All Forum Posts by: Max Gradowitz

Generally speaking, your property must be zoned for duplex, two homes on one lot, etc or else the County and utility company will not allow for separate meters.

In-law units, as far as I understand, do not fit this category. They are single family homes zoned for single family residence, but the county allows for a separate in-law unit on the property.  Assuming this is what you have, I'm gonna say no, you can't get separate meters unfortunately.

California has specific laws when it comes to abandoned tenant property.  You have to put a good faith effort in providing notice to the tenant that you will dispose of their property if they don't get it themselves within a certain time.  The notice has to have certain info on it (see link below) and can be mailed or emailed.  You can store the abandoned property for a few weeks (again, see the link for the exact time frame) and then may get rid of it.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/handling-tenants-abandoned-property-california.html 

1) Handymen typically do minor work. Replacing door knobs, shower doors, faucet knobs, garbage disposals, etc.  They are great for landlords because minor stuff goes out all the time on renal properties.

2) For anything requiring permits you want a licensed contractor.  They will know how to pull permits, that's why they are a reputable licensed contractor.  DO NOT use a handyman to do unpermitted work that requires a permit.

3) Use them for minor stuff.  Contractors for major stuff, permits required or not.  Pretty simple.  Without more details, it sounds like you will want a contractor for your project.

You'll want a combination of a few contracts drafted by an attorney. Firstly, when you lend money to another person for a flip, you want a note secured by a deed. Secondly, if you are partnering in a flip, you'll want a partnership agreement which details the profit (and loss!) sharing and protects everyone. Thirdly, its a very good idea to form a business entity to shield each partner's personal assets, either a corporation or LLC (a CPA can tell you which type you want for tax reasons - they both legally shield your assets). The combo of the partnership and the business entity makes sharing profit easy - all expenses are paid from the business's account, all profit from the sale goes into the business account, and then you can later disperse the profits out of the business account according to your partnership agreement (1/3 or whatever).

Also, assuming you have the entity formed, the business entity buys the property.  That is "who" owns the property while being remodeled.

Do not sign a buyer-broker agreement. You don't have to sign one to make an offer.

You normally have the tenants sign an estoppel contract so the tenant knows you are the new landlord and to pay you instead of the old landlord. Your agent will know the process and how to draft this form, this is a standard step right before close of escrow for tenant-occupied properties.

As others have stated, legally you must honor the terms of their old lease.  A new lease agreement is not required.  The estoppel protects you from the tenant claiming they didn't know that you are the new landlord and that they have to pay you.

Not closing a deal in the first few months of practice is very common.  Being an agent that makes their full living income on RE sales (not investments) is definitely a full time endeavor if you really want to do it correctly.  It's full time all day everyday marketing at first until you gain repeat clientele, which for most takes several years.  I'm not discouraging you, just giving you the reality.

If you are serious, you should look into some of the big box brokerages that offer mentoring and training for new agents.  I won't mention brokerage names, but one in particular (who I hate because their agent's tend to be inexperienced and awful to work with, so I won't say which one hehehe) offers regular seminars and training for new agents that is meant to get you going with a wide variety of marketing strategies.  They may require full time commitment, I don't know, but check into that obviously.  Also, the larger the brokerage, the better the phone time.  Ask for phone time if you can get it - when a random new buyer calls in you'll get the call.  The leads are weak as hell, but they are leads!

Marketing to FSBOs and and expired listings is not a good use of your time in my opinion.  I also don't like door knocking but I guess it depends on your market/area.  I tend to stay away from anything that annoys people, like cold calls and cold door knocks.  When a salesperson calls me or knocks on my door, I always say no thanks and close the door or hang up the phone, EVEN IF I am currently considering buying the thing they are selling!  Why?  Because I don't like getting annoyed by marketing, and I imagine most people don't either.  I literally shoo salespersons away as a principle.  When I'm ready to shop for an agent, I'll do my research and contact them when I'm ready.  Just keep that in mind when you are thinking about effective marketing strategies - be known as an agent to everyone you know and meet.  Hand out lots of cards.

Good luck!

Yup, this is what happens when you market in rural areas.  When this happens to me, I do what an appraiser would do.  Reach back farther than 6 months, go back to 1 year or maybe even longer (and account for mild appreciation if any).  Be more liberal with the radius, go a little farther.  Don't use homes with more beds/baths though, or considerably different in sq ft.  The big thing is accounting for differences you see in the comps versus the subject property.  If the one good comp sold for $100k but the property you are interested in requires $40k in rehab, you can deduct that and get an estimated market value.

If all else fails, use that one comp.  This happens sometimes in really rural areas North of Los Angeles, there are a lot of mountain areas in between LA County and Kern County, as well as very desolate towns near Mojave and Palmdale/Lancaster.

Nobody said this business was easy!

Los Angeles is likely oversaturated of a market for direct mailing.  Bakersfield would be much easier, but it's still very saturated here as well.  I would consider some of the smaller outlying towns in Kern County perhaps.  Longer days on market if you are flipping, but considerably less saturated with other direct mailing.  Something to consider...

You can talk to the tenants personally, but why?  So they can make up some sad story about why they need the TV on super loud every night?  So they can give you an excuse?  So they can complain that the other tenants also make loud noises?  No.  One thing I've learned about being a landlord is that this is a business, and 1/10 tenants will play you like a puppet if you don't treat landlording as all business.

I'd send a stern letter stating that loud noises are against X part of the lease (paragraph 15A on the current standard CAR lease agreement, but it's always being updated) and is grounds for eviction.  Clearly state in that letter that if you continue to get complaints from any other tenants about noise from them, that you will initiate eviction procedures asap.  Now, the reality is that you might give them another chance maybe, but don't let your letter reflect that.  Sound serious!  That should get the point across and fix the issue.  If it doesn't, evict.