All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

Bought an investment property in a mixed neighborhood. One of those that one block is very nice and the next street over is so so.

The house has been vacant for a while and now I am taking over and need to do some rehab. For this reason I am not there on nights and only there a couple of times a week.

I noticed on my driveway cig butts, sometimes broken glass bottles.

In talking to a neighbor he told me people are hanging out on my driveway because they know the property is vacant. They are drinking, making loud noises, sometimes 1 or 2 cars parked there sometimes 3. There were occasionally other cars driving by he thinks they are selling drugs.

He also think the guys (16-18 year olds) are "friends" of a guy across the street. That couple have two sons 16 and 18 year old. One of them been arrested a few times, last year had broken into a few homes on the same street. One time tried to sell drugs on his own lot and his mom called the cops on him and later kicked him out of the house, nevertheless he comes back once in a while and his younger brother is on the same path.

Now they see my property being unattended and started to hang there.

Should I call the cops on them? My neighbor says to do so but to call from a public phone as "anonymous" because they might find out who called in and seek revenge.

Any idea how to deal with this situation?

Freddie Mac property in Miami, Florida.

Lender foreclosed May 2012. Property assessor's just value = 184K.

Listed for sale at $194K in August 2012. Since then it has been pending, active, pending, active several times, while each time the price dropped from 194K to 174k to 164k to now at 159k.

My agent said last several deals were for FHA loans and this house need some work and wouldn't qualify.

I am ready with all cash, but not sure if I should lowball (because of the failed sales) or I should give it my best shot.

Six months ago I was in a Fannie Mae REO deal and they asked for 179k, I offered 150k, they came down to 165k, I went to 151k, they went down to 159k, I went to 152k and we agreed at 152k. I was about to close but the house end up having a title defect and they had to reforeclose. I don't know if Freddie Mac negotiates like Fannie Mae?

The previous owner had an unpaid balance of 146k at the time of foreclosure. Does that impact how low the bank will go?

I am thinking of going in a 135k but not pay a dime more than 145k don't know realistically if 135k will get a counter.

Thoughts?

Down here in South Florida it doesn't take much to get 70k in code violations.

One property in Hollywood had an illegal fence. The city asked for the fence to be removed, the owner was in foreclosure and ignore it, the bank took over after a few months and was dragging it's feet to do anything. Well $250 A DAY of fine quickly adds to 55K.

Another property was a vacant lot owned by someone who passed away, the owner's son lives in another state and left the land alone. A year later he decides to sell it for 120K, hired an agent who went there and discovered the lot was full of dumped debris. City has a bulk trash removal notice and was ignored and again fines added up to 42K just on unattended trash.

It is not an HOA community. It is an upscale neighborhood in a historic district in Fort Lauderdale, so I wanted to be kept up to the standards of the neighborhood.

Well, lesson learned.

Turned out this is not a case of a reluctant seller. The listing agent was playing games.

After another attempt to contact them we were told it's pending, they signed a contract already.

My agent thinks they already had a buyer lined up, but probably the bank required them to list on MLS so they did it to appear they made an effort, but made up excuses to stall everyone until their buyer got the contract signed.

I am running into that quite a bit lately.

My agent advised that because so many people are playing games these days, it may be necessary for me to submit offers without viewing the property first, but stipulate in the offer a contingency to see the property within X days. That way a formal offer is submitted and they can't hide that from the bank.

But how would that make a difference? If I offer 200K, they will just tell their buyer to offer 200,001 and then push the higher offer to the bank, right? I don't like writing up offers site unseen without doing my due diligence.

Location is Florida.

Lease does not stipulate who pays for the watering of the yards.

During the initial lease negotiation, the topic did come up. The realtor said we both contribute. I pay for someone to mow the lawn twice a month ($80 a month) and the tenant pays for the irrigation as part of HIS water bill. He seems agreeable at the time, but nothing was written into the lease.

We also discussed who's responsibility it is to put up hurricane shutters in the event of a hurricane approaching. We agreed I (landlord) would do it but at my discretion. In other words if I don't think a storm is threatening enough to do it I don't have to, if he worries he could do it himself. That wasn't written into the lease either.

