All Forum Posts by: David DuCille

What is he confused about?  He isn't maintaining your property, got warned tondo something about it, ignored it, and this is what happens.

your additional info, particularly surrounding financing is helpful.  the real question is, do you have the cash to make the repairs needed.  if the needed repairs are what you say than it's very minor.  my investment portfolio is similar to yours in that i'm mostly invested in good homes in good areas it's just that the rental market here in tampa is crazy so I can get way more than 1-200 a door and great appreciation.  but if you truly have the tenant screening to continue to get trouble free tenants than yes, it truly is passive money.  I would just be concerned that a market shift could easily cause someone to need to drop asking rent by 100 and there goes all of your cash flow and of course there aren't any guarantees of appreciation either, only a gurantee of a tenant paying down the principal on the loan. 

every market is different but I just couldn't imagine being in the real estate game if I was only making $100 -200 a door a month.  if the houses need work, are you really getting them below 20-25% below market value?  in other words, is your estimation of their market value based on the current condition they are in or what they would be worth if they were in solid condition?  

Dont buy properties just to buy properties.  If it don't make dollars, it dont make sense.  Your wifes concerns are very valid here.  You need to get in and see all the properties and really understand what you need to do to make them rent for the max and limit your future capital expenditures and maintenance costs.  Perhaps the play is to buy the 5 from him but flip one of them to fund repairs on the others.  Last but not least, dont forget about the lost money due to vacancy while you are making repairs.  

Yes it is

Excellent property that was fully renovated top to bottom in August of 2014.  New roof, AC, tile flooring throughout, real wood cabinetry, with counters and stainless appliances.  Stylishly tiled bathrooms.  Current tenants paying $1395/mo.  Tampa is a very strong area with super low inventory of property.  For more info contact me directly @ [email protected]

everyone has their own style of doing business and I say "let the market dictate"  if his properties are that bad, eventually even the druggies wont want to pay him to live there.  

Also, leases have various clauses so perhaps his properties start on in working, liveable condition but the leases stipulate that all repairs to be made by tenant.  My leases state that items costing under a certain dollar amount are to be fixed by the tenant.  This keeps me from getting calls to change lightbulbs, and toilet flappers.

here in tampa we have a  huge drug problem with street prostitution and shady motels and hotels.  A friend that is a cop in the area was telling me all about it one day.  The sketchy motels rent ROOMS, not apartments but ROOMS for $30 a day and the vast majority of these rooms are utterly disgusting, dirty and gross but these addicts keep on hustling and prostituting themselves for that $30 a day or else they are on the street.  it's Florida, it's 90 degrees + for 8 months a year.  IF all those motels suddenly shut down, where on earth would all of those people go?

There is no easy answer to these problems.

I own one house in "the hood"  i scored it for 25k and decided to put 35k into it to make it a beautiful brand new house.  it's got granite, stainless appliances, real wood cabinetry and nicely designed bathrooms and tile flooring throughout.  part of that was to make it more durable as a rental but the other part was me believing that if you give someone something nice to begin with, they are more inclined to keep it that way.  As a result, i have been getting much higher rents than others in the neighborhood.  I do get some prospective tenants that are priced out or shocked when they hear the asking price but then when they see the place they almost always say, "damn, it's worth what your asking, I just can't afford it"  I took a big risk in the ghetto on being able to find one person willing to live in the neighborhood and willing to pay the asking price and so far, it has been paying off big time for me.  I dont have to rent the house to everyone, I only have to rent it to one family.

This is a business transaction; take the emotion out of it.  No feeling sorry for the "kids".  "Kids" have parents, get them involved if need be.  The advice for an old school beat down i understand but you catch more flies with sugar.  You need to protect yourself and your property and hopefully get them out willingly.  Start with a polite convo with this unwanted tenant explaining to him that the people that leased to him did so illegally and he doesn't have a valid lease and that he has to be out by the end of the month.  Do t even bother trying to get money from him, let the "kids" eat the $$$$.

blinds annoy me too but I don't want my tenants putting them.in themselves, they will half *** it.  Home depot/Lowe's has them from as cheap as $5 depending on the size of the windows.  If u don't want to do it, get a handyman to knock it out for you.

Im a realtor and can tell you when it comes to rental stuff most Realtors suck unless you are in a metropolis like NYC where rentals are commonplace and a moneymaker for them.  I see you posted this 12days ago, how did things pan out?  Honest mistakes do happen from time to time.

hell to the naw naw!  If he was that good of a painter he would be making enough money to pay you a security deposit