All Forum Posts by: Justin J.

Hi fellow BP RE agents,

I moved to Maryland a year ago and will take the state portion of the Salesperson's exam in the next two weeks. That said, my initial goal when getting my RE Salespersons license was to save money on the buyer's commission when buying my first primary residence. I'm looking for a Brokerage that isn't affiliated with the NAR. It seems like it's very difficult to find a broker who isn't also a Realtor in MD. I was an active RE salesperson while living in MA and also a member of the NAR and local boards so I know the value and benefits of being a Realtor.

However, at this time I don't need access to the MLS nor do I need to be a member of the NAR for at least this next year or two, does anyone know of any non-Realtor Brokers that I can look at affiliating with?

Cheers,

-Justin

@Ann Bellamy Thanks for the clarification, sorry for the confusion. @Shaun Reilly are you a member of NEREIA? And if so how valuable would you say their meetings are?

-Justin

Ideally that's what I'd like to do @Mark Whittlesey . The manager said that "the landlord will do no further", however I'm not sure that the landlord actually knows the condition of his condo.

@Jassem A. I think that @Marcia Maynard and @Larry Turowski  have the right approach with Killz or SCOE10X. Larry, thank you for the link to SCOE10X. Marcia thank you for sharing your experience with cat urine remediation, I agree with you in that truck mounted steam cleaners are more effective. In my previous apartment complex it was in the lease that the carpet need to be steam cleaned with a truck mounted system.

I think that the remedy to this problem will involve removing the carpet and treating the subfloor with an oil based stain and odor blocker.

The issue I have is mainly a landlord problem like @Walt Payne  said. I have consulted with my attorney, and he has reviewed my lease. He recommends that I contact the landlord and ask for the carpets to be replaced and the subfloor treated with an odor containing sealant.

Thanks for your input @Wilson Churchill  . I will mop the walls for sure.

@Account Closed You're absolutely right, I shouldn't have signed the lease without viewing it's final condition. This is why I love BiggerPockets; there are mostly landlords on here and that's exactly the insight that I need on a problem like this to determine how I approach it.

Question: should I have my attorney contact the landlord about the carpets? Or should I contact the landlord directly. My attorney is a good friend and will not charge me for him contacting the landlord. I think that the landlord would take it more seriously if my attorney contacted him, what do you guys think?

So I viewed a two bedroom condo apartment in Massachusetts (near Acton/Boxborough) that was to be available for September 1st. There was one cat present that I could see, and it was confined mainly to one room. The apartment smelled of strong "cat odor" which I thought was mainly from "litter box & cat urine". Upon viewing the apartment, the manager said that it would be thoroughly cleaned (including the carpets steam cleaned).

I didn't think much of it until I signed the lease. It was a good price and apartments were going quick (there were 3 more interested people). I showed up to the vacant apartment and It smells strong of cat urine. I immediately called the manager and requested that we do an initial inspection so that I could show him the smell and point out all the defects that I didn't want to be responsible for.

The previous tenant had left a bunch of her stuff there, and didn't do a good job cleaning at all which made me think that she didn't do a thorough steam cleaning. I requested that he remedy the problem. He agreed with me and obviously didn't do a close out inspection with the previous tenant (in his words "because she had good credit").

The manager rented another steam cleaner and cleaned the whole apartment. I had a wedding to go to so it worked out perfectly so that the carpets could dry for two days. When I came back, the cat urine odor was no less bearable. This made me believe that the urine penetrated the subfloor.

At this point, the manager said that "the landlord will not do no more for the carpet". Is there anything that I can do? I know I should have waited to inspect the apartment once vacant before signing the lease. Living in it is like living in a rest stop bathroom, and I can't stand living there in it's current condition. I would NEVER rent an apartment that smelled like this.

What are my options? I've already filed a complaint with the MA attorney general Martha Coakley's office and my RE attorney is reviewing my lease terms. I did not get the apartment would be clean in writing, only verbally implied. I'd appreciate any feedback!

-Justin 

P.S. @Brandon Turner how the hell do you deal with so many cats!

