All Forum Posts by: Dan Crenshaw

I can’t say that I do. My overall message is “I didn’t evict you, you evicted yourself”.

150k for a Multi in Union county either needs a lot of work, or has bullet holes and barred windows. Areas like Irvington and some areas of Newark look great on paper, but good luck getting your money. Roselle isn’t too bad, but the taxes are INSANE and crush most of your cash flow. Not saying there aren’t deals out there, but just be careful. It’s a tough market. Best of luck. 

Don’t fall in love with a property, just because it’s a good deal. There are millions of properties out there. They come and go all the time. Don’t get hung up on just one. 

It’s an investment. No more, no less. Treat it as such. Crunch the numbers and pay what’s it’s worth to you. If you pay what you feel it’s worth, 1.) you’ll have no regrets, and 2.) if some other guy outbids you and overpays for it, let HIM take the loss, not you. 

@Kenny Dahill She used a checking account. I wonder if it would be any different with a credit card.  Either way, it’s a horrific mess.

@Ryan Mahoney I’ve been using them for about 18 months so far, and aside from this, I haven’t had any issues. It’s just the lack of fraud protection is a scary thing that other investors probably don’t know about. Hopefully you never have to deal with this. 

I know this is an older post, but here’s an issue I just ran into with Cozy. I had a tenant move out early, and the day before she did, she disputed her Feb Cozy payment with her bank. She got her money back. Then, because she got away with it, she did it for January as well. I talked to Cozy and they can’t do anything about it. Shockingly enough, neither can the banks. I have to take her to small claims to TRY to get it back. Cozy offers NO protection against old tenants committing this kind of fraud. 

So here’s a silly scam that I’ve never read about. I use Cozy as a PM tool, and as great as they are, they were no help on this one.

So I just evicted one of my tenants, and right before she left, she disputed her last rent payment with her bank. And after the payment was deducted from my account and deposited back into hers, she disputed the prior months rent as well. That one is currently pending. Has anyone else run into a scam like this? A trash move by a trash tenant for sure!

@Dennis M. Yea, but there are good and bad tenants anywhere.  Lets not paint with a wide brush, now.

@Theresa Harris I did.  She made a promise to make payments after she leaves.  But I'll believe that when pigs fly. The PM company would not release that information to me, so I'm going to have to find out from her.  I think the PM company's hands are tied in the event a bank has a disputed charge.  They legally have to release those fund back to the bank.

@Philip Lassman Adding it to the lease may not be a bad idea.  However, I wouldn't want any new tenants feeling like there is wiggle room on how flexible I am with delinquent rent. 

Could use some advice with a problem tenant.  First a little of the back story:

I took my 2 tenants (they are roommates) to court back in December because they were 2 months behind on their rent. Monthly rent is $1600 and they pay $800 each.  They made a rent payment a week before the court date, which brought the outstanding balance down to $1856.  After we went to court, we had a signed consent to enter judgement in which they agreed to each pay $1109 per month (due by the 5th) for 3 months, thus bringing the rent current by March.  The first tenant paid her $1109 on time and the second did not.  When I reached out to her on the 5th and reminded her that it was the last day she could pay, she told me she lost her job and that she was leaving (typical).   This jammed the first tenant.  Since the delinquent rent was all because of the second tenant, I decided to provide a solution to the first tenant.  I told her that if she found a qualified roommate, that we could amend the lease and move forward.  She could not find someone so we had to move to option 2.  I told her that if she paid her rent for February, she could stay for half of February, since that is what was paid for.  She agreed to that.

Now the fun part of the story:

I am using a property management software for my tenants to pay their rent online.  She paid her rent for February, and everything is going fine.  That is until she disputes her own charge with her bank on February 12, and the property management company gave her her money back.  Is this legal?  Isn't this fraud? She lived in the property, then right before she leaves, she gets a refund on the way out!  Up to date, they are now $4k behind on rent and caused about $1200 in damages (above and beyond normal wear and tear), and their security deposit is only $2400.  

Has anyone else run into this and does anyone have any advice then could lend?

Umbrella policies are relatively cheap. My lender told me that a loan through my LLC is more money in fees, higher rates, strict guidelines, and A LOT more paperwork. I got the umbrella policy within 20 mins.

I may be a little late to the party here, but for anyone still reading, if you’re going to remove the tile, don’t bother scraping it off the wall. Use a sawzall or multi tool and cut along the edge of the tile wall and remove the wall with tiles still attached to it. Then put up new drywall. Less mess, less time, looks 1000% better. It’s definitely the easiest way to go.