All Forum Posts by: Davit Gharibyan

 Yes, this is a red flag.

 Thanks for the reply.

He is not on a government program. That's the concern. Per application criteria I need a 3 years verifiable rental history which shelter is not... 

I have been managing a property by myself since 2021. I have light rehabbed 17 units and filled them. I have also been maintaining them, addressing any issues/repairs. 

I am looking to bring on more people on board as it gets overwhelming dealing with so may things. For the beginners I am looking to get a handyman to help me out fixing stuff, turning units, etc. 

How would one go about it? Since it's a small property, it does not generate enough revenue to hire a full time handy man person.

Would you contract a person or hire them part time?

What is the best practice?

I have worked with someone in the past, but the job they did, let's just say was not that great. I ended up doing things after a few months in.

Hi,

An applicant put a Salvation Army shelter as his address. 

I have called and verified that he lives there. According to them he had to take care of some financial responsibilities while there, now he is ready to transition to regular housing. He is not paying them rent, he just has a room/are to live in.

Now, on my rental application I specifically state that I require references from landlords and/or management companies. No relatives, friends etc. references are accepted. There are some exceptions, like person just moving to the USA, young adults, prior homeowners. In these scenarios the rental history requirement may vary. 

How would you go about in his scenario?

I appreciate the responses.

 💯. I'm working on lining up a deal before I sell this one. 

Fill the vacancies and start selling. I'm starting to look for an exchange as well. It'll be interesting with the way the rates are.

@Richard F. I like your ideas quite a bit. I have looked into installing cameras and was quoted $15-16k. The building has glass storefront doors in front and back. I lost the track of how many times I have replaced the back door push paddle and mortice mechanism. It seems to last a week... I thought about installing the keycard lock system but have not requested quotes. 

After dealing with all the evictions and tenant issue, I 100% agree to have a vacancy instead of filling it with bad tenant. Once they get the keys, it'll turn into nightmare. That's what happened with one of my tenants: they were all nice and passed the screening, but then funny business with drugs/gangs started. Hopefully the tenant will move out tomorrow, per agreement; we shall see.

The other issue with the area is no matter how good of a job you do, if the next door building rents to felons/criminals, what can you do about it? The whole neighborhood suffers. You see them all hanging together, etc. Interesting how that works.

One are worth exploring is gathering other owners/operators together to discuss and create a strategy to stick to similar rules, enforce stuff to improve the area. This is if every landlord wants to do it. Based on what I have seen, many landlords just do not care. They have revolving door with tenants; every month people are in and out.

If someone is going to keep the deal for years to come, it's worth the investment, but if you're looking to sell and get out of the area, I don't think it's worth spending that money.

Good points though.

Yep, everyday.

Last year I bought a 17 unit deal in a rough part of town. I was in a 1031 exchange period and pulled the trigger bit fast, lets just say.

When you visit the area, it doesn't look bad. The streets are fine, although if you pay attention to parked cars you'll notice lots of beat up/broken down vehicles (1st sign). An uninitiated person might not notice this tale tale sign of a rough area. 

The other issue is that the area consists of many small multifamily buildings next to each other owned by different owners; there's an alley in the back and everyone's trash dumpsters are there. Since buildings are next to each other there is lots of dumping is going on, resulting in a messy back alley and high fees/fines from city and trash company.

The third and the most important issue is the area has a bad stigma. Shootings, gang activity, drug deals are a frequent occurrence there. Again, it's difficult to see these things when you first tour the area; things seem to be fine.

I knew that the area is not the best one, even my broker warned me about it, but I thought how bad can it get. Trust me it can get very bad, very fast.

During this year there has been 4 evictions, I am still dealing with one, criminal activity in the property, building back door repeatedly being broken for easy access, unauthorized occupants in units, pet poop all over the place (pets are not allowed any more).

Because the area has a bad stigma, attracting market rate tenants is impossible. The market rate ones ended up being evicted for rent delinquency. The only stabile rent source has been from Section 8 and other assistance programs.

Due to vacancies and evictions I lost several thousands in income. People say that rough areas produce high cash flow; it hasn't been the case so far. 

This deal has been nothing but a headache: tenants destroying units, criminal activity, legal fees, headaches and nerves...

Did I learn a lot? You bet. I was speaking to the owner of next door building, who had his property for 20 + years; he told me if you can run a deal in this neighborhood you can run it anywhere.

Would I do it again? Absolutely not.

I am, however, grateful for the experience and learning opportunity.

Just wanted to vent and share my 2 cents.

 I agree.