All Forum Posts by: Dennis McNeely

My understanding is that if you've given the neighbor written notice of the need to maintain / remove the tree, if it falls it's considered an act of nature (high winds) and you have to deal with it. I'm not an attorney though - you know the drill.

Regardless, consider contacting your insurance company and letting them sort it out with the neighbor's insurance company. Just a thought.

I start by telling them we have a lot of money tied up in the property, and we've been burned by folks that wanted us to believe the best of them. The result of those conversations? A lot of qualifying questions for any potential tenant.

Having said the above, I ask for some "standard" things, such as the names of everyone who'll be living at the unit. Anyone over 18 fills out has to furnish their social security and driver's license numbers, and pays a fee for a credit / background check. I ask if they are US citizens or green card holders, and I ask for past addresses for the past 5 years as well as any other names they used in the past (maiden name, nickname, etc). I take a picture of their driver's license.

I ask for phone numbers that accept texts and any alternate land or business phone numbers.

I ask for the names and birth dates of anyone under 18, and ask if there are any service / emotional support animals, together with their names and breeds.

I also ask for personal references, previous landlord contact info (and length of time there), employer contact info (and how long there, together with earnings), as well as the name and contact information for their manager / boss. Apart from the above contacts, I ask for an emergency contact.

Going still further, I ask for their social media handles to try to get a better handle on who I'm dealing with.

In the application, I ask if they smoke or vape. I ask them the number, make, model, and year of their cars. I also ask if they've ever been evicted, refused to pay rent, or filed for bankruptcy.

Further, I ask account numbers for their checking and savings accounts, and the approximate balances in each. I ask for a list of their current ongoing monthly expenses.

Lastly, I have them sign an authorization to check all the above with their bank, their employer, etc.

If the prospects look financially shaky or sketchy, I ask for the name of a co-signer - and collect payment for a background check on them.

Verbally, I also ask when they are interested in taking occupancy, and I tell them the application will be made part of the lease agreement - that I can evict them if they've lied in their application.

Good luck!

Is it worthwhile opening a discussion with the property owner to see if they're open to selling the property? If so, you may be able to wholesale the property to someone (perhaps even someone in one of those $400,000 houses) in such a way that you and your grandmother come out whole.

You could structure the deal as an installment sale or a lease option so the property owner doesn't see a large capital gain tax payment for the sale.

And good on you for helping out!

Consider investing as a partner or lender with someone in an area such as the Rust Belt that does produce cash flow - but keep in mind that the long-term trade off will likely be less appreciation for that investment.

Great share @Alex Zweydoff - thanks!

Many of the members of the local REIA groups I've attended are involved with SFH in one flavor or another - BRRRR, flipping, wholesaling, etc. There are not many folks involved with small multi-family properties, let alone 5 units and more.

Try looking for multifamily groups on Facebook and seeing where they have meetups scheduled.

Best of luck!

Hunt down a book - "Investing in Real Estate with Lease Options and Subject To Deals" by Wendy Patton. Give it a read, and you'll have a fair understanding of the process. 

In a sandwich lease option, the investor exercises their option with the property owner to purchase the property when the tenant-buyer indicates they're ready to exercise their option and purchases the property.

Oversimplifying it just a bit, the investor profits from:
- a non-refundable option paid by the tenant-buyer which gives them the right to purchase the property within their option period
- the spread between the rent paid by the investor to the property owner and the rent paid to the investor by the tenant-buyer over the life of the option
- the spread between the price ultimately paid by the investor when they exercise their option with the owner and the price ultimately paid by the tenant-buyer when they exercise their option with the investor

Clear as mud? <chuckle>

Now you have enough to pique your interest further, but it still gives me the hee-bee-jeebies.

Next step is to ask to see the offering documents regarding the syndication. If this is for real, I strongly suspect you'll need to be an accredited investor.

Ask to see the approved final site plan for the first phase. They should also have proposed or preliminary site plans approved for the remainder of the development. If you're still interested, take a trip to the site once ground has been broken.

The flashy marketing material for a new development is great, but don't put your money at risk for something that's likely to vaporize.

My 2 cents @Bobby Paquette - if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. I fell off the wagon when I saw a bullet point that indicated all second story apartments have an elevator and their suggestion that it was possible to get 1000% Plus Potential Cash-on-Cash return in the 1st Year.

Where has SCDC built? Check with the municipality where construction is being done to get their take on the development.

Who is handling the syndication related to their raising money? What institution is financing the land development and construction?

No, I've not invested with SCDC, and it's not likely I will without evidence they can do / have done what they've claimed on their web site.