Welcome to BP @Robert Loiselle . Have you considered the option of investing out of state? New England tends to be pretty expensive if you don't have a lot of capital. I'm not saying that New England is cost prohibitive, but if you're low on capital it might make sense to evaluate all your options.

@Ann Bellamy hosts a meetup on the second Tuesday of the month called Black Diamond in Worcester. This Tuesday they are discussing out of state investing which might be of interest to you (it certainly is to me). Here are the details, and believe me it's worth the drive! Ann also hosts a Black Diamond meetup in Waltham, which is closer and meets this month on the 23rd the details to that are here.

-Justin

@Brian Ortins What brokerage do you work for in Bevelry MA? The brokerage that I'm affiliated with is also in Beverly MA -Accurety LLC at the Cummings Center.

@Joshua Daoust After I passed my exam I joined an extremely small brokerage to work part-time (3 people including myself). This was both a good and bad thing: I learned a ton because I received a lot of customized attention and I was able to piggyback some of my broker's deals. No fees and a 75/25% commission split was pretty solid I thought. 

On the flip side, smaller brokerages usually don't offer as much in terms of networking and resources. Networking is crucial in real estate, especially as a new agent. Nearly all deals come from people who know you, so building up a network while simultaneously learning how to be an agent can be difficult.

Picking a brokerage also depends on your area. If I were to do it again, I'd find a brokerage that is investor friendly and geared towards finding deals like @Brian Ortins described above. I have a full-time day job so I'm not relying on real estate commissions for paying the bill, only to feed my personal real estate investing. I'm not sure what your goals are, but if it's to make money you might want to consider joining a larger brokerage like KW to learn the most you can, and build your network.

-Justin

Welcome aboard to Bigger Pockets @Leon Henry , very engaging first post. You've learned a ton already through experience (the hard way); I really like @Ann Bellamy 's answer. Emotion can be fatal if paired with a business. 

If you haven't checked it out yet, this is a really cool guide to vetting prospective tenants: BP Ultimate Guide to Tenant Screening. This is also another cool post to read as well considering cash flowing: 5 Reasons Your Rental Property Is Not Cash Flowing. If it's currently cash-flowing with you living there why get rid of it? What other properties do you have?

Best,

-Justin

@Eric Dubrule Thank you for your response and suggestions. I wasn't aware of the outrageous sewer and water rates in Fitchburg. You're also spot on for placing tenants into each of these rooms, its definitely a challenge. Where are you properties located in Fitchburg, north or south of the Nashua river? What was your first property Eric and how did you get into a commercial property deal?

@Chris Willson Welcome to Biggah Pahketss! You can get a lot of gold nugget tips from the podcasts; I like to listen to them on my drive to and from work. Also if you haven't already check out the Ultimate Guide to Flipping Houses, which is a really cool overview of where to start. I'm also trying to make it to the Black Diamond networking event this Tuesday august 19th@Ann Bellamy hosts this event and the url for the schedule is here: http://www.BlackDiamondREI.com. If you need a ride I'd be happy to give you one.

Best,

-Justin

Two Family up/down Multi located two blocks from Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg MA.

Top floor: 4 bedrooms/2 bath.

Bottom Floor: 3 bedrooms/2 bath.

Cannot finance it without owner occupancy, so the plan is to inhabit the bottom unit and rent out the top unit. This property was rented out the past 5 years with one year leases by the room. 2012 and 2013 rents were $500 per room, 0% vacancy. Total rent $3500/month.

165,000 purchase price, 5% down with a 30yr MassHousing conventional mortgage.

Taxes: $3850

PMI: $828/yr

Insurance: $2400

Electric: ~$1,560

Heat (oil): $6,600 (by far the biggest expense, the utilities aren't separate, there's only one thermostat/heating system for the whole house).

Vacancy: $2000/$2500

Rent is $2000 for the top unit, and an additional $500 if we rented a bedroom out in our unit.

$8,250 down

$4500 closing costs

(~$7,800 for 6 months reserves required by MassHousing)

Is this property worth it? The numbers are very close when factoring in owner occupancy, but would work out much better with renting out two units. 

I appreciate any comments/questions/statements!

-Justin