All Forum Posts by: Johnna Lodge

I need someone to watch a vacant property until i get a tenant.

Does anyone have a watchman's contract that you can send me?

thanks,

Johnna

I need someone to watch a vacant property until i get a tenant.

Does anyone have a watchman's contract that you can send me?

thanks,

Johnna

Hi 

Great input from Tim.

Please no that updating a property does not always mean higher rent. You could be updating where you will not get the return of increased rent. The upside is you may rent it faster then those that are not as updated.

Glad you are happy with your new PM company from Tom. Thus the power of bigger pockets.

As Tom mentioned, there would be some lag time, i guess, with who you use but i can't believe in the pm contracts there are not incentives to get the properties back as quickly as possible- renovate and get a new tenant. Is the financial reward the same to a PM for a vacant property as an occupied...surely they don't receive anything while a tenant squats?

I don't know where you are in the process. Do you have your Writ of Possession from the court? If so, it is only a matter of posting on the property a copy of the Writ of Possession and scheduling the physical eviction in co ordination with the sheriff's office that particular day of the week.

I have a process servers serve my tenants the Dispossessory Affidavit.  I do not wait for the county sheriff. It does cost more but i get the tenant served quickly. It cost me more to have someone in the property that has no intention of paying. The quicker i get the house cleaned up and back on the market the sooner i can receive a good paying tenant.

I am just going over time line with a tenant eviction if you were here and explain a few things that you may or may not know....

When you self manage and you need to evict, you first send a demand payment to the tenant after the first day that they do not pay.  If rent is due on the 1st, demand payment sent on the 2nd of the month.  You can file the dispossessory on the 3rd of the month. You file with the court a Dispossessory Affidavit. 

Once you receive the executed dispossery Affidavit from the court, you send it to the process server who delivers within 2 days to the tenant (I hired them for speed).

The tenant then has 7 days to file their answer with the court from the time they are served. If the tenant does not file a response you will receive an automatic Writ of Possession. If they file and go to court  then it takes longer. In the interim of  waiting I call and eviction company and find out what is their schedule for that county. Court date varies according to when and where you file once the 7 days are up.

If we go to court because the tenant wants to dispute then we end up in court and the judge usually grants a 7 day stay to the tenant before you can evict.

Once you receive the Writ, you post the Writ of Possession on the tenants door or hand it to them.  You mention to them it would be better for them to move before this happens. Usually they leave their trash and things they don't want or can't take with them and sometimes you are watching them being physically evicted if you show up to the eviction.

The eviction company will go to the house and remove all of the tenants belongings if they  are still there or items are left in the house. This requires co ordination with Sheriff's department. It is best to have a Sheriff there in case of a dispute. Usually each county has a certain day of the week each week that they do evictions. Each eviction company co ordinates those days with each county.  Some eviction companies will take pictures of the items left outside. This is a good thing to do for your protection. The eviction company can change the locks or you can bring your own locks and ask the eviction company to change those locks for a fee. What is remaining is left outside for 24 hours. Then you have to coordinate getting the items removed from the premises. The contractors/ handymen are in the next day to get the property in move in ready condition for the new tenant.

Yes..happy to help if you need anything..Best of luck!

Congratulations on getting your first seller. Wow! Great for you. You are in the right place.

You have been given some good advice above even if we were not all clear on your knowledge and experience with wholesaling.

Yes your idea of getting contractors in to give you an estimate on rehab is an accurate assumption. This will give you a better idea in formulating your numbers to help you to give the seller a price and increase your awareness of contractor pricing for all of your subsequent deals. If the numbers work, offer to pay the back taxes and that is it.

All this depends on the numbers of course..MAYO, motivation and competition. It seems he hasn't had the money to repair this property and he had to let it go. 

He doesn't want to make the offer first because he is hoping your offer would be higher then what he is thinking. With a good rapport and if the seller appears to trust and like you this could be a really good deal for you to wholesale and for him to get rid of.

