All Forum Posts by: David Shaw

Woww, thank you for confirming why I need to sell everything in CA and invest in more landlord friendly states, we all know what color states those are. I have a similar issue in LA city RSO, unauthorized subtenants have taken over a unit and have been there without paying rent for over a year, basically ever since my real tenant left me with this mess. Covid has put everything on delay, and they have not one but TWO lawyers defending them for free. They have been doing everything to lag the process and just buying time. These are dead beats who don't seem to care if I get a judgement against them or anything. The super liberal judge has been unbelievable with the process and everyone is pushing me to pay them large money to just leave, which goes against every fiber of my being and is plain extortion. How can our state and city do this us??? 

My dear fellow landlord, you are not alone in this battle, many of us are suffering with these garbage tenants and even worse the scum "free" lawyers causing us hell. We landlords need to take a stance together and not settle with these scum. If we all agree to this then it might finally put a stop to the next set of horrible tenants thinking they can extort money from us. 

@Tammy Skeath

Sorry to hear about what you're going through, CA has really done a number on small landlords. I am also trying to evict unauthorized tenants and it's taking much longer than 6 months these days, the tenants get free legal aid and they pull out all the tricks and lies to delay. If the tenant is paying I would suggest keeping her for another 6 months to a year until the courts clear their back logs then get rid of her. If she isn't paying then yes might as well attempt to evict, but know it will cost you time and money.

I will never buy in CA again, the landlords are treated like scum here.

More garbage by our garbage politicians, how these morons get elected is beyond me. 

@Chris Platis

Sorry you are going through this, need to just ride this out and know you aren't alone. I am in the same boat in Los Angeles city, and the moratorium does not even have an end date, they have said 1 year after the lifting of the state of emergency, which itself does not have an end date. I am sure all of this will be found to be unconstitutional in the upper courts, but by then it's too late for us to recover any of the loss.

@Allen Wu

Yes, I am in the LA City RSO (Rent Stabilization Ordinance). The properties have seen great appreciation, but dealing with the city's restrictions has been tough. I have heard Pasadena is better in many respects. 

I've been landlording for the last 10 years and it was great, until the last 2 years, but all my current issues are with the government and city. I am in Los Angeles and I still love landlording but NOT in Los Angeles. My issues started with the city rental inspections giving me a long list of complete BS to repair, things like an inch of scraped paint on the outdoor, a tiny crack in one of the bedroom door trims, and many other tiny things that were not real issues. They need to justify their existence so they are now finding "issues" with every rental in Los Angeles. And now my other issue is tenants not paying rent due to the Los Angeles Eviction Moratorium. I have cameras at the properties and see people leave for work everyday, yet they claim covid and don't pay a dime for a year. The city's moratorium is set to expire one year after the end of the emergency state, which currently does not have an end date. To top that off they have a rent freeze in place, I can't raise rent on people paying half of market rent, unbelievable. 

So do I love landlording? YES, with a passion. But I hate Los Angeles. I will hold on a bit longer then I am planning on selling everything and buying else where. 

@Bob Norton Thank you for the feedback, glad to see a CPA thinks so as well. After posting I looked around some more and found I wasn't the first to ask about them. They attend many RE conferences and promote their servies so wondering if anyone has worked with them before. But the idea itself sounds fishy regardless of how professional they look. 

I am constantly looking for ways to reduce my taxes on RE, both the passive cash flow and when selling. I came across Platinum Trust Group through a Live video they did for the AOA (Apartment Owners Association), in which they claim with their Copyrighted Trust you can avoid ALL TAXES and get ultimate Asset protection (better than any LLC or other Trusts supposedly). The idea is everything must remain in the Trust and you are deferring Taxes basically indefinitely, meaning to a time when the Trust is no longer, so multiple generations down the road. Only down side is that the Trust has to pay for everything otherwise it is a distribution.

Has anyone used them before? They seem legit, but want to make sure, wondering why everyone doesn't do this??

Here is the video explaining it and their site:

https://platinumtrustgroup.com...

@David P. that's a great situation, you want to avoid LA City Rent Controlled units.  

I agree that there are major red flags. I am in Los Angeles, and if these are LA City rent controlled units then you can not even offer $2500 for them to leave as Cash for Keys, even if the tenant agrees to such terms. There are minimums the city has put into place, and not only that but the City has to be notified and actually approve of the terms (really ridiculous I know). The minimum is $8,500, and under other conditions go higher up to $18k. So I agree, DO NOT BUY until the unit is emptied. You can find more info here:

https://hcidladev.lacity.org/buyout-agreements?lang=czech

What I would do if I was you would be to "loan" the money for the cash for keys to the Seller and let them get the tenants out before you Buy the place. I think it is worth the risk. Just my two cents.