All Forum Posts by: Kim Knox

@Aaron Holloway

You can read the testimonials for the most recent session (May 3rd) Testimonials.  

@David C. I know, rest assured, you can rent to up to 6 months with this bill without having to follow the rules, after 6 months, your toast.  =)

@Neal Collins  A lot of landlords put their rentals on the market indicating below market rents. Common practice would be for the new owner to raise the rents when they close. If this bill passes, the new attitude of (smart) Buyer's is going to be requiring the rents to be raised or tenants vacated prior to close of escrow, stretching out closings for 90 days plus.  I am not risking purchasing, raising the rent, then giving 90 day notice, only to have to reimburse the tenants for their rents, no-sir-ee-bob!  In fact, for me, the preference would be to have completely vacant units, over purchasing one with below market rents.  If rental units are not vacant, you bet buyers will make a condition of sale to meet and interview the tenants, particularly of multi-unit purchases.  If they find someone problematic, they would delay close for them to vacate, or have a hold back in escrow for protection.

@Thomas S. Your "plus more" has got me curious.  Your absolutely right, no more chances with people with no rental or credit history or any signs of a spotty history.  I was reading over the testimonies submitted for consideration, MOST from landlords pleading for them to strongly consider the consequences of such an action that damages landlords.  Many indicated a willingness to sell their rentals, who were just scraping by to make the mortgage payments, reducing the amount of available rentals, defeating the purpose of the bill.  The government is calling our rental market in a "state of emergency" because of lack of available rentals. 

Most of testimonials "for" the bill have no skin in the game, they are not landlords, as far as I can tell. I own several rentals, and the changes I will make are all less friendly that I like to be: Dramatically increase security deposits to offset potential liability, no more Mrs. Nice Guy! I used to rent to people with foreclosures in their history because that often results in long term tenants, but I will have to re-evaluate that.  If my government wants to treat me like I am a money hungry jerk, I will be forced to become one.           

If we get rid of no cause evictions, why not get rid of no cause divorces?  Further, lets take away the employers ability to terminate employees!  

Owning rentals is a business, and I resent the governments assertion that all landlords are rich and all tenants are victims.   Why is it hard to believe that Landlords want to keep good tenants? In their effort to "protect" tenants, they are inadvertently hurting them, and potentially reducing the pool of available rentals.  This is a dream come true for tenants who work the system.  These government officials must have a cushy retirement plan and haven't spent their entire life building a rental portfolio.  

Hi Landlords and Investors!  HB 2004-A is a harmful Bill being proposed and passed the house by ONE-vote!  Imagine having a huge investment in a house and having the government telling you you cannot give a tenant notice to vacate after they have occupied for over 6 months (unless special circumstance........then you can give 90 days notice and payment of relocation expenses of an amount up to three months rent!)  Am I living in Crazy-Town??

Landlords would be REQUIRED to make tenant offer to renew fixed term tenancy if the TENANT decides to renew.  The TENANT gets to control a landlord's investment?  This is a bill that will be considered a GODSEND to tenants that work the system, and an absolute financial nitemare to landlords.  

The most obviously weak side of this bill is the assumption that Landlords want to terminate tenants without reason.  If landlords have a good tenant, they want to keep them happy.  We don't want to evict people.  I find absolutely absurd, the thought that landlords arbitrarily evict good tenants.   I have never encountered a random eviction.  

This has consequences for tenants too.  Landlords will no longer take risks to rent to people with questionable financial or rental history.  No longer a chance on a new renter or one with no credit.  Why, because before we could do a month to month agreement and if they proved themselves, we could then enter into a lease. This bill passes, I will never give anyone the benefit of the doubt again, which is a shame.   Additionally, it discourages home upgrades.      

Chief Sponsors of this bill:  Gorsk, Iluso, Power, Hernandz, Dembrow, Gelser, and Anderson think their is MINIMAL FISCAL IMPACT if this bill passes.  Are you kidding me?!  

This bill makes assumptions that all Landlords are rich and all tenants are victims.   

This bill will reduce our rental investor pool, ultimately lowering the number of rentals available, which will be an unfortunate outcome in a market with so few rentals available.   I suppose a landlord might be able to protect themselves by charging a much higher and non-refundable security deposit.  Another upsetting outcome of this bill to tenants.   

Please contact our Legislator so we can stop this bill n the Senate! Contact your Legislator so we can stop this bill in the Senate!

• Virtually eliminates Oregon’s no-cause eviction law;
• Imposes possible rent control 
• Requires all fixed-term tenancies to continue indefinitely, solely at the discretion of the tenant;
• Requires landlords to pay for evicted tenants to move; and
• Allows tenants one year to file a complaint for any violation of the bill with 3-months rent + damages due to the tenant.

If you live in Oregon, this is worth looking over.  Scheduled for Public Hearing tomorrow, May 3rd.  Details of House Bill 2004

Thanks for getting involved.  Thoughts?  

Was it just a misspelling, a missing middle name, or something more?

A tangible gift.  I would say dinner and/or a play.  Usually used to take a neglected spouse out to say "see honey, it was worth missing your birthday, it resulted in a sale!!"  Busy brokers have neglected spouses, so something they can do with their spouse is the BEST thing.  

Single male Broker, anything he can take a date too and brag that a Client did this in appreciation for his brilliance.  =)

By the way, the fact that you want to do something kind for your Broker, says something really nice about you.  Congratulations on your sale. 

If you are an investor alone you are held to a lower standard than if you are a licensee, which has advantages you will be forfeiting. Meaning as a licensee, you can be putting yourself in position to be legally criticized if you locate a good deal for yourself. Additionally, a Broker's e&o insurance will likely not cover self represented transactions, which can be a tremendous liability to a brokerage. I would recommend getting your license for the MLS access and access to Realtor meetings (where deals are discovered), but I would hesitate to represent yourself in transactions.

