All Forum Posts by: David Terbeek

Welcome to the Cleveland market.  Here are a couple accountants that you can check with obtaining your ITIN and getting things set up.

Richard J. Sharp,Sharp Legal Group, www.michigantaxadvice.com

Stateside APM;  https://www.statesideapm.com/

Yes, unfortunately, it does take several weeks to get a hearing date in Cleveland court.  We just got our dates a few days ago.  Here is the website to find your docket.

https://clevelandmunicipalcour...

Ohio makes it really easy to register a foreign business entity.  You can certainly have an attorney do it for you but you can also do it yourself in about 10 minutes and for around $25.  Use the File Online feature on the secretary of state website.  https://www.ohiosos.gov/busine...

On 1-4 family sales, a title company is required to obtain a Certificate of Disclosure from the city of Cleveland.  The city answers whether there are violations or condemnation and the buyer signs that they receive it before closing.  Was this form completed?  Was a condemnation disclosed?  Very interested because I was just working on a similar case for a client on Friday.

Here is a link to the form:  https://www.clevelandohio.gov/...

The suggestion by @Nathan Gesner to start at www.narpm.org is solid - these are companies that are associating with a professional trade organization.

I am sure some PMs will disagree for varying reasons but note the termination process.  If there is no termination fee and an easy out (like a 30 day notice to terminate) that may suggest the PM is motivated to perform and demonstrates their confidence in the service.

Finally, to add to some of the counterpoints above.  That super long list of questions are valid but a good PM is interviewing you for fit while you are interviewing them.  You may miss on some good PMs if you ask too many question and they think you will be high maintenance with a never ending series of questions (even if not the reality). So choose the questions that are most important to you.

@Nathan Fisher  Truth

Chris-  We are in need  of rehab vendors.  I will send you a PM

@Steven Foster Wilson  Agreed, 95% of our management clients are OOS or even out of country.

Few agents work with investors.  Of those few, even fewer are really good at working with investors.  That niche of qualified investor agents can be found through online searches, asking a property management company or investor friendly lender for a referral or looking around at posts for agents in your market that are posting on BP.  NARPM.org is a trade group specifically for this industry representing management companies, that may be a good place to ask a PM for a referral.

The first question you may consider asking, to keep a call quick if you get a negative response, is how many investment properties have they sold in the last year(s)

The Cleveland court has been slow to schedule court dates but not that slow.  We filed a handful in mid-late July and had dates in 4-5 weeks.  After you get a date, it gets continued so the tenant can consult with Legal Aid, it gets continued a few more times while they try to get financial assistance, it takes a few more weeks for the judge to sign off on the magistrate's verdict then a couple weeks for the bailiff to show up - then you might get close to 4 months to have them out.  But, not for the first court date.

You can check the court docket at: https://clevelandmunicipalcour...

As Andrew said, don't accept money unless you have already had a hearing and the magistrate says you can accept without prejudice.