All Forum Posts by: Jeff B.

If you were in the Navy then you were probably stationed in Norfolk.  The Naval staffing forecast is for a slight increase in personnel.  That being said most parts of the Norfolk, Virginia Beach area are self sustaining and not as reliant on the Navy, or Oceana which is good.

There are plenty of NATO personnel that are stationed in the area as well.  The Hampton Roads area has a very stable economy right now and should for the near future.  

You will just need to treat this area like any area you investment and perform your due diligence and select multiple properties and determine which ones have the highest potential overall for your investment goals.

There are Pros and Cons to learning about RE investing by purchasing a condo.

It will still have to meet all the qualifications any other investments meet as the goal is the
return on investment and cash flow.  

No disrespect to Brian but there are some good points to COA/HOA's the main one being they have rules and bylaws so that the community follows a certain set of standards. There are still tons of people who will buy or rent within an COA/HOA because they like that the who community will be maintained to a certain standard, the cost of shared amenities is spread out, there is a management company who will handle all the maintenance items on the exterior of the unit for you and usually budgets for replacement of items.

The cons of a COA/HOA is that they require an application/approval process. They may have rules on the percentage of units that can be rented. They may have community rules that are considered strict which will limit your potential rental customers. Why they have a "fiduciary duty" to maintain, budget and plan for the maintenance and replacement of items throughout the community does Not mean they are funding the reserves properly.

The amount of COA/HOA fees you will pay will be determined by the community size, amount and type of amenities, current budget, percentage funding the reserves.  The average for a couple of my rentals in Florida is between 28% and 32% of the monthly rental amount.

Regarding the tenant's use of the A\C Jimmy Devenport posted a link to the Owner/Tenant Act in NM Section 47-8-22 "E. use in a reasonable manner all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and other facilities and appliances including elevators, if any, in the premises"

If the A\C repair person is stating that the tenant is operating the A\C in a manner that it is not designed for than I would think this is Not a reasonable manner.  This is my opinion so check with an attorney.

I would contact a board member directly and inform them you would like to file for variance to the 20 % bylaw.  The worst is they say no, and since variances are not uncommon you have a fair chance of being granted one.  

I have a specific addendum in my Florida leases regarding using "reasonable efforts to the dwelling unit in such a condition as to prevent the the accumulation of moisture and the growth of mold."  Additionally it says in the addendum that they most notify me if they discover any evidence of mold.

Unless they are causing damage to the dwelling or there is mold presence that can be attributed to leaving the windows open then you may have little recourse.  I would be more worried about them leaving the windows open when not home and it rains into the dwelling.  

Troy originally from Virginia Beach.  You can manage the home yourself as long as
you are willing to educate yourself on the "Virginia Landlord tenant act" the pdf can be downloaded from the state website.  The language is pretty easy to understand and search for specific info in the Act.

I use a realtor who provides the VAR Form 200 residential lease it is pretty solid and contains a section for military members, diplomats and so forth.

Additionally you need to make sure that the tenant signed a Military Crash Zone addendum and all other required addendum's.

Lastly you just need a good spreadsheet which you can develop over the coming month's that covers rent, expense, taxes, insurance, repairs, marketing, advertising fees, and any utilities you provide.  

As you know you will want to raise the rent on the next lease renewal to as close to fair market rent to help build reserves for the future replacement or repair of the home.

You will need to depreciate the value of the kitchen faucet and flooring if you plan to bill
bill the tenant.  Be prepared for pushback as "kinda admitted" does not hold up well if you go to court.  They either admitted to damaging the faucet or did not and the plumber would need to provide an affidavit specifiying the damage to the kitchenn faucet was caused by misuse or negligence of the tenant.   

The 12 month lease is pretty common due the factors the others have mentioned (potential vacancy, costs for finding, qualifying tenant, stress on landlord, if unfurnished potential damages and repairs due to frequent moving.)

In Florida you need to be careful with the Home Owners Association and Condo Owners Associations because a lot of times in the documents they state you can only rent out the property X amount of times a year.  

The attorney's statement seems good. I would have tweaked a little to read

"We are making every effort to re-rent the unit" to mitigate the damages.

It is not clear if this property is in Wisconsin, but take a look on the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection website regarding "terminating tenancy" 
It talks about the tenant sending written notice to the landlord and this starts a 21 day for the return or accounting of the security deposit.  Additionally I believe you can charge the tenant for the advertising and marketing costs to re-rent the property.

You could also set up some speakers towards the convenience store and play classical music to help deter any crime.  Laugh but it does seem to disperse the loiters who are less savory.