I am an investor and a Broker.  I am a Broker full time and invest in properties from time to time for my retirement plan.  However, I do not represent myself in those cases.  I put it in the contract that my purchase is for the purpose of profit and I disclose that I am an active Broker in the State of Oregon.  The latter is a licensee requirement, the first is to protect myself from being criticized for taking advantage of the general public. 

Most experienced agents have learned to spot an investment opportunity, and are foolish to not make some purchases.  It is deceptive though, because they might be using representation as a method of reducing liability.     

@Jackie Botham

I wouldn't walk if the $$ work.  Did you formalize your request for $2K credit in an addendum to the sales contract? Do you have an Agent representing you? Are you still within your inspection period?

If you are really ready to walk, you can be more aggressive and within that same addendum indicate that Seller to credit "Buyer $2,000 towards your closing costs (or reduction of purchase price, whichever is better for you), or sales contract to terminate and Buyer's earnest money refunded in full." You could ask the Seller to spend the money on the repairs to have issues corrected by a professional prior to close, your asking for a credit is easier on the Seller.

I would further include something like the following:

Sales contracts require the Seller to provide current rental agreements for Buyer to review and approve. This has not yet been received." I would not have wanted my Buyer Client to have any paid inspections without having the lease agreements first, on an investment purchase.

If you decide to move forward, and they do not provide you with a copy of the lease, let the tenant know you are buying the place, and they should expect a new lease from them. Tell them you have not received a copy of their existing lease from the Seller and you want to make sure you know of any deposits made are transferred to you, they may offer you a copy. You can just casually indicate the monthly rent amount and which utilities they are in charge of paying. This is your way of making sure that what the Seller and Listing Agent have presented, is true. I would talk to the tenant about your relationship moving forward even if they gave me the agreement as requested.

Additionally, I always like to talk to the tenants just to make sure they are happy and intend on staying. You need to make sure that if their are any security deposits, that those are transferred to you.

You can call the utility companies yourself and get the info on the approximate cost. They will generally give you a high, low, and average bill for the past 12 months. That is how it works in my area.

@Jacqueline Coombs

Did you formalize your request for $2K credit in an addendum to the sales contract?  Do you have an Agent representing you? Are you still within your inspection period?

If you are really ready to walk, you can be more aggressive and within that same addendum indicate that Seller to credit "Buyer $2,000 towards your closing costs (or reduction of purchase price, whichever is better for you), or sales contract to terminate and Buyer's earnest money refunded in full."  You could ask the Seller to spend the money on the repairs to have issues corrected by a professional prior to close, your asking for a credit is easier on the Seller.  

I would further include something like the following:

Sales contracts require the Seller to provide current rental agreements for Buyer to review and approve.  This has not yet been received."   I would not have wanted my Buyer Client to have any paid inspections without having the lease agreements first, on an investment purchase.

If you decide to move forward, and they do not provide you with a copy of the lease, let the tenant know you are buying the place, and they should expect a new lease from them.  Tell them you have not received a copy of their existing lease from the Seller and you want to make sure you know of any deposits made are transferred to you, they may offer you a copy.  You can just casually indicate the monthly rent amount and which utilities they are in charge of paying.  This is your way of making sure that what the Seller and Listing Agent have presented, is true.   I would talk to the tenant about your relationship moving forward even if they gave me the agreement as requested.  

Additionally, I always like to talk to the tenants just to make sure they are happy and intend on staying.  You need to make sure that if their are any security deposits, that those are transferred to you.  

You can call the utility companies yourself and get the info on the approximate cost.  They will generally give you a high, low, and average bill for the past 12 months.  That is how it works in my area.

Wow @John Gray then if they only owe $80K, and they are already aware of the foreclosure, I would put in an offer in prior to going to auction, and you might be smart to use the listing agent as your agent also, because you will be coming in with a very low offer in comparison to the list price, also, you don't want that Agent calling their investors about it.    

If that doesn't work, I would try to purchase at auction.  Lots of competition at the court house steps though, this type of buy is what everyone is looking for every day.  

@John Gray

What is the market value?  Is it owner occupied?  Do you know the total the Seller owes (mortgage activity is public record).

I would confirm you are bidding on a first mortgage, then purchase at auction with cash.  It is beyond me why they are not trying to short sale, it actually makes me suspicious.  I would pay for a preliminary title report to ensure the lien position and to make sure no other liens or judgments populate.   

It is suspicious for a few reasons. Most importantly to the Seller, a tax consequence will be based on the ultimate sales price (in my area).    It also makes me wonder if are getting bad advice.  

In Oregon, an owner has a 6 month right of redemption period.  I would offer to buy the owners right of redemption period, with a formal agreement indicating they will be vacating the house in 30 days. 

There is nothing to stop you from making an offer prior to it going to auction, but you might be alerting them to a foreclosure that they are unaware of.   In my experience, they may delay the auction if it is  at least 7-10 days prior to the auction date.  If you decide to make an offer prior to it going to auction, get your own agent who has short sale experience to help you investigate the status without alerting the listing agent to the foreclosure.   

The reason I recommend your own agent is for two reasons.  Any Agent with short sale experience, would be trying to short sale rather than letting a home get foreclosed on, so I am thinking the existing listing agent lacks short sale experience.  This makes it important that your Agent needs to have short sale experience.  The 2nd reason it is important to select a short sale experienced Agent is that the Seller can accept your offer just to extend their free stay at their home, without regard to your time and efforts.  Meaning, they could know they are not in position to short sale and just work with you to delay the process.