All Forum Posts by: Jason Ngo

@Caleb Heimsoth at that time it was Thanksgiving/Christmas time so my screening process was pretty lax since I didn’t want it to stay vacant. Now looking back that wasn’t the best idea in the long run.

I have rented it out, only lost out on 15 days. So now it was time to focus on this issue. I want to prevent them from doing this to another landlord and make it difficult for them to buy a house or anything of that nature.

So Thanks @Pat L. ! I will take your advice and take it to small claims court and get a judgement to send to collections since that doesn’t require any money out of my pocket and the least amount of time.

Is Court the best route or Collections Agency?

My tenants broke their lease 1 month early, damaged my property that exceeded the deposit with a grand total of $4500, including leaving me a $260 water bill. Now they blocked my number and don’t have a mail forwarding address. I text them the following message from my google voice number and to all of the phone numbers I had for them on file. I wanted to see if you guys think I should proceed with wasting time and resources for a lawsuit or should I find a collections agency? I honestly don’t think they’ll pay, they are also self employed with a tree business so can they even garnish their wages? Any advice would be appreciated. Here’s what I sent them:

“I see you blocked my current number. Attached is your invoice statement for the damages and rent for the month of June 2019. The total damage exceeds your security deposit in the amount of $4862.00. I am giving you the option to make 4 monthly installment payments of $1215.50.

However, legal action will be taken if payment arrangements have not been made by July 15th, 2019. The Law Offices Of Brandon R. Celigan will be representing me and arrange a lawsuit and court date on my behalf. I will also be sending this to your phone and other mailing addresses on file. A private investigator will be hired to find you if needed. Please respond as soon as possible to remediate this. If I do not hear back by July 15th, we will proceed with a lawsuit.

Landlord,

Jason Ngo

My tenants broke their lease 1 month early, damaged my property and exceeded the deposit, and left me with a $260 water bill. Now they blocked my number and don’t have a mail forwarding address. I text them the following message from my google voice number and to all of the phone numbers I had for them on file. I wanted to see if you guys think I should proceed with wasting time and resources for a lawsuit or should I find a collections agency? I honestly don’t think they’ll pay, they are also self employed with a tree business so can they even garnish their wages? Any advice would be appreciated?

“Manuel and Morgana,

I see you blocked my current number. Attached is your invoice statement for the damages and rent for the month of June 2019. The total damage exceeds your security deposit in the amount of $4862.00. I am giving you the option to make 4 monthly installment payments of $1215.50.

However, legal action will be taken if payment arrangements have not been made by July 15th, 2019. The Law Offices Of Brandon R. Celigan will be representing me and arrange a lawsuit and court date on my behalf. I will also be sending this to your phone and other mailing addresses on file. A private investigator will be hired to find you if needed. Please respond as soon as possible to remediate this. If I do not hear back by July 15th, we will proceed with a lawsuit.

Landlord,

Jason”

Thanks for the tip!  I just sent you a connection.  Lets chat through PM since we're both in similar starting points. 

I am in the same boat! I cant get over the double interest payments on the HELOC and the conventional loan. It just seems so counterintuitive. My funds are also in my stocks. Let me know what you decide to do. I think I might use both stock and the heloc to buy 2 properties.

Will do!  Thank you for the advice! 

Thank you for the advice Frankie!  I was just really concerned about having the heloc AND the conventional loan and paying double interest.  This is my first investment and I'm trying to get everything ready.  I must be looking at this all wrong since no one else seems to mind paying interest on both.  Can you help me understand and point me how to rinse and repeat "after seasoning"?  

So if we use a HELOC as the down payment, we will still need a conventional loan on top of that. So we will be paying variable 5% + traditional fixed 5%. Is it really that smart to use a HELOC? I am about to close on a HELOC but I'm having second thoughts.

Thank you for the great advice!  Its not part of the emergency fund.  I think I will use both to buy two properties.  So its still a good move to use the Heloc as down payment + conventional loan for a rental?