All Forum Posts by: David Lemley

If your tenant is being even a little unhelpful, you are better off getting her out.  Once you do this long enough you learn to limit the options that you give and make sure you are in control the entire time.  If you think you can get your difficult tenant to work with you on selling your rental, you will be wrong almost 100% of the time.  Good luck.

One more thing.  Explain how you do this for a living and you have a lot of experience at this.  Do some checking and if he has employment, explain how you will proceed through the eviction process, be awarded a judgment, and then garnish his wages.  A few years ago I garnished the wages of a pre-school teacher.  Sounds terrible right.  She applied for my unit and got approved.  She had not intentions of moving in.  She allowed her bi-polar daughter with 3 kids to move in.  I garnished her wages and collected a ridiculously low amount from her employer every 2 weeks.  It was the smallest check that i received each month that gave me the most pleasure!  I have compassion for those who deserve and need it.  I want my slice of justice for those who purposely take advantage of the system.

I explained to her what i was going to do and why.  I lied to her and told her it wasn't personal.  I gave her numerous opportunities to rectify the situation prior to the eviction and garnishment.  1 year later she referred a friend of hers to me to fine her a rental.  I respectfully declined.

Use it as a learning experience, because this is what it is.  I used to go grab a lunch and sit outside of my evictions to watch the house.  The only thing that accomplished was guaranteeing i was not going to enjoy my lunch.  Put it on auto-pilot and hand it to the lawyer.  This is all part of the cool gig you are choosing as a career.  Buy more properties and dilute your exposure to this inevitable situation. 

Good luck and don't spend too much time on what you can't control. Direct your lawyer to move as quickly as possible to getting him out of your unit.  Then decide whether it is worth it to attempt to recover your money.  Best of luck. 

Sorry you are going through this.  Once you do this long enough, your way of thinking changes.  It's good have compassion for others and what they are going through.  It is also good to take care of yourself and your business.  I try to take all emotion out of the process.  I explain what the consequences are and how they can avoid them.  I then move as quickly as possible and incur any legal fees necessary to expedite the process of getting my unit back.  Dragging your feet and giving 2nd chances is normally more expensive than the lawyer.  It totally suck, but will make you a better investor going forward. 

The negative with Illinois is the taxes.  My inventory of rentals are paid off and I still share a decent amount of my cash flow with the county.  $150k house in Park Forest rents for $1400.  My taxes are $8,000 (I fight/contest my taxes every year).  47% of rent collected goes to my silent partner Cook County.  I am seriously considering selling all of my units, and replacing them in another state. That being said, there are lots of renters and buyers here.  There is money to be made in any State if you know what you are doing.  Best of luck!

I have been a full time investor for 20 years and been listening to the pod-casts ever since I found the site a year ago.  Thanks for all the great info!!  Sitting in Chicago traffic has been way more interesting listening to fellow real estate nerds. 

I am looking for some advice.  I would like to rent a place in Colorado for the summer.  My wife is a teacher and kids are in college.  I want to plan a super fun summer before the kids graduate and get tied down with life.  I would also like to piggy back some work in as well.  Eventually, I would like to purchase a property that would be in demand (as a rental) for the ski season, and be available to me in the summers.  We hike and white water kayak.  I am hoping this trip would help me locate a property that would meet my needs.

I would appreciate a point in the right direction.  I am excited to hear any advice you may have.

I have never used anything else, but love quickbooks.  Makes tax time a non-event.  I am opposed to quickbooks forcing me into a service agreement every year.  I feel like if I purchase the product, they should be willing to help me when needed.  Every year they send out an update that causes a problem.  I call customer service, who needs a service agreement in order to fix it. 

Ahhhhhh.   I feel better now.  Have a great day everyone!!

I have 36 sfh's in and around Cook Co.  If I could pick them up and drop them in another state to avoid the taxes I would.  The assessor is really the one who has the biggest slice of the pie, and no skin in the game.  Super frustrating!  Depending on your experience, you can make money in any neighborhood.  Some of the worst areas will lean more on Section 8 than the nicer areas.  The areas that are on the news on a daily basis are very condensed and are not a good representation of the Chicago area overall. 

Have fun investing and best of luck!

You can have your rent paid to a company even if the company doesn't own the property. Depending on motivation levels you can refi your building with a local bank that will lend to an LLC. You of course would be the guarantor. It would make me really nervous to be exposed to all that liability. If you have some good equity in the building you can add a line of credit to the refi. Having an available line helps you purchase the next building THAT WOULD BE IN YOU NEW LLC!!!! Have fun and best of luck:)

Hmmm. Maybe I am just paranoid, but I consider holding a rental in you name as a huge problem. I have 36 properties in LLC's. If someone has any reason to go to court, I want the LLC to be responsible. I also say that I am the property manager which gives me some separation from the decision makers. LLC makes that more believable. About 9 years ago I was counter sued by a professional tenant. She tried to name me personally, but couldn't because she signed a lease with the LLC. I love my LLC's!!! Good luck.