All Forum Posts by: Dan Smith

@Taylor Gillette - Welcome! I live right in Haverhill in my first Multi-Fam (Bought in December 2015).  I would be happy to meet up with you and share ideas about what I've experienced so far and bounce thoughts off of each other if you would like:)  BP has been a great resource for me, I have decided I am currently going to focus on 3 family buildings in the Haverhill area, and I have been able to ask questions and get lots of answers from all walks of life within this forum.  The biggest piece of advice I can give you about BP is that you will get 20 different answers to a single question, so it's up to you to decide the best way to approach your particular situation based on your particular comfort level.  There are a lot of strong opinions here!! (Most of which are very very helpful!)

@Mike Hoefling,

Market rate for the apartment is 1400/mo.  I know its a steep increase from 850 to 1200, but thats fair market value, I already tried to help them out by just going up to 1200.  I'm already softer than I should have been on them and thought we were all in an understanding.

Yesterday I served them a 30 day notice to quit.  So the very latest they will be in my apartment is the end of Feb.  My original question is the key take away that I'm trying to get. I'm looking for advice on how to show them that they do, in-fact, owe me the 1200 that we agreed on.

I'm in an interesting dilemma here:

Quick backstory: I bought a three family in Massachusetts a little over a month ago.  I inherited tenants on the first floor.   Before actually closing on the house, I drove out to introduce myself to the new tenants to show them that I'm a real human being and go over changes that would take place for them.  They currently pay 850/mo, they have been paying that for 10 years.  I told them that the rent will be increasing to 1200/mo and i wanted to let them know as far ahead as possible, in case they felt that they couldn't afford it and needed to find a new home.

On the day of closing I presented them with a letter stating the rent increase to 1200, this was dated December 16 and told them that as of February 1, their rent was to go up.  

Fast forward to yesterday (January 8), they tell me that they don't have to pay the increased rent because I never sent the letter via certified mail, (their lawyer friend apparently told them this).  I am obviously frustrated as I feel that they are trying to be slick here.  I let him know that it didn't have to be sent certified because I gave it to him in person, but he insisted he was correct.

I am curious what my options are to educate them that they do indeed have to pay the increase and that me presenting the letter in person was appropriate?

Also, If I am wrong, I would love to use this as a learning experience and see what other info some may have.

Let me know if I'm missing any details here to make the situation easier to understand!

@Ralph R.

My Fiancee and I just moved to Haverhill (Bradford area), I can say that it is definitely competitive. We just bought a three family here and I feel that we were pretty lucky with our deal. I found it through the MLS, but I just witnessed a three family on our same street go up for sale and the yard sign came down about a week later. I never even saw it on MLS.

I keep my eyes peeled for other listings, but I feel that it will be a tad difficult to continue to grow my land empire here! (doesn't mean I won't try!). I just ran a quick look while posting this and noticed 18 properties currently listed in the MLS that are multi fams. None of those are in the Bradford area, which to me, is the spot I want to focus on. (Bradford is more desirable and just nicer in general, for what I'm looking for).

We also considered Newburyport/Amesbury and ran into the same problem that you described with sellers wanting wayyy too much for their properties which wouldn't let the numbers work.  I would definitely recommend Haverhill if you can deal with that sort of population as it was the next closest area that I felt had a steady looking investment opportunity.

Good luck with your search and feel free to PM me with any thoughts/questions.  I would love to meet up with other investors in the area to get a pulse on Northwest area in general.

Welcome aboard @Anthony Woods! I'm very new to the forums myself, this forum is a great place to learn and get some good opinions!!

I'll definitely update everyone as this moves forward!  it's still a while from the closing, so hopefully everything works out the way it should!

Wow! Thanks for all this help guys!  I'm a little worried that this could turn into a headache, but I guess that's just a risk you have to take.  The current owner won't kick them out for me, we've had that conversation...

My plan would be to move into the 2nd floor on December 4th, give them their notice that day or the next day and allow them to stay through Jan 31.  That seems to be the best, most law-abiding way to do things.

Big Thank you's to @Rob Beland and @Rob Morris for some clarification and some help on this matter!

Based off of what @Rob Morris said, I do also want to state that I know no one can give me legal advice!!  But just making sure I'm doing everything by the book on my end.

Here's my situation:

I'm closing on a three family house in Massachusetts for December 4th.  Currently the first and third floors have tenants, the second floor is vacant.  Both current sets of tenants have lived in the building for a few years and are tenants at will.  I would like to live on the first floor (where tenants currently live).

This is my first home and it will be owner occupied, the current owner refuses to tell the tenants to leave. 

I am thinking that when I close on December 4th, I tell the current tenants on the first floor that they have a 30 day notice to vacate the unit so that I may live there.  I also, in tandem, move temporarily into the second floor unit for the month until they are gone.

My question is are there any legal ramifications that I can face for just giving them notice the day I have ownership of the property? Their current lease (signed in 2007) says that they are month to month and they need a 30 day notice to leave.  Am I missing anything?

The tenants in question are a family of 5, living in a 2 bedroom space.

I'm happy to provide any other info that I am missing...

As an update to our situation - the house was nice looking in person, but had knob and tube wiring as well as some other problem areas that were of concern to us.  Our Realtor ran comps on the house and, while the seller was asking 349k, the next closest house to that was 299k in that same area.  After thinking, we decided to offer at 320k, which was what my fiancee and I felt comfortable with, considering what we are looking for.

It did not get accepted as they received multiple offers and apparently received an offer for well over asking price.  We are not discouraged by this and actually went to another viewing yesterday for a three family.

This was the very first time we made an offer on a house so it was a great learning experience, and I am glad that I was able to go through the process at least once to understand it all.  Now I am more prepared for the next time we want to make an offer on a house and we are that much smarter about what we are going to do.

I appreciate everyone's input and hopefully I'll be posting in the forums again shortly!  We're actually making another offer on a house today in a different part of town! Wish me luck :)