All Forum Posts by: Mark Hu

After my mother's passing, Wells Fargo bank has locked up her business account. My sister, who is executor of her estate, cannot access it. I am cosigned on account, and have helped manage the account for decades. This has been going on for months even though we have been trying to comply with the paperwork. What are our options?

thanks

I see under a property manager we are not entirely unprotected, but no iron clad protection. Things will probably be okay, but if something bad happens we may just have to face a mess of lawsuits and other nastiness. This is a tough business.

I was hoping property managers had some kind of special insurance that protected their property owning customers against everything, but no such luck.

I do agree property management provides a vital service. But liability is the biggest concern, it can cost you the property. If they could protect you against mistakes of their employees that would be the greatest peace of mind, but from what you say that protection is rather grey.

The last property manager I had never hired licensed contractors. They always hired handyman. Licensed contractors are usually insured. I would have to check to see all my manager's handymen are insured? I don't see how I can do that.

Let say a handyman does some welding and starts a fire. That could be devastating. Or if a property manager sexually harasses a tenant, the lawsuit could be expensive. These would be employees of the property management company and might not be able to have insurance on their own.

I would want a property manager to take care of things, and I don't want to be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars if one of their employees makes a mistake. Is it normal for a property management company to be fully insured for their employee errors?

I am thinking of hiring a property manager company again. But all the contracts I have seem to make them free of liability for any mistakes of their handymen, managers, ect. This is of concern for me because I have seen enormous problems caused by a careless repairman. What is the standard of this in the industry?

Thanks

Hi Everyone.

My family owns nine units in Southern California. We want to find a handyman to do non hazardous jobs like replacing kitchen disposals and such. We do not know many local property owners. How would you recommend going about finding someone like that? And how would we run a check on his background?

Thanks

I know people in real estate who handle millions of dollars in investments, own yachts, airplanes, for sure they need a lawyer all the time. But someone who owns 2-7 residential income properties and is squeezing by on their mortgages? Come on.

This forum is sure a strange place. In fact most areas of real estate I've been involved in are damn strange places.

I would think one would only resort to a lawyer if one wanted to sue somebody! That's how it is with leases.

Well, in a real estate lease there are specific remedies provided if one side or the other does not live up to the provisions written in the lease. I am interested in the same rules that govern the contract between contractor and homeowner. For example, I know there is a 3 day grace period after a contract is signed when the homeowner can rescind the lease. 

Hah. Only as a last resort.