All Forum Posts by: Kevin Drouillard

Hello all,

Has anyone had any luck with evicting tenants in Dekalb County, Georgia? My tenant has been behind rent since the pandemic began in 2020. They did not sign the paper in order to not be evicted from the house, yet the eviction process is taking so long. The lease has been up since May 31st, 2021, and my property manager is just telling me to wait until the eviction moratorium is over until we can proceed. Surely there is something I can do? I am very distraught and disappointed in the whole thing, and I was wondering if there were some ideas that can be thrown around in order for me to take back possession of my property quickly? I have been struggling with this for the past 15 months and I’m ready for this to be over with. I’ve contacted housing authorities with no response/luck and I cannot have the tenant sign up for assistance because they refuse to respond. In other words, they’re taking advantage of the system and are living rent free.

thank you all so much!

@Theo Hicks , I know, I have been telling myself I need a new one. I just need to find the right one, which has been taking so much time. I feel that getting a new manager may not be any better. The ones I've looked up reviews on getting poor reviews. I know, no management company is perfect, so I don't expect 4 stars...but 1.5?? That's what they all tend to receive :-O.

I am definitely still on the lookout for a quality management team though. It will cost me to break the contract I have with my PM now, but as long as it's with the right one, it'll be worth it.

The good thing is, the properties are listed on Zillow and Trulia!

Yes @Jason D. Lewis , getting the loan is part of this problem as it is making me stuck. I wonder if I can even give them past leases? I'll inquire about the lease agreement.

Thank you, everyone, who replied! This is such great information! I had no idea about incentives. I think that will make my rental stand out the most!

I have seen my rentals posted on Zillow, but I'm going to do what @Karen Rittenhouse said, and I will definitely take matters into my own hands. Thanks for the awesome suggestions.

I love the Walmart gift card idea too @Linda S.I definitely will be using that!

I know, the property management is so bad! I finally got through to the marketing agent, and I asked her if she was getting my voicemails, and she hesitantly said she hadn't been receiving them. What a bunch of baloney! I do not understand how people can be in business and treat people like that! I do not understand how they haven't gotten in trouble yet?! This makes no sense to me! I mean the ethics and the morals of this company are out of this world! So bad! I do want another management company, I just need someone who can pick up from where they left off at a much higher level. It doesn't seem like there aren't too many out there that can do better. This has been one of the most humiliating experiences that I've had ever since purchasing these rentals. It's weird that I'm actually in the market to purchase more because I do understand the power of Real Estate, I just overlooked the power of proper management.

Thanks to all who responded! I will work on this right now! I really appreciate it, everyone!

Hello everyone,

I'm in a bit of a pickle with a couple of my rental properties. I currently have two units vacant in Kansas City, both in C class neighborhoods. They have been vacant for about the last 2 months. There is a bit of trouble finding tenants, but the problem is my property management company is not much help either. I am trying so hard to get in touch with them, but they are not responding to my emails and voice messages. I am not sure how well they are marketing them either.

The main question of this post is, what should I do in order to get these units rented as soon as possible before the holidays? There's absolutely no way anyone is going to want to move into a place within the next two months. What might be some strategies that I could do to possibly take things into my own hands and get these units rented with quality tenants? I am trying to acquire more properties for my portfolio, but the banks will not give me a pre-approval for a loan with any of my units vacant. They all must have a lease attached to them in order for me to get funding. 

I could get another manager, but that (presumably) would only prolong the process and cost more.

I greatly appreciate all responses!

Thank you

Thanks all who have answered. It's wonderful to hear some of the different perspectives. I value your feedback.

@Jeff Dulla , thank you for your thorough answer. Debt to income ratio is my primary concern, and I'm glad you guided me in the direction of consulting with a mortgage broker. That's what I'll have to do. I'll be sure to ask them if they do underwriting through DU, that way I know they'll be following what you say above. 

I totally agree with you @Nathan Gesner , I've been trying to do that here in NY, but it's really tough. Even with 20-25% down on a 2-4 family, my out of pocket expenses would be at least $1500 (after renting other units). However, if I can find one that's bank-owned or (possibly pre-forclosed) then I could most likely win. But just going and looking for an undervalued fixer-upper on the market would be impossible to get a decent deal.

Hello BP,

Hope all your investments are doing fantastic.

I’m looking for a bit of financial advice.

