All Forum Posts by: John Pruner

The JV partner has the money from the rehab loan.

Good advice Jeff thanks. Every time I hit a crisis point I finally reach my oft-absent JV partner and he's enthused about his plan to remedy the situation. So I wait for the plan to unfold. Unfortunately tomorrow never comes on this one.

The latest promise is that:

- This week he'll have the property mowed, secured, and he'll quickly get the rehab done. - He'll send pics. 

- He'll also take care of the court case by visiting the courthouse in the next week or so.

- He'll pay the overdue sanitary fee lien from the city of Atlanta that were bought by a New Jersey lien company in the amount of $546. I was never billed for these fees in 2014 but I recently got a piece of mail from the city of Atlanta that they are overdue and that they have to be paid to this New Jersey company.

I've already contacted a mowing service and am waiting to hear their price. I will search out a lawyer today.

At this point I think I stand to lose about $48,000 if I get nothing from the property. $21,000 invested, $8000 2nd position lien to my JV partner, $18,000 rehab loan. On top of that I've got the $546 lien, and whatever it costs me to extricate myself from the court case. So all told I'm probably in $50k. I'm sure the house won't sell for that much.

Do you think I should wait 1 week to see if these promises happen? If the JV partner would actually get on the job and get this done I might actually profit on the deal. Or go ahead and ask for the keys, put it on the market, board it up, mow it myself, and eat the expected $10-50k loss? I'm guessing your answer will be the latter....but waiting a week hoping that things finally turn around is tempting since I stand to lose so much here.

For those interested, here's the arrest citation that I was served with.

Thanks for the advice here. Great stuff.

There are some issues suffered by my JV partner. Personal serious illness, split up with his partner, several strokes suffered by that life partner. But everything has been tomorrow, not today with this JV.

I'm a softie and I tend to trust people too easily but with this experience I will handle other investments much differently. This was my first ever investment and I've learned a ton - school of hard knocks enrolled me without me planning to enroll. :)

Thanks Joel.

If anyone knows of a decent and reasonably priced attorney that I can hire in Atlanta pls send the recommendation my way.

Hi,

Thanks for all the past help here. I was served an arrest citation by the city of Atlanta at my Denver home. They said that the property was unsecured (violation of section 19E) and overgrown yard (violation of section 25A). There is no way listed on the arrest citation to pay it nor is there any fine amount - just a summons to appear in court.

After literally several hours of being put on hold then call-dropped trying to reach the municipal court in Atlanta I finally reached a human. She informed me that I will have to appear in court on June 24. This arrest citation cannot just be paid online to make it go away. She said perhaps I can hire a lawyer to appear for me but she's not sure. 

I found a guy who I can pay to go by and mow it. But now I have to figure out what to do about this arrest citation.

Has anyone heard of this happening? Do I literally have to book a plane ticket to Atlanta, rent a car and spend a night in a hotel to get this arrest citation resolved? Will I actually be jailed when I show up at court? Does anyone know a reasonably priced lawyer who I can call? My JV partner is supposedly a lawyer but I obviously can't trust him to show up in court for me on that day since he was the one who was supposed to keep the property mowed.

Also if I want to sell the property does anyone know of a fix and flip investor who might want to take it on? Pls PM me privately if so. The property is not a bad property. A crowdfunder mentioned to me that it's a good location (his words: "that is not a bad area and it's improving by the day", and a real estate agent said the same. She said she knows a property manager who can easily get it rented for about $900 if I want to rent it after it's rehabbed, or she could easily get it sold because she gets many contacts from people who want to buy in that area or move into that area. If it were here in Denver I'd rehab it myself, but it's not - it's in Atlanta. This is a great cautionary tale about partnering with someone outside of your own city on a rehab....dangerous business. If this were in Denver I'd be able to control my own destiny....but in Atlanta I have very little control at all.

Thanks

Thanks for all of the advice. I don't plan to sell it until Q4 of this year at the soonest, but am just trying to plan out expenses so I can save up for things. Appreciate all the help. :)

I'm thinking of selling the house I'm living in. House will sell in Denver for about $445k.

It has service-able (but worn and slightly stained in places) carpet covering about 700 sq ft. Is it worth it to replace the carpet?  I'm guessing this might cost $1500?

Same question for back yard zero-scaping - wood chips are a little bare....is it worth it to bring in a new load and spread them? I'm guessing this might cost $1000?

Same question for window covers - mixed light drapes around the house - worth doing better window coverings? I'm guessing this might cost $2000?

Thanks for any insight and I hope this was posted on the correct sub-forum.

Hi,

I've heard a turnkey+property-management company chief named John interviewed on a couple podcasts. I know they have a lot of properties under management - around 1600, and have done a big hedge fun deal (this was mentioned on the podcast). He mentioned they have a flat rate prop mgmt fee and their rehabs are gutted down to the frame with all new systems installed and basic level trim.

Neither podcast mentioned his last name or the prop mgmt company name. Does anyone know what company this is?

Thanks

I'd go up to employer match limit without a doubt. Once you hit employer match limit I think it's debate-able.