If you do get it under contract, you can promote what you were told about the incentives. It's best if you had some web information to reference  prospective buyers to. An investor who is familiar with that area and that municipality would be aware of those incentives but someone who has not invested there may not be. Helping to sell the property from the city is a proactive city. Good for you for reaching out to the municipality. A new wholesaler/investor rarely reaches out to know what the municipalities offer. You are on the right track. 

Kudos!

Let us know of your progress.

Hi Tom, 

Thank you for your post. Seems like you guys have gone thru some nightmares in Georgia. 

We in Atlanta metro can help you out from time to time if you need some help. I know Rick has reached out on some other issues. Just privately reach out. i can see how i can help you guys with some property management issues. I will not property manage but i can help you with what needs to happen, maybe do a drive by and help with time frames. We all can do this. We (meaning Bigger Pockets) are a strong network across the country of investors. We do have the ability to help out more than just the forums.

I sent a time clock to let Jean know this person needs to be fired as if he doesn't know. At least at this point the property should be vacant.

I know of some reputable property managers in Georgia who run their business like a business. If you want their names then i can forward them to you. They have strong portfolios of clients that stay with them.

i got a tenant in 3 days once it was rehabbed. They found my house by a drive by to and from work. I had posted all over the internet but the sign in the yard got them to call. (I know you cannot put a sign in a yard always due to vandalism of a vacant property.) This person moved in days before Thanksgiving. We are not in a state where weather affects people moving. Stone Mountain and Riverdale are heavier areas then where that property was occupied. I get tenants all the months of the year here in metro Atlanta. People still face all the aspects of what make people move-divorce, break ups, death, job loss, job transfer, wanting a different neighborhood, etc. We also have more and more people moving into Atlanta metro for economic job growth.

If you need some help in the interim, reach out privately and let me see how we can move things forward for you guys.

Have you posted on postlets.com? They syndicate your posting to many websites. This would be the first thing I would do after i sent to my buyers who are not buying at the moment.

If it is a wholesale deal place it on myhousedeals.com

run ads on craigslist and promote what the benefit is to buying that house now! Post a minimum of 2x a day!

Call everyone on craigslist that says they buy houses. Send them your flyer.

Market your property here in the marketplace.

Agreed network like crazy! Bring Lots of Flyers.

if you feel you can't sell it on your own, team up with other wholesalers. They have great lists. Some wholesalers will want half and then you might get lucky and find one that won't take as much. 

If the time is running out Get the deal sold! Some of something is better than some of nothing..

How did you get them to call back? craigslist? a phone line that was a recording? bandit signs? mailers?

I would just speak to them like you are speaking to us. 

Hi..this is Jay. I was calling you back in reference to you selling your house.  (Try to build a friendly rapport.)

Can you tell me a little bit about your house and why you are selling? When are you looking to move? What do you want to sell your house for..

I have a seller's script if you would like to send me your email and i will forward.

On a separate note to your overall question: Your property management is not doing their job if you still have a tenant in a property after the courts decided on 1/15 to evict. At worst case scenario the court said they would evict, usually the court will give them 7 days to vacate if the tenant requests it. If the court agreed to eviction, your property managers should have received a writ of possession..put a copy of that writ on the door of the property and had a crew remove their belongings on the date you intended to remove their belongings with an eviction crew. The eviction crew usually changes the locks. Then you have your repair guys over to get the property in shape in less than a week.  All of this should have happened within a few days from the 1/15 date if you had your writ on the 15th.

So let's say by the 22nd you can evict. The rehab crew should have been at the property by the 23rd and finished within 5 days max depending on rehab. Your property should have been on the market for a new tenant by now.

This tenant in stone mountain should not be squatting in your property. I hope there is a penalization clause for your property manager.  Best of luck!

All of these posts are great and have great ideas. What a great position for you to be in.

If your dad want's to help you and believes in you, why don't you just ask him what he wants?

He may be fine with whatever you suggest or he may have a baseline in order to help you get started.

For my father in law, we gave him 10% return with no payments on his investment until we cashed him out. This was on a rehab on a subject to. He would have been fine with whatever we gave him because he believed in us. He was helping us out. 

Sounds like you have a win/win situation. Kudos!