All Forum Posts by: Jack Knight

I tried a couple lenders in some older posts I've found about investment property HELOC's but they aren't doing them. Any one have ideas for lenders offering them currently in MA?

I may end up in an eviction situation in a few months and want to plan for it. How long are courts in Worcester MA running for evictions now? How much have they improved since Covid restrictions? I had one last year that took 12+months to finally go to trial after a lot of mediation and Covid payments etc.

In case it helps someone to have a real number, we did eventually get them out with cash for keys for about $4k. We were pretty far along on eviction proceedings in the courts as well and I think having that eviction alternative looming as a likely outcome fairly soon encouraged them to accept it. I suspect without having the eviction looming, they would have stuck around longer. This was an especially thorny tenant. 

Thanks for your comments all. I'm thinking of going ahead with the limited rehab without the permit. I also am thinking about expanding it a bit to replace one sink and replace several light fixtures and switches that I wouldn't worry about a permit if I was just doing one thing at a time. I'll save the bigger plumbing and electrical work for a permit. 

Good idea on calling the inspector's office anonymously to get a sense for where the line is. 

Thanks!

I am trying to rehab a unit after we finally got a tough tenant out. It is in rough shape, but it is hard to get someone inside the next 6 months to do the rehab with a permit. I'm looking into doing a smaller version of the rehab, without the permit but avoiding plumbing, electrical, and moving walls. This would get it rent-able, but not as nice as I'd like. This smaller rehab would be repairing some couple foot by couple foot holes in the wall and ceiling, replacing several broken doors, refinishing the wood floors, putting new linoleum in the bathroom, putting in new cabinets (but keeping the sink) and painting everything. Has anyone done something like this and familiar with what the pros and cons are of skipping the permit on a small rehab? 

I'd like to do the other work with a permit in a couple years when the unit turns over, and hopefully labor is easier to come by, so I'd like to avoid making problems for myself at that point too. 

This is in central Massachusetts near Shrewsbury. Does this vary much by town or is it a state thing?

Thanks all! I had heard $10k-15k and it sounded a bit crazy, but I guess not really given our crazy covid situation. 

@Brian J Allen What happened with the one that stayed? How did you eventually get them out? 

Hi,

Just taking a quick poll, I'm considering offering cash for keys in parallel with moving toward eviction for nonpayment, blatantly breaking lease terms and damaging the unit. The tenant is contesting it in court though, may apply for state assistance, etc and it is going slow. What is the "going rate" for cash for keys in Mass? This is a class C 2 bed in Worcester that has an old lease at $875/month, but would rerent at maybe $1100, with some refinishing planned, I expect $1300-1400 for it once it turns over.

Also, any suggestions on when or how to propose this to the tenant?

Thank you all.

Hi Lien, Thanks for your post. The PM has taken pics of some stuff there that is clearly out of line. I wish we could get photos of some of the crazy stuff that appears to be going on inside the unit, but getting in those areas is difficult, even without a camera. 

 Hi Brad, Thanks for your reply. I'm hoping the police start coming by more often, but it doesn't seem to bother them enough to change much. 

I'm looking for experiences where off site, hands off landlords were threatened by tenants. It doesn't seem often, but these people are not the kind you want angry at you, so anything I can do to improve the situation would be good. 

Yeah, there will be some repairs needed. I may be able to get some RCAP funds to help but between missed rent, legal bills and repairs, this looks like a tough year regardless of how much longer this takes. The numbers work very well once there are semi-reasonable tenants, but getting there is taking a long time.

I closed on my second rental property 6 months ago, a 4 family in the Boston/Worcester/Lowell area in a C neighborhood. 3 units are doing fine, but the fourth unit (inherited tenant) has gone from bad to worse and has now pretty clearly developed into a drug den and includes needles on the ground and people with ankle bracelets staying there not on the lease. One person on the lease has a previous offense for a shooting at another location in town, and I suspect others not on the lease may behave similarly.

I have a well regarded property manager running the property and have a lawyer working on eviction from a couple angles primarily breaking the lease terms and disrupting the other tenants. We're avoiding immediately going for back rent due to COVID restrictions on evicting for that. Things are progressing and I am hopeful to have them out by the end of the year. Though we started the eviction process in spring, Massachusetts tenants rights laws, poorly written old lease and COVID are making it extra slow.

In the meantime, I am stuck with these people in the unit. Does anyone have any tips for minimizing potential for danger to myself (property owner living off site a few towns over)? Their interactions are with the PM and lawyer but my name and address are on the property title if they were to look.

How useful is it to ask the police to watch this property, encourage the vice squad to get involved and how likely is that to get back to the tenant and increase the likelihood of retaliation against me or the property?

Also, does anyone have suggestions on how to minimize damage to the unit while they're in there?

Thanks for your comments.