All Forum Posts by: Marina Wong

Hi Tina,

While I have not used Mark, I can tell you, based on what I found online and comparing only to Anderson Business Advisors, they are not expensive. Anderson charges a lot more for creating an LLC, for example. Anderson is very knowledgeable. I plan on contacting Mark's office just to see what they advise. Creating LLC is one thing, the over all strategy is more important. If you don't have the over all strategy, just having LLCs are no good.

I have researched this for my FL property. It is state specific. FL law (Bill S 1084 er, 3/10/2020) specifically states that what the tenant needs to provide is per pet and the tenant needs to show:

1) the tenant needs to have a disability

2) what that specific pet does to help with the disability (ie different pet might perform a different emotional support to the owner). 

Check to see if your state has the second provision, in which case, you can request a per pet evaluation done by a professional (if your state also clarify who can actually provide this kind of certificate). 

In the Florida bill, there is one paragraph that says (line 394 ) "False or fraudulent proof of need for an emotional support animal.—A person who falsifies information or written documentation, or knowingly provides fraudulent information or written documentation, for an emotional support animal under s. 398 760.27, or otherwise knowingly and willfully misrepresents himself or herself, through his or her conduct or through a verbal or written notice, as having a disability or disability related need for an emotional support animal or being otherwise qualified to use an emotional support animal, commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. In addition, within 6 months after a conviction under this section, a person must perform 30 hours of community service for an organization that serves persons with disabilities or for another entity or organization that the court determines is appropriate." See if your state has anything that specifies the penalty for fraudulently claiming ESA. If there is, I would print the Bill out and highlight the paragraph and have any prospective applicant initial that they read the bill on ESA. This should deter fraudulent claims. Again in this world, those who don't do the right thing always hurt those who do.
On the other hand, if the tenant is a responsible pet owner and takes good care of the dogs and the property (so the dogs don't destroy the property and the place doesn't smell bad), then you have a sticky tenant. But then again, if someone is not being honest, you don't know what else they are lying about.

@Lora H. Does the attorney give any guidance in terms of rental insurance that need to specifically include the pet's name? I feel the need for that for a dog but it would be overkill if it's a cat. However my management company advise to ask all pet owners to do that. The property I have has some low income families and I feel bad that this gives the tenants extra burdens if they only have cats. But then again I know some people have ESA that are exotic animals and I am not sure where to draw the line. 

I have a rental in FL and one of the tenants got one of those cards mentioned above ONE WEEK after moving in (without telling the management company that she has a dog). I researched the FL law and it basically has the same stipulations as what Lora's attorney said (Bill S 1084 er, 3/10/2020 if any FL landlord wants to look up). Apparently one cannot even refuse when the date of the ESA card is after the move in date. When I checked the website that the tenant used, it shows that I only need to pay $80 or so to get one of the certificates. FL have had a ton of fraud by these pet owners and such a bill meant to give some guidance to what landlord can and cannot ask. One thing the landlord cannot do is ask the tenant to fill out specific forms. I think they also caught on the fact that some landlord wants tenant to jump through hoops.

 In fact, most investors want to know how much the GP as a whole (not individual GP) invests. There needs to be an alignment of interest. Most GPs invest about 10-15%. Less than 10% are usually frowned upon. It is a very legitimate question to the GP group as a whole. Some GPs run out of money to fulfill the 10% and would get Co-GP for that reason. 

Given that we are on BP and so many people know Brandon, I am very surprised that not many people are invested in ODC. While I know Brandon and his team has experience, the going in cap rate is very low for MHP (I was told mid single digit). They also like to acquire MHP with higher vacancy/ vacant pads (not sure what the industry standard is). I also don't like funds for the lack of transparency (no DCF, no rent comp, no sales comp, no sensitivity analysis etc) even if properties are already identified. However, because interest rate has gone up, funds that have a few holding already theoretically should be better off compared to funds that are only starting to acquire now. Of course, when the cap rate eventually increase, that would be a different story.

For those of you who invested in previous funds, do you know what was the going in cap rate for the MHP in your fund?

How often do you have to change the battery? TIA

I understand this is an old thread but just want to add some details here in case other people will be looking for info in the future. I recently acquired a small multifamily in FL. In the past, I have one account per tenant in MA. But since this is a small multi, it does not make sense to have one per tenant. I opened one account for the entire building in a checking account so I don't have to deal with allocation of interest.

At the time of acquisition, I was still in MA and when I went to BofA , I was told that they cannot open an escrow account for me when I am in MA to withhold escrow money for a property in FL. I had to open the account when I went down to FL.

There is specific language you need to include per Chapter 83 in your notification letter to the tenants. I would have the tenant e-sign but I think the law specifically said the letter needs to be hand delivered or mailed. I hand delivered when I went to the building for showing and I had every tenant sign and took picture/scan the letter afterwards.

Hope this helps. 

Thank you for the information @Nathan G. Has www.narpm.org since changed? It seems that only members can search the directory. An online membership doesn't give access to the directory.

Just asked someone who might have first hand experience of not having a bank account and he said if you have a friend or family, you can always endorse the check over to them and they can pay you cash. I guess problem solved and I won't feel bad.