After two months he complained of high water bill. I looked into it and yes it is high because the city charges on a bracket. First 3000 gallons $1.72 per 1000 gal, but once over 20,000 gal they charge $10 per 1000 gal and there are multiple tiers in between. I put in new sod so initially needed more water and set the sprinklers to water every day. My fault and will reimburse him for it.

However, I said let me dial back on the sprinklers to once a week instead of once a day, and that should only cost an additional $40 each month on your end. I am paying $80 to mow the lawn twice a month. Fair? He said no, I don't want to pay a dime for watering the lawn.

Any suggestion on a resolution?

I am an investor and recently a property caught my eye.

A similar property in the same community I really like was available some time back but I walked away from that deal due title issues and mold issues.

This one is a bigger unit, an end unit, and at a lower listing price. I know, I know, short sale listing price means nothing.

I have asked my realtor to see that ASAP.

After two days of back and forth I still can't see the property.

The listing agent has informed my agent, that the seller is not cooperating, they were forced into a short sale situation and are in denial. So they "can't be home", "don't have extra keys", "need to clean house before showing", and dozens of other excuses. The listing agent has warned us this is going to be a "DIFFICULT" situation.

Any suggestions? As a buyer what should I do to get my foot in the door?

I am flexible on closing date, will be paying all cash, no contingency except for an inspection, and open to renting it back to them...should I convey that to them or this is showing too much eagerness and may cost me leverage in downstream negotiations?

I am looking to purchase properties for rentals. So far I have purchased 3 properties, two SFH and one apartment in a fourplex. So far so good.

Recently I noticed a bunch of properties available that are SINGLE FAMILY HOMES, but with a detached "IN LAW QUARTER" in the back.

For example, there is this 2200 SF 3 bedroom 3 bath home in a very nice neighborhood, with a small building in the back which is a 700 SF studio.

The main house is a very nice 1930s house, with all original floor and windows, a house in the historic district, all custom and well preserved. I have a soft spot for house with charm and character and this is one, but I digress.

Going back to my question on these houses with detached quarters, do they really work as rentals?

Agent says sure, you rent the main house for $1800 and the studio in the back for $700.

However, how would one "manage" that?

First of all, I am thinking the demographics of those who would rent a 5/3 house, probably a larger family...would they want to share the yard, parking etc...with someone else living in the back? I am thinking probably not.

The water, electric etc...are together, off a single meter. How would these strangers work out who pays what? Then there is only one mail box, or if they want to install a satellite dish or whatever, it's a single address...seems like a headache.

It seems to be the more practical way to rent is to rent the whole thing and let the tenant "sublease" the studio out, another headache.

Do you guys stay away from these tandem properties or is there something I am missing?

I understand unless you have a RE license you can't get your property on the MLS, where else do you all advertise besides putting signs up at a few nearby street corners or hiring a realtor?

Or, are there realtors you can hire to do just MLS listing, but let me to the calls, screening, showing, lease, etc... for a lower fee?

Have a situation that I am trying to figure out the best resolution.

Bought a house with a large lot in July 2012. Spent two months cleaning, fixing, renovating inside and outside.

During the process I replaced all the sprinklers (some were broken some clogged I tested everything out), I also redid landscape and put in all new sod.

Then I rented it out. The renter moved in 2 days after I laid new sod.

Lease stated renter is responsible for paying all utilities. I told him during lease signing that I have the lawn sprinkler timer on and since it's new sod, it's going to take more watering initially, and he is paying for the irrigation since it's city water.

When I was doing the renovation my water bill was about $60. I hardly used any water. Pretty much that was just all the standard fees (which includes water, sewer, garbage etc...)

I had the sprinklers set to water once every day, 7 days a week, 15 minutes each zone and there are 4 zones during that first month.

Now the water bills come and it's $300.

He said that is excessive. I tend to agree with him.

I am not sure what part of that $300 is due to my irrigation since I don't know his "normal" consumption rate.

I have dialed back the timer to water now only 10 minutes on MWF.

There is also a possibility of a leak, but I doubt it.

Any recommendation on what's the best way to handle this?