I currently own 3 single family homes under 3 conventional mortgages each. I do not yet have my own primary residence (I still live at home), but I would like to get one soon. Buying a house for myself would necessitate a 4th mortgage. However, I would like to continue to invest in real estate before I purchase my own place. My goal is to obtain 2 more cash flowing properties in the near future. The problem is the amount of conventional loans that an individual can have is limited. Some say 10 while others say 4. If it is 4, how exactly can I continue to finance properties before I actually purchase my own residence? Also, say I’m able to obtain financing for 2 more non-owner-occupied properties. How possible is it to obtain a conventional mortgage for my primary residence (which in this case would be a 6th mortgage)?

Furthermore, I read that in order for me to qualify for more than 4 mortgages, I must have 2 years of rental income history, be willing to put down 25% (at least), and have many 6 months of savings for expenses. Though that’s not necessarily impossible, that would mean I would have to wait another two years after buying my next investment properties to move out of my family’s house? (I hope not!) Is that the case? If so, is there any way around this or possible other financing solutions?

I've been with USREEB for about a year now. I purchased 3 properties, did as much due diligence as I thought I could, and it's been nothing short of a nightmare! The acquisition process was good, Mackaylee was great, but it’s the PM side that has been terrible. I’ve had two evictions in a single year! Can you believe that? Two evictions out of three properties! Out of the three properties, one tenant was miraculously amazing! Unfortunately, they did not renew their lease. Though I lucked out on the first eviction, with it not being a too expensive turnover, the second eviction is going to cost me about $7,000 to get rent-ready. Wow Wow Wow! In a single year! Maybe the PM company is trying their best, but I just feel such an extreme lack of empathy from them. Like, even on days when my houses were tenanted, I would be getting $300 maintenance bills -- to “rework wiring in panel area; retorque all lugs for proper terminations; found several loose connections through electrical wiring”. What?!?! I thought this was supposed to be a turnkey?! Why was that an issue in the first place? I got an $80 bill, just for someone to go in there and verify that the furnace was working. The very same house where the tenants were paying less than half the rent and getting away with it. Another $80 “to reinstall rubber drain cap and tighten back up.” (Perhaps the cost of these issues are normal, they just seemed a little unnecessary in the first place.)

If this was my primary income, I would be out on the street by now! Sure, I get it, the PM company is not responsible for the actions of the tenant, but they are responsible for the screening! They are the ones who chose them! Whatever happened to that promise they made me: ”leasing processes are thorough. We perform criminal, credit and background checks on everyone in the home over age 18. Employment verification is completed and five years of past rental history are verified. We do a home visit to ensure they are a tenant that preserves the value of the owner’s investment property. A quality tenant results in on time rent payment and protection of the owner’s property… [the PM company] provides monthly rent collection and late payments are reported to our property managers to quickly resolve the issue with tenants”. All that is BS! They didn't live up to that promise, and I'm just handing out money to them. I don't know whether to sell my properties or just get a new PM company. It's been heartbreaking. And they take forever to make things rent-ready, which I find annoying, because they always immediately help themselves to any maintenance expenses from my rent money before they disburse it to me, yet it takes them forever to get the ball rolling. And, they cannot start working on my properties until I give THE FULL amount (no installments, no ‘working with me,’ etc), while they are keeping tenants who are paying less than half the rent and continue to answer their beck and call! What kind of sense does that make?? What a nightmare! I'm afraid of next year!

In a year, I was hoping to make approximately $17K (accounting for maintenance and all other expenses, being conservative). Instead, after all of this debacle, my take-home is going to be about $2.5k! That’s literally one month’s rent of all 3 houses occupied with no maintenance. How PATHETIC!

I'm looking for realtors in NYC that can help me find REOs for an owner-occupied house hack. I'm looking into Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. Is there a forum/meetup I can go to for finding them? I have a pre-approval for an FHA, and am hoping I can take advantage of the properties that are on the market for 10 days to potential owner-occupant before they are open to others/investors.

Thank you all!

Thanks for your honesty Abel, I appreciate it. I'm glad I at least asked before I attempted :-). I will continue to look through Homepath and hope that I can find something. I understand the odds are against me with financing, but why not just try. I'm willing to wait. Like you said, it can take time. I hope my mortgage broker also understands that too! :-) And since I'm open to other markets anyway, if it doesn't work out in NYC, there are many other cities where it definitely can. Like where I've already started in Kansas City. I understand even after closing NYC can be a challenge, what with tenants, possible violations, building codes, the list goes on. So, I may be dodging one too, hahahaha. I'm even thinkign of changing my strategy altogether. Like BRRRR with private money.

Thanks and happy holidays!