last Wednesday (11/16/16) and left the patio door wide open. 

I went in with Loudoun County Police Officer and secured the place. I did not enter the premises myself. Thankfully, there is no damage to the property. 

This is what the language in the NVAR (Northern Virginia Association of Realtors) Lease Agreement says about abandoned properties under section subtitled as Tenant Duties:

Providing Notification to Landlord if the Tenant intends to be absent from the Premises for more than 14 days. If they Tenant fails to Notify Landlord, Landlord may consider the Premises abandoned. 

The neighbor is willing to sign an affidavit that she saw the guy leave the house on 11/16/16.   So my question is what do need to do in order get in the place and haul their stuff out.  Can I, after 14 days, go in there myself, or do I need to go in front of the judge and go through the court system.  This is not eviction per se, but the people have just left. 

In Virginia, I would just go to the civil court and bring in an unlawful detainer suit against the tenant, if he/she doesn't pay after being served notice.. Don't even need a lawyer, but I will recommend one if you are newbie to this. When the suit is filed, the clerk at the court gives you a date on which judge will see you. If everything goes in your favor, the judge will order eviction, and the sheriff's department will come and evict him. 

You need to check laws of the state where your property is located. Get an attorney if you would like.

I plan to put a clause in saying they need to buy me PIZZA every other Friday - just to see if they even read the damn lease before they sign off on it - because some of them do act clueless when I bring up certain clauses in due course of our tenant-landlord relationship.. LOL. 

@Thomas S. - Thanks for the reply. But I think you missed the point, or perhaps my explanation was not clear enough. I don't want the tenant in place. Even at $160,000, which I think is a tad bit low and would result in the seller not just walking away, but stomping away from the offer, I still don't want the tenant and inherit his 6 month lease. I want the property vacant on the day I own it due to the constraints that come with HML.

I have seen lot of duplexes, triplexes etc listed on Cragislist. Have you tried that route?   Perhaps not populating in list source for some reason?  Maybe everything is lumped under Multifamily

I am new to fix and flipping, although have been investing in buy and hold properties.

Recently, ran into someone who is a landlord wanting to sell his place due to the job he has landed, and decided to accept in a foreign country. He will be wrapping up everything and will be moving out of US in next couple of months. He is one of those accidental investors that we always read about.

Here are the details about the property...

ARV - $260,000- 265,000

Possible deal - $200,000 - $210,000 (Nothing in writing yet)

Repair - $25,000, 30,000. (The place has been extensively used by tenants for last 10 yrs. I am going a little conservative by going a little higher on this amount)

Here is the issue with the property. The tenant's lease is another 6 months. The owner would like to see this deal take place before he leaves the country, as he said he doesn't want to have any pending business once he is gone. The tenant is pretty upset that the owner is selling, and scared the the "mean investor" will be kicking him out. 

For me, I plan to purchase the property with hard money. If I inherit the tenant, I will have to potentially wait for 6 months before I can start any major repair. There is no way I can be doing major repairs with the family living there.

Other than making a nice offer to the tenant (perhaps 1 month's rent), and hope he takes it, what other ways I have go make this deal happen? If this is the route I take, how do I make it happen? Do I do a 3 way agreement with the tenant, seller, and myself for him to vacate the premises and make the offer to purchase contingent upon the tenant leaving? Has anyone dealt with this?  

The larger question here is, that I am bound to end up running into situations like these from time to time. So if an easy resolution is not found here, I am wondering whether to spend any marketing dollars on tenant occupied places. This just was dropped in my lap and I didn't spend a single dime on finding this deal, but I would hate to spend hundreds of dollars and end up in a situation like this. 

You did this at 21? You are going to be one bad to the bone investor. Keep up the good.. in fact great work..

Set SMART goals.. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Bound..   Eliminate distractions and negative influences in life. - That includes well meaning "friends" and family members who always want to pull you down. Read real estate books and other PMA books.. Good luck..