All Forum Posts by: Dean Attali

I own one side of a duplex out of state, it's managed by a reputable property management company.

Several months ago I received an email from them saying that there was a large plumbing issue that had to be addressed immediately - the main line collapsed and needed fixing ASAP. They had talked with the owner of the other side of the duplex and verbally agreed to share the bill. They called a plumbing company and fixed it. All of that was done without my knowledge before they had a chance to tell me because of the urgency. I was billed for the job, and my PM has been trying to get the other owner to pay me back half the bill.

Now we're months later and the other owner is unresponsive. My PM gave up on trying get them to pay their 5k. I'm very annoyed that my PM let something this big go by without a written agreement.

Would it be fair for me to put the responsibility on my PM for how they handled it, or do I just need to suck up the fact that I lost that money and it's not their fault?

I live in Toronto, Canada. I'm closing on a house in Kansas, USA.

I need to get the closing documents notarized, and it must be a US notary. In normal times I can do it at the US Consulate, but the Consulate is closed until further notice (COVID). Another option I considered is driving to Buffalo, NY to meet a US notary there, but I spoke with US-Customs+Border Patrol and they assured me that I will be denied entry because it's not essential travel.

The only option I can think of is to fly into the closest US airport, but that seems like overkill. Way too much money and time.

I looked into online notarization, but I'm a little bit confused about it, as I saw that Kansas will only add RON (Remote Online Notarization) legislature in January 2022. 

Does anyone know how I can get my documents notarized in a reasonable way, without having to fly to the US?

I hired out a GC a few months ago to do a major rehab on a rental house. There have been many issues that the new tenant has discovered that made me lose confidence in the contractor, but the latest one scares me because of liability.

3 weeks ago they told me that the stairs have nails sticking out of them and that they can't hammer them back in. I've been trying to reach the contractor ever since and he isn't responding. This week the tenant also told me that they they slipped on the stairs and the nosing came off way too easily, and that after that happened he took measurements and noticed that the stairs were not done up to code. In my contract with the contractor, it says I have a one year warranty on any defected installations. 

What can I do in such a case that he just isn't responding? Since this is now becoming a real liability issue, can I consider suing if he doesn't fix it, since I'm the one who can get sued by the tenant?

I understand these warranty companies are terrible to deal with like insurance. So I understand where he's coming from.

But if you already have a free home warranty currently in place, and something that costs $1000 needs servicing, would you not use the warranty even then? Even if there's a 50% chance they won't end up being helpful, isn't it reasonable to at least try with them first since it can potentially save a lot of money? Or do you literally never use them even if it's free?

I bought a unit less than a year ago, and the water heater in it was less than a year old at the time (it's about 1.5 years old now).

The heater is leaking. Since I have the home warranty, I asked my PM to get this done with them, but my PM told me they refuse to work with home warranty, claiming they will just be a huge headache. I said fine, I'll deal with it myself then - I just need the tenant's phone number so that the home warranty company will be able to schedule with them.

My PM is refusing to give me the tenant's number, claiming that when the home warranty people won't show up it'll be a bad reflection on them and they'll only give me the tenant's number if at that moment our contract is ending and I take on full PM duties.

We agree that I'll find a new PM within 30 days to replace them, but until then I want to deal with the water heater - I want my tenant's number so I can deal with this. But they're refusing to give me the tenant info. They say that our contact specifies that all maintenance is handled by them exclusively, and if I want to go through home warranty I'm breaking the contract.

I don't want to leave the tenant in the dark, but I don't want to end the contract immediately (I'll find a PM as soon as I can). Are they allowed to withhold the tenant information from me? Can they really claim I'm breaking the contract because I want to use the home warranty instead of buying a new water heater?

I have a few rentals in Johnson County, KS and have tried a few property managers. None of them are great unfortunately. I'm getting a new property soon and I'd love to find a PM that I'm happy with that would be able to take care of my units.

I was connected to M&M Property Pros (owned by Michele Belman) and was wondering if some of you have experience with them or any opinions? I wasn't able to find too much feedback online so I would appreciate anything.

Thank you Matthew. Funny that you responded because I'm actually currently invested with you and this question is on behalf of a friend who wants to also invest with you!

I currently invest with a syndicator using my own money, and I'm getting 8% per year back through it, with the hope of getting much more in a few years down the line with the property is sold.

I also have access to a 4% line of credit through my bank. My question is - is it a bad idea to do another similar investment, with an 8% return, if I can get a 4% loan? It essentially means I can get a 4% return on whatever the line of credit is, without costing me anything. I understand the risk of if the deal goes south, then I will have to pay back the LOC plus 4% interest, so in the worst case scenario I lose 4%. But are there any good to not do this?

@Brendon Pishny Thanks! Those are all areas I look at every day. I haven't seen any duplexes in the 200k-250k range though, I do make offers in that range but they never get accepted :) Do you have a good source of off market deals where you find these?

@Brendon Pishny those are expected in any rental I'd buy anywhere in the world. But I don't seem to be able to find any house that the seller is willing to sell for eg. 150k that would rent for 1500. What zipcodes are you finding that in?