All Forum Posts by: George C.

Michaela, it's too late now that he's dead it seems.

They did hear that he got married again, they were ok with that not knowing what she would do...

None were around, they all live across the country. G/F's sister & her daughter told everyone what happened, they were the closest ones living 30 minutes away. The Wife kept everyone in the dark apparently.

Kind of a cautionary tale...

A good friend of mine asked me to look into property that his Grandfather owned, his Grandfather (G/F) just passed. His Grandmother passed less than a year ago, they were married over 55 years. This women who happens to be a certified nurses aid (and might've worked with his wife or him as an aid professionally) approaches G/F and tells him that she's a nurse and can help him out, but to help him with his legal affairs he should marry her... He did marry her, she then added herself to his deeds within two months, two months later she deeds them out of his & her name to a relative of hers in another state for $10 each, G/F dies three months later now with no estate. No cash, jewelry or homes. This was all done in a span of seven months. There are children of the G/f, but they their selves are incapacitated. This mess is left to grandchildren half the country away to deal with. No one has money to hire an attorney to take this woman to court. The Police & the Prosecutors offices both said, " he married her so there's nothing they can do".

G/F was in his 80's, the woman in her late 50's, they never lived together as man and wife, infact she was/is living with a guy.

I found all this out when looking up his deeds for my friend. She herself wrote out all the new deeds in her own hand writing, so she knew exactly what she was doing when it comes to real estate. No one had known what she was up to.

When the G/F died, she rushed to have him cremated, against his wishes. The family feels that she might have poisoned him, why else the rush to cremate against his wishes?

If you have older family out there with any nest egg, even a small one, there are people out there looking to take it, with impunity no less. Check your older relatives deeds, if they are online it usually takes less than five minutes to do.

I can't believe how easy this is for this woman to get away with cheating needy heirs of their inheritance & maybe even murder.

By looting the estate prior to his death, there is no estate to probate, no heirs to deal with through the Surrogate Court system...

Is there a chance that G/F willingly gave everything to her to the exclusion of his needy kids & family? Hell no everyone says.

I dropped my Dish down to basic, to about $30 a month from $90 a month and got a Roku for Netflix ($8 a month) and a bunch of free channels. I'm saving $50 a month now. There never seemed to be anything worth watching on the other channels anyway.

I would pay for the gas. It will keep everyone happy.

An escalator clause is not legal in NJ, might not be in other places as well.

If you put in that your willing to go up to 40, then rest assured there will be an offer for $39,999. There are too many sleazy people in this business, I've seen it all to often & first hand.

Depends on how the exiting tenancy is going, how clean they keep the place, if there's "bad blood" between you & them. My last one was *Mrs. Clean*, didn't speak a word of English, she was very accommodating letting us show the place. This was the first time in 24 years that I didn't have to clean a blessed thing, I nearly cried when they told me they needed to leave :( When they finally did leave, one of my Sons went with me to check out the empty house, I opened up the stove & it sparkled! I took a pick of the inside of the stove I was so shocked. My Son was like, " why are you taking pics of the stove?" Being only 9 & learning, I told him, " this is one move out you should remember, because it's rare that things are ever this clean".

Had they been less than pretty clean, or there were bad feelings, I would wait to show the place till after they move out, especially if I think there is a chance that the place will need good cleaning or repairs. Otherwise there shouldn't be an issue showing occupied. It's better to not lose a months rent if you don't have to.

I have a few with wood burning fireplaces and they are considered an amenity to the property they are in. As long as the flue is clean I don't mind them using them. They do all have the proper hearths, screens & tools. If there were ever a problem, well that's what insurance is for, I'd come out a head on any damage anyway. My fireplaces are for occasional ambiance, not for daily heating so they don't get much use. I clean the chimneys myself easy enough. Non of the tenants have even half a cord of wood piled up anywhere, so I know they are following the rules.

Be careful about blocking them off, make sure they are plugged. I have a friend who has rentals and had the steel chimney taken out of a roof when he was having it re-roofed. He told the new tenants that the fireplace was just for show & not to use it...guess what happened? The chimney was not plugged in the attic, just left open ended up there. When the people moved out, he saw that they did use it at least once & somehow didn't burn the house down, smoke must've been pouring out of the attic venting. Apparently the guys who removed the chimney and did the roofing forgot to cap the chimney as they were supposed to.

Angie W,

I did the same as you for your retail biz, I registered a fictitious d/b/a name for my business, such as "abc Realty Services Company" & that's what I use and have it addressed to another property that I had my Drivers license at. Pretty easy, I'm carrying enough insurance and don't want to bother with an llc.

Your safety and that of your family & home comes first.

While I have not been attacked, it has come close, I had psychos screaming in my face with all the gestures, etc... I've been threatened more than I care to remember. Here in NJ I can't legally carry any kind of weapon, not even pepper spray. Inherited tenants who don't get the idea of following the rules & especially rule #1 (pay your rent) have been the problem ones.

For the last year and a half I've been the manager, not the owner for newly acquired props, deeded in my business name. So now I'm just one of the agents that handle that property, just another working stiff. Even for older props now, my management company will handle all, I'll just be the agent there, too at turnovers.

In the past all my props were/are in my name and address, not a good idea. With state licenses it's pretty easy to find me, so better to not be known as the owner.

I am safety conscious, my personal home has always been a fortress, between the exterior lit up all night like a bank, alarm always in use, camera system all over & me armed inside. My neighbor said he thought Tony Soprano moved in.

I have carried pepper spray when I knew there was a hairy situation, even though illegal.

As far as dealing with tenants, screen for the best so you don't have to deal with deadbeats. Even good tenants can go bad, or a psycho boyfriend or brother could move in, there are never any guarantees.

I just looked at another prop to buy today, ugh...another psycho / hoarder in one of the units, I can sure can pickem...

My work van that I show up in is an old beater with a loud exhaust, sweatpants, stained t shirt, etc... I never show up in a new vehicle looking good, that would just instill envy & jealousy into a lot of tenants.

Showings, you can wait outside if you don't feel comfortable with the people who show up. Stay on the phone with someone who knows where you are while showing if you can't bring back up with you.