All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Welcome fellow Hoosier!

I grew up 20 miles from Fort Wayne in Columbia City. Now, I live, work, raise a family, and invest in Muncie. We just purchased our first rental a little over 2 years ago (we got started kind of late in life) and have subsequently purchased 2 more properties.

Around Muncie, the multi-family properties tend to be fairly rare and more expensive than single family homes. So, for our budget we decided to purchase single family homes, rehab them, and then rent them. So far, it has been a really good experience. I look forward into expanding into multi-family units or small apartment complexes as soon as the cash flow allows me to do so.

This is a great community of folks who offer lots of great advice. If you are active, you time certainly won't be wasted. 

I was extremely happy with Sparkrent and greatly disappointed that it is closing. We only have 3 properties at this point (1 which we just got done rehabbing), so I am trying to find a product that makes sense for a small player like ourselves.

I will check out Cozy. Does anyone else have any suggestions? At this point, it looks to me like Buildium would be overkill (and given only 3 units and collecting less than $2000 a month, all together) and the pricing doesn't seem to make sense for an operator of our size.

Thank you for any input.

Congratulations Brandon! It is good to hear that you have been able to structure such deals. I would love to emulate your approach, but I just have not been able to convince my partner (read: wife) that taking on that level of debt makes sense.

From what I have heard, Network Property Services has a pretty good reputation. I think that most of the properties they manage are student rentals around the Ball State campus. Their telephone number is 765.289.7617 (note: I have no connection or direct experience with NPS -- we self manage our 2, soon to be 3, properties).

By the way, where in Muncie is the triplex located?

It certainly does not help that Indiana does not have any published, authoritative cases concerning this particular portion of the Indiana Code. However, it does have one unpublished opinion which sheds some light (Pagorek v. Garippo, 946 N.E.2d 661, Ind. App.) on the definition of abandonment.

There are two explanations of abandonment. One explains abandonment as a "concurrence of the intention to abandon and an actual relinquishment." The other explanation of abandonment is "the relinquishment of property to which a person is entitled, with no purpose of again claiming it, and without concern as to who may take possession."

Given those explanations of "abandonment", the question remains -- would a reasonable person conclude that your former tenants intended to abandon the property? I think that given that the former tenants gave you back the keys and the text message would lead a reasonable person to believe that they abandoned the property left in the unit (much like stuff left in a unit after a lease expires -- it seems like I am always throwing out a stray bag of ratty Christmas decorations that I assume have been abandoned).

I think the safe way to proceed would be to text the former tenants with a date and time when those items will be removed from the unit, along with a request for them to return the air conditioner. That way, even if the property was abandoned, they would have an opportunity to reclaim it. But as you already stated, that sort of specific advice should come from your attorney.

Jerry is obviously right -- you will want to contact an experienced real estate attorney. The real question comes down to whether this individual has a lease. Was there an agreement or understanding that he could stay beyond week? That is what this really comes down to. Hopefully everything worked out. I would be interested in getting an update regarding this situation. Good luck.

Welcome. I live in Muncie and our family currently has 2 rental properties. I am kind of like you, though. I am just learning my way. My first property was purchased in 2012 (a $10,000 foreclosure ) that we ended up putting about $15,000 into it. That property currently rents for $650 per month. We ended up funding that with a home equity line of credit on our primary residence. So, it was not a "fix and flip",but rather a "buy, fix, rent, and hold."

The nice thing about Muncie is that you don't need a huge amount of money to get started. But as you probably know, there are certain neighborhoods where you absolutely don't want to buy -- even if it looks like you can get a good return.

Shoot me an email or personal message on BP if you are interested in personally meeting. I am not really experienced enough to mentor anyone and I don't have excess cash coming out of my pockets -- so I can't really help you there. But I can go into further detail as to what we are doing at this point and plans down the road.

Welcome!

Fountain Square is a great neighborhood. I used to get my home brewing supplies there. I know in the last 5 years that area has really improved. However, I am not familiar enough to know if it is already played out at this point. Irvington also seems to have come up quite a bit in the last couple of years as well. However, I am no expert when it comes to Indy. I have a hard enough time trying to feel confident in knowing my little niche in Muncie at this point. 

Boy, I am finding out that most people are nicer than I am! I still think that it comes down to the fact that you had a verbal agreement to allow him to stay in your property for one week. He has stayed longer than that week. The more you treat this like an eviction, the more it begins to look like you extended this person a lease agreement -- which you did not. You offered to him a lease agreement, which he rejected.

I think that the safer route is to treat this person as a trespasser. I would break down the bill to a daily rate, demand immediate payment of that amount and require him to move all of the stuff out of the unit. If he refuses, contact the police and report him as a trespasser. Or, alternatively, if he refuses move his stuff out of the unit and change the locks. Put the ball in his court. I don't think this is any different than if this individual was crashing on your couch, you asked him to leave and he refused.

I know Fort Wayne fairly well. As you know, it is fairly conservative and has a general "no nonsense" approach to situations like this. The judge's I know will recognize when someone is trying to scam you by living at a place without paying. Likewise, the judges I know can spot when a landlord is taking unfair advantage of an unsophisticated tenant. I just don't sense that this is the case here.

It sounds like at this point that the innkeeper laws would apply. The person does not have a lease and you had a verbal agreement that he stay for a week. You extended the possibility of a lease, but he rejected that. At this point, if he has not paid you, he is trespassing.

I would probably write up a bill based upon the days he has stayed without paying -- basically the balance of what he owes you. Then, I would require him to immediately leave. If he refuses to do so, I would call the police and inform them that you have someone trespassing on your property and that you need assistance removing him from your premises.