All Forum Posts by: Joy Allen

@Kunal Lakhwani

At one point I had raccoons In my attic, squirrels in my chimney, and a possum in my basement. The raccoons and the squirrels at least were in part due to the fruit trees I had close to the roof line. If you've got fruit trees in the area I would trim them way back

Thank you for responding! If I purchase from a turnkey company I would need to have them set the original sale price at a basis that they estimated would leave room for the rehab to be equal plus?

If I set up an LLC for my husband and I we can then set up the Opportunity zone fund as I understand it. Does that sound about right?

thanks! Joy

So...

can I take a qualified capital gain and create my own opportunity zone fund , then inlist a turnkey operation to sell me a house in an opportunity zone the charge me for the rehab after the sale and cover the basics for opportunity zone investment rules?

Could it be that simple?...

Thoughts?

Hello Dan

I believe the amount that needs to be spent is more than the value of the structure ( not including the land) unless it's been vacant 5 years. The IRS website is surprising easy to read. Check out the FAQ on opportunity zones . Also I recently found out some states don't participate (California is one) on the tax treatment of Opportunity zones. Feds do but you'll still need to pay the state their share on the gain. Fact check all of this, I'm not a CPA or an attorney. I am looking to try a DIY fund on my own so I'm doing my due diligence.

@Jesse Stein

Take out the cash and purchase another!

@Kayla Jones

I like Zelle and so do my tenants. We have an understanding that if it's after the 5th they add 50.00.

Thank you for the replies. The eviction question was one thing I wondered about so thank you for that answer. Snow removal? Is that the landlords responsibility? Oakland CA has a 15.00 tax on every 1000.00 of rent you receive and a license is required for another 90.00 annually. If you leave your unit vacant there is a tax for that and rent control, the city gives you a percent you are allowed to use every year( CA has it's own state regulated number) and protected classes can not easily be evicted. Compared to San Francisco this great! I will not go into details but if someone wanted to give me a building in San Francisco that had existing tenants in it I probably would politely decline due to the fact that you must pay tenants around 5,200.00 or more just to move into your own unit or renovate and a general feeling of tenant favoritism.  I can google the regulations but I guess I was looking for a general feel of the city from a Detroit landlord. Thanks!

Hello, found a house that has a longtime tenant in Detroit. I have property in Oakland , Richmond and Miami Dade do I am not afraid of a low income area. I want to know if the  city is landlord friendly and what is customary for landlords to cover, water, garbage, snow removal?

Thanks! Joy

Hello

I am not sure but did you include the down payment in your calculation?..

I went through 3 property managers before I accepted that none of them care about my property like I do. One if my property managers told me she had fixed the window because she got so tired of me asking her if she'd had the window fixed. Another one was charging me for lawn maintenance twice a month when they were only doing it once a month.

Once the tenant the in the back called me to say he kept trying to call the manager to give her his rent but she wouldn't send him the link! I am not sure how I found me but I'm so glad I did! One convinced me to take a out tenant with a horrible credit score because the house is in a bad neighborhood. I take responsibility for not following my gut but honestly the best decision I ever made was to fire her and just self-managed. To be fair the one in the middle was a good guy but he didn't want to come out to a bad neighborhood. The other two were horrendous!

In short order I would call the tenants and have a conversation with them. If you do not have their phone numbers get them from the property manager or the copy of the lease. Find out why they're not paying the rent. Explain to them that you are a small time landlord not some corporation with big pockets, no pun intended! You want them to stay but you can only make it work if they pay the rent because you have to pay the bank.

If you need to start an eviction process call an eviction company.

Look at Angie's list, yelp etc. to find somebody to do the porch.

If you end up evicting them put an ad on Zillow, Craigslist, Hot pads etc.

Take a video and post pictures so people really see the place online before you take time to show it to them.

I live in California and my property is in Florida so I flew out for 4 days and met with contractors for the window etc. During that time I showed the place to people and found an amazing tenant.

Explain to each applicant that you need to check their credit history. ONLY accept a tenant with good credit! Good credit does not mean you're a good person but it does mean you make good decisions in your life and will continue to do so. Somebody who makes good decisions can budget their income and pay their rent in my experience. I use a company called Smart Move which allows me to do a credit check without handling anybody's social security number and have them pay for it.

One tenant Zelles me , the others I do an automatic payment into my Charles Schwab brokerage account.

Many people would say otherwise but I simply give my tenants ( 8 doors) my cell phone number and they text me if anything happens. At that point I go online and find somebody to fix it.

I am so much happier! And so are my tenants!

You got this!😊