All Forum Posts by: Mark Campo

Ok... I get it. I screwed up (LOL). I gave them the option to pay back as stated above, and I will stick by that agreement if they continue to pay.

That being said, if they default whatsoever, I will immediately take action to evict. Thank you for your direct advice!

Hi all,

I have a unit with essentially two tenants. They are both on the lease. One tenant has been paying me $400 (half the rent) consistently. The other tenant (non-paying) has not paid in four months. I threatened an eviction (to both of them), and now the non-paying tenant paid the current month and an extra two hundred dollars. This non-paying tenant has agreed to continue to pay an extra 200 dollars a month until the arrears are caught up.

Since I was getting half the rent, I didn't want to waste the time and money going through an eviction. Anyone think I should have immediately gone for eviction when I only received half the rent the first month?

On a side note, the non-paying tenant has been in the house for 17 years (well before I bought the property), and she has special needs children. Also, I did inform the paying tenant that if I evicted, I would renovate the unit and reduce his rent and allow him to stay if he helped me get the non-paying tenant out (none of that was in writing except here on bigger pockets - lol).

Thoughts?

All,

I sent my concerns to my Realtor (regarding the exclusive right) and asked him for a non-exclusive contract. He replied by stating politely that I should look for another Realtor. So, I am back to the drawing board... I will be better prepared and straightforward with the next Realtor.

Thanks again Everyone!

All,

I would like to thank everyone for their input. You answered plenty of my questions (and made me think of others). I like the idea of the meet-up, and I am definitely going to push back on the exclusive right to represent. Personally, even though he has plenty of experience, I am not sure if my realtor has actually learned from all of his mistakes. I feel like he has a pre-programmed MLS search and he just sends them to me and waits for me to tell him which ones I would like to see. Personally, I feel a good realtor would vet through them and do some initial numbers to see if any of the properties have potential.

I still don't get why I have to state what financing I am going to use in my initial offer. Is there a way for me to provide an either/or in my offer? At closing, why would the seller ever care as long as he/she gets their money at closing?

I currently own one investment property (duplex) and my personal home, and in both those cases I used a conventional lender. I just don't remember this being such a sticking point.

Again, I was hesitant on posting my questions, but I am so pleasantly surprised by the info and time everyone spent on providing feedback. Thanks!

Mark

All,

I currently have a realtor searching for multi-family properties as an investment in Connecticut. I have several concerns:

1. I currently have been pre-approved by a conventional lender (up to 500k), and I also have a hard money lender. My realtor insists that I need a pre-approval letter provided for all offers I submit. The conventional lender provided me with a pre-approval letter, but the hard money lender stated he would only provide me with a pre-approval letter on a house by house basis, which means it would be unreasonable for him to give me one for each of the 20 offers I plan on submitting. He will provide the funds AFTER I have an accepted offer, and he stated that he would have them to me quickly (week or so). My realtor is also insisting that I have to use the conventional lender if I use that in my initial offer. My plan is to use the conventional pre-approval letter for my offers. In the case where I need considerable funds for rehab (which is the case for 90% of them), I am going to actually have the hard money lender provide the funds. My realtor is stating I can't do this, and I am stating I can. Thoughts?

2. My realtor has requested I sign a contract with him allowing him to exclusively represent me. He is also requesting a 2.5% fee that will be paid for by seller, but I am to make up the difference if the seller doesn't agree. Thoughts on this?

Anyway, should I start looking for a new realtor? I picked him because he has owned many investment properties (at least 20 according to him). He is older and seems stuck in his ways. I know I am tough to deal with because I am very head strong and like things done my way, and he is head strong also. I was actually thinking about finding some young motivated realtor that I can "bully" around a little (just kidding for you politically correct wackos concerned about bullying) and have things done my way - I would be willing to pay dearly for that extra motivation.

Any feedback would be welcomed!

Thanks for everyone's input! I am pretty impressed at the feedback I received so quickly. I particularly like North Myrtle, but I have chosen a couple properties as far south as Garden City. As my first attempt at a vacation rental, I also figured the worst that happens is I will have a vacation condo that I can enjoy in the off-season with friends and family. However, I still believe I can make this profitable in the end. I am noticing that the summer months alone will not offset all the fees and costs. I will need a solid strategy to bring in some income over the winter to make it work.

Currently, I plan on putting my offers in during the first week of December (which is when I will be in Myrtle next). I am starting to interview property management companies and also learn how to make the most out of social media and sites such as VRBO/Home away.

Hi everyone. I currently own one rental property (2-family). I am looking to jump into the vacation condo rental market in the Myrtle Beach area (or anywhere that has a large rental market with plenty of golf courses and ocean front properties).

My goal is to create a working formula where I can buy, renovate, hold, and rent a vacation condo with minimum physical work by me (outsource everything, from property management to renovation). As I perfect this hands off formula, I would like to scale it.