All Forum Posts by: Gash Nag

After posting original post, I saw the "Starting out" forum. I downloaded the book: "Ultimate Beginner's guide..". I will read that as well.

Couple of my friends and I are looking to start investing in multi-family apartments. All of us are with regular day time jobs and have less time to manage.
Scenario I envision is: Pool up some money and buy few properties  and Identify property managers to manage them. My friends and I will be retiring in next 15 years and so our plan is to own atleast 50 units by then so that we can make approximately 25K  per month. 

How do I start? I am trying to find out how do we even start? First identify a team of good RE agent; We need RE agent that can help get deals; But question is: Which markets? We are open to have in SO California preferably, but willing anywhere ; So how do I get RE agents in different markets?

Then, Some of them in team want to get lawyers opinions on any liability issues that may come up from renters. We will also need a financial company to provide us loan. 

I am sure similar questions may have been asked umpteen times but could locate the thread. Please point me to any resources.

Thanks every one. Its amazing how helpful this forum is to provide their expertise to rest of us. Ever thankful for all the replies and information you provided. 

I spoke to tenants about the same thing all of you suggested and they agree the discoloration and agreed to take measures to control this. I gave them one Mold Control liquid from Home Depot.
 

The bathroom has the Exhaust fan. Though not directly connected to light switch, it is available and works great. 

-Gash

Thanks. The tenants are reasonable and I think they are genuinely concerned that it is Mold. I donot think they are looking for reason not to pay rent. Since the Mold control liquids fix the Mold, they probably are looking at discoloration caused by cleaning liquids and getting concerned.

I will meet them in a day and try to convince them that this is mere discoloration and I will ask them to regularly keep it dry (by exhaust fans and door opens). Since I am not yet convinced that this is mold, removing the doors and replacing with curtain seems to be excessive. 

I also want to ensure they feel safe and happy at this place. So would love to resolve it without big expenses.

Hello Michael Herr,

Regarding removing gasket and replacing: I called Handyman and also I went to Home Depot. Both of them said that this cannot be removed and replaced separately. The Gasket comes with the door and have to be replaced together with doors. These are atleast 10 year old doors.

Thanks 

Gash

Thanks everyone for good suggestions. 

My tenant has observed slight mildew/mold on the Shower doors. After applying the mold cleaners, the gasket on the shower doors is still showing discoloration and the tenant is concerned that it is Mold around that gasket.

The slight discoloration due to mold does not seem to be toxic , especially since I applied mold control liquids and bleach. I think Tenant should be ok with this effort. But tenant wants me to remove the entire mold.

What are the options to fix this? Handyman says we have to change the entire door because gasket is not sold separately. That sounds expensive.

Thanks
Gash

Hello Everyone,
Here is the update. Tenant has called me and said he will deposit cash in my account just two days before the Lockout. And now he has deposited the cash in the account that covers rent for all the months until next month. So it has come out to be current now.

Being a bit paranoid, I just want to ensure that this time deposit is for real. So I went to bank and asked them if the deposit is real. Since the entire amount shows as available Bank tells me that the amount is totally cashable. I plan to withdraw this entire amount out of bank tomorrow and deposit elsewhere.(to ensure that I get the entire amount)

Since entire account it upto date I feel obligated that I should not proceed with lock out and give him another chance. I will ensure that next time onwards I will not wait for long.

I will write more soon.. especially I need to be thankful on how encouraging and helpful this entire community has been to me through this entire process,

Thanks
Gash

All,

So want to update on what's happening.

I filed for the eviction and the tenant came to the court and said the night before court hearing, his company deposited the entire money into my account. But my lawyer said "We will have the lockout in 3 weeks from now and if the money clears we will ask for this case to be dismissed".

And the check bounced back because the company does not exist at all and most probably it was a fake check.

So will wait for the Lockout to happen.

Meanwhile, I have two questions:
a) Can I do anything for the bounced checks?
b) I will search these forums to see on how to report to Credit Agencies about the money owed to me, so that it goes into credit history.

-Gash

I agree with all of you, that being too nice was not a right thing. Especially as Jon Holdman said "everywhere else we pay for service immediately".

This was the first time in last few years that this happened, so I was not prepared for this.

Lesson learnt will be to get a good candidate and if for some reason rent is not paid in first 3 days, start the procedure. I sincerely hope it does not happen.

It is stressful and especially the feeling of being taken-for-a-ride inspite of all the assurances, bothers me.. in addition to that, lost income. But your words are very encouraging to. You all are amazing and thanks much for taking time to reply.

I tell myself, "I was destined to learn this lesson now so that as I buy more rentals, I am well-seasoned".

I will update this forum on how it turns out. My attorney says this is 45 to 60 days process in California.

Thanks again,
Gash