All Forum Posts by: Jessica Deratany

Luke, you are right about "the grid" hah.  Over the last few years with the value going up though I've seen quite a bit of tear downs for new builds, especially around the U.  We could really use a revival in some of those areas!

Tucson was slow into the recovery but right now is doing really well bordering into the slightly overheated.  It is harder to find those deals like it is everywhere right now.  We also have 2 hotels and 2 apartment buildings coming in as well as quite a bit of elder care stuff.  We do have some general problems with property crime.

It is on the market, but the market is slow rurally, so I have to keep it rented out.  It is very possible I might have to finish off the mortgage and owner finance them.  At least there is not too much remaining there.  I just have to see what cards are in store for me and learn from my mistakes.

Just thought I would follow up with this, because it is always nice to see how it all turned out.  It was my most painful turnover I have had yet.  It took us two months to get her out of the property.  She was not malicious just crazy so we were able to get her out peacefully, just money loss.  The place was left a disaster and I had to haul 6 truckloads of trash out of the home and yard, including where she burned dog poop instead of throwing it away.  The cleanup and renovation took us another 3 months, and it took another 2 months to rent out.  I am now self-managing the rental, but when I need boots on the ground paying a friend.  Just a warning.  Rural rentals can be a bad idea!!!!!

Just a note to consider on this, we have several large hotels being built in the area, I'm curious to see how it all balances out.

If only I had the option of hiring a professional, I would have, she charged the full 10% too so it isn't like I got off cheap in the short run.  It's more of an example of never buy a rental property in an area without at least a few property management companies, regardless if you think you will manage them yourself.

Thank you for the suggestion on reaching out to the county on the habitability.  I had not thought of that.

Thank you so much, everyone, the property is already up for sale, due to the rural area it is very slow.  It was bought as a rental property when I did not have the foresight to realize I would not want to manage them myself forever.  PM is not licensed but literally was our only choice as at the time as I was not confident enough to manage my own rentals from afar and there is no one who does property management.  They are family though so I don't know if that plays into it.  I really want to try to just let that one lie though due to the family thing, it is already ugly enough.

At least I feel like we are well known in the community for positive behaviors. lol  We were an EMT and a Dispatcher there.  So I feel like we have an edge in our weird little area.

I guess one of my main worries is she is going to try to pull a lawsuit on me due to the sewer gas?  Could that not allow me to evict her?  That's the whole wrinkle I feel not confident on.  She was already threatening legal action on my PM.

Calling professionals right now... Seems it is not in coverage area or cost prohibitive due to milage.

*breathes deep* Okay here goes, I need help. Property located in New Mexico, very rural, very limited in choice in repairmen and no property managers. (First big mistake in buying there, we were living there at the time.) We found a property manager, family, have a lot of rentals themselves. PM rents out a house we own out to someone who did HUD. PM mentioned a few times that there was always headaches with this tenant but that she always ended up paying one way or another. The PM was never prompt on payments to us, so we never knew if the tenant was late or not, we never got statements. Fast forward 3 years, we finally just decide to manage from a distance ourselves and are made privy to a nightmare. The PM has still not gotten us the documents or given us a good briefing of what is going on, she is mad she is no longer managing our properties. So we know nothing.

What we do know now:

Tenant has changed locks.

House has some issue with sewer gas coming up into the home, which may have happened from property managers husband plumber fixing pipes as we did a huge repair and it started around then.

Tenant is now reducing rent by 1/3 legal in New Mexico because of sewer gas.

People who we have tried to look at the property to fix the problem have refused to work there because the tenant is freaking them out and talking about lawsuits and looks like she is on drugs.

People now keep mentioning drugs to us, but when we spoke to the officials they had no records of tenant other than a fresh eviction before our house. 

Tenant has no phone, email.  Only has a PO box and a friend at a local business who will take messages(and also gives her legal advice).

I have given 30 days notice, but I'd bet money she wants to take this to court ect.

I want to try to do a cash for keys but I am not hopeful (I tried once already and she ignored it).

Help, is there nothing I can do but brace for the pain?