All Forum Posts by: Eric Renney

I have a 5 bedroom house zoned as single family residential in ft Myers FL. I have all the rooms rented out with 6 mo leases where they share common space and each have a separate keyed lock on their room.

I recently had code enforcement show up to the property stating that I can only have 1 family in the house. I have heard of a specific ordinance stating there can be up to 4 unrelated persons in a single family residence. I am having trouble finding this I formation to confirm though. I have reached out to the county to see how I can remedy the situation.

The tenants have all been very easy and get along great. I would love to be able to keep the setup I have.

Any ideas on this? Make the leases structured similar to vacation rentals with month to month leases? Student housing rules?

Thanks in advance

UPDATE:

So after my real estate attorney took a look at this particular case, he agrees that the seller has a very good chance of getting the lien removed. The seller just tried negotiating with the bank to remove the lien without going to court and wasting everyone's time and money but obviously they were having none of that.

There is a supreme court case open right now in miami, fl that is almost identical to his case. The ruling is supposed to happen this January. The seller wants to wait and see what the ruling is before he takes the bank to court. If the ruling on this case is possessive towards the borrower than it would open up alot of deals in the same situation. 

@Lee Scarlett. There is no "surefire" way of getting numbers or other contact information that I have found. That being said, I have found Intelius to be the most accurate information for getting this info, it gives you a lot of phone numbers to try and sometimes even an email. I have gotten quite a few deals using it. They are only $10/ month, totally worth it. 

I have tried using free sites as well, the problem being that the information they provide is wrong or out of date. I used to spend 20-30 minutes on each person I was looking for, between facebook, yellowpages.com, ect. With Intelius you just type in the name and City, State (where the house is located works) and there it is. There are links to family members in the persons profile also. So if you try every number and email and are ballsy enough, try a couple family members. 

This is just what has worked for me, If anyone else has some better method I would love to try it. I'm always looking to be more efficient.

Well that can work, but be ready to get alot of no's. The people I call are from driving for dollars, so I know the condition of the house and that it is vacant. I cannot speak for how accurate those lists are. 

I do this all the time and have gotten a few deals from doing so. All I tell the owner is that I noticed their home is vacant and am wondering what their plans are with the property. Usually they are quite receptive to this because I don't sound like a sales call. I then let them know that if they are interested in selling, I would love to give them a fair offer for the property. If the owner is absent and the house is trashed or in bad shape that's a pretty good sign that they either don't care about it or they can't afford to do anything about it. 

Alot of these people are underwater and haven't made a payment for years. In my experience so far. The hardest part I've found is finding a phone number that actually gets to the owner.

Great job on "losing it"! Keep it up!

I never use the assessed value in deciding how much to offer someone of what the ARV is going to be. Like Ned Carey has said the assessed value is all over the place. It is sometimes laughable how far off the value the assessors office assigns a house. Sometimes you can you this to your advantage, if it is low.

Welcome,

Glad to see you joining the group. I primarily invest in Lehigh Acres. I do mostly flips at the moment but if I come across any duplexs I can let you know. The rental market is very strong here. Very low vacancy rates and high rents. 

"Update"

The two properties we were set up to close with Bridgewell Capital were probate homes. The seller had told us that they just needed the final probate paperwork from their attorney and could close in 30 days. We are still waiting. We have found that probates can be very lengthy deals but there is always progress being made. 

We have since made great relationships with some private lenders who have offered to fund the 2 properties for about half the interest and no points. So obviously we took them up on their offer.

What I can say about Bridgewell Capital is that they were very professional and very quick about getting everything ready for close. There were no problems or crazy requests. I will defiantly use them in the future if I cannot get private money 1st. 

I was happy with the service and professionalism. Unfortunately I cant say how smooth the close would be. Based on what we did with them I would imagine it being just as smooth and easy as the rest.

They make the process very easy and take care of about everything throughout.

When we use them again I will try and get on here to share my experience.

Has anyone else used them that can share their experiences?

We use mostly private lenders, but when we do use hard money we go with Bridgewell Capital. They offer the lowest rates we have found and are quite fast with closing. They offer lower interest and points the more deals you do through them, so if you use hard money alot it really helps. 

They are out of Orlando but will lend anywhere in FL. 

http://www.bridgewellcapital.com/

(407) 447-1000

710 Vassar St
Orlando, FL 32804