All Forum Posts by: Harrison Harner

@Chris Herrera

The indifferent persons were a neighbor and a contractor that did work on the building.

I just finished up my first eviction and thought I would share my experience. This took place in Connecticut.

Background: I bought this property about 1.5 years ago and inherited the tenants. A boyfriend, girlfriend, and their dog. During walkthroughs, it looked like they kept the place clean. Rent was paid on time, for a while…

March: Apparently the couple broke up. He moved up the road with a friend. She came to me and asked for a rent decrease. I explained that a decrease would not be possible, but that she’s welcome to find a new roommate who passes screening. I sent her the tenant application to hand out. She confirmed that she got it and was looking for a roommate, but I never got any applications back.

April 1st: I didn’t receive the rent.

April 8th: I tried knocking on the door. She didn’t answer. I sent a text. She didn’t answer. No sense in getting in trouble for harassment, so I left it alone.

April 10th: Rent will be officially late in CT on the 11th. I was going to travel overseas for the week for my day job, so I sent a “frim, but fair” email, to both tenants on the lease, giving 3 options: 1 more week to pay, leave in exchange for $500, or face eviction. No response.

April 18th: 3 Day Notice to Quit served on her, him, John Doe, and Jane Doe. I get a text from her; “can we talk?” She told her sob story about being screwed over and losing her job, but also divulged that she paid him $1600 to keep the dog and she turned down his offer to pay the rent for April. I suggested she find a friend or family member to live with until she gets back on her feet and she assured me that she was looking for an option.

April 22nd: Summons and Complaint served and filed with courthouse. May 2nd return date set. Tenants have 2 days after the return date to submit their Appearance and Response.

May 4th: No Appearances or Responses filed. In order to submit a Motion for Default judgement, I need to prove they’re not in the military. Normally this is easily verified with a social security number and date of birth. Since I inherited the tenants, I did not have the foresight to get that information. I asked a State Marshal to observe them and provide an Affidavit Concerning Military Service.

May 6th: The Marshal has been unable to observe them. I work on getting statements from Indifferent Persons.

May 9th: I submit a Motion for Default Judgement and attached the Affidavits.

May 19th: She files an Appearance and Response agreeing with all points of my complaint. A court date is set for June 6th.

May 23rd: The original Motion for Default Judgement is denied. I made the mistake of including a statement from myself on the primary form. Apparently this is enough to cause denial, even though statements from Indifferent Persons were included.

June 6th: The docket roll is called. She has not shown up. I’m the only landlord there without an attorney. For the next 6 hours, as each case is called into mediation, I’m not sure whether to wait in the courtroom or hallway. Around 2pm, all cases have been called but mine. Somehow the notice that my tenant hadn’t shown up didn’t make its way from the Clerk to the Judge. Luckily I was sitting in the courtroom when the Judge was checking completion of the docket. The Judge quickly reviewed the case and did all the talking. I replied “yes your honor” three times and was granted a default judgement against her. I submitted my Execution for Possession and withdrew the case against him, John Doe, and Jane Doe.

June 14th: The Execution is signed by the Clerk and the Marshal serves it.

June 15th: She left a note that she’s going to get a moving truck. The Marshal gives her until 9 PM to be out. She’s not out. The Marshal gives her until 6 AM to be out.

June 16th: She’s not out. The Marshal gives her until noon to be out. She’s not out. The Marshal gives her until 4 PM to be out. The Marshal deems all remaining contents abandoned. We change the locks.

I have quite a mess to clean. So far I’ve filled about 15 garbage bags with food, clothes, and toiletries. The dumpster will be here today for the furniture and a garage full of car parts. Luckily there’s not too much real damage. I'm looking forward to screening for new tenants. It’ll be a miracle if I can get it turned around for July.

Hi Rob,

Welcome. I bought my first property, in Danbury, in Feb of last year. As with your plan, I used an FHA loan. I started with the MLS and a realtor, but ultimately found my deal through a letter campaign.

The CTREIA is a very active group and helped me immensely. I recommend joining.

Good luck!

I used CPA Jeffrey Bernstein this year on a recommendation from another experienced buy and hold investor and I was happy with the process and results. He has an office in Newtown. 

http://www.bernsteincpa.net/

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see that as being necessary. It's common knowledge that the alternative to following the lease is eviction. When meeting new tenants, make it clear that you expect the rules to be followed. 

I live in an owner-occupied duplex. I keep a running log of income and expenses and then look at it two ways: 

- As if it were a single family home. I take a loss in this scenario, but it shows me what I'm paying to live.

- As if I lived elsewhere, and both units were performing the same. This shows me what my investment might look like in the future when I move on. This is the one that really counts for analyzing my strategy for moving ahead.

I just finished up my first year owning a rental property and went through my first tax season as a business owner. I also did a major renovation on one apartment. The first step is to understand what will count as a write-off, what won't, and what you should track. For example, "improvements" won't be written off entirely this year, but you will want to keep track of for depreciation and capital gains reduction if you decide to sell. Be sure to get a good understanding of "improvements" versus "repairs" for the course of your renovation.

I set up a separate checking account for my business expenses, tracked it on Mint.com, and set up categories based on their tax category. Now, as long as I check in occasionally to make sure expenses are going in the right category, I can easily total up certain types of expenses. Tracking vehicle expenses for business versus personal requires a little more attention.

In the end, I had a CPA file my paperwork and it was reassuring to have him available to answer my questions. Otherwise, Google was my biggest resource.

This strategy seemed to work for me so far, but I'm also interested in the advice of the more experienced.

I know this is an old topic, but to add to the discussion for future searches:

In CT, the Notice to Quit (3 day notice) can include the statement:

“Any payments tendered after the date specified to quit possession or occupancy, or the date of the completion of the pretermination process if that is later, will be accepted for use and occupancy only and not for rent, with full reservation of rights to continue with the eviction action.”

In the end, we want to find a win-win situation, though. We're just trying to run a business. Talk to your landlord and see if he's willing to stop the process in exchange for the rent.

I wouldn't personally make this a contingency in the sale because if you're buying a performing property, you can always fix a tenant issue.  It is a good idea to have the tenant fill out an application and run the checks, though. If bad information turns up, it might serve as a bargaining chip and you may need the information in the future.

I'm learning this the hard way right now. My inherited tenants stopped paying rent. Now that I'm evicting, having SS#s and dates of birth would make it easier to prove that they're not in the military. Now I have to pay a Marshal to observe them.