All Forum Posts by: Michael Chalke

Luckily, she finally transferred the utilities.

Believe it or not, I have two confirmations in e-mail from her forwarding the utility account opening and switching service. I called and they said, for the heat, it didn't transfer over for some reason.  They told me the tenant should give them a call.  Tenant said she was going to, but hasn't yet.  This is a first for me as usually receiving an e-mail stating that the utilities were switched, then it's done. I've done dozens of rentals over the years. This is the first time that I received an email confirmation that the utilities were switched when actually only one was and the other wasn't.

I am just trying to avoid getting housing involved as then it become a crap show. 

A new tenant, adult mother who's taking care of her adult son (he has some medical issues) applied for one of my apartments in Connecticut. She is on Section 8, which I didn't mind since in Connecticut, it's been pretty good for me over the years. I also am getting over market rate and the tenant does treat the apartment well; I was just there this weekend. Anyways, I come to find that she only transferred the electric portion of her utilities; not the gas.  She forwarded both documents to me from both utility companies  (two different companies service the electric and gas) showing the accounts were established and transferred; but the gas company states it was never transferred.  She said she was going to transfer the gas last week, but never did.  

I served her a 15 day lease violation; but I am hesitant to get housing involved as they may hold payment until she switches the utilities.  Her lease states that she has to switch the utilities in to her name as she's responsible. I am not sure if I am allowed to stop the utilities at the end of the month or what are my other options.

Again, I am trying not to involve the housing dept, as they'd just stop her payment and threaten to remove her from the program. Has anyone ever been in this situation?

I have a tenant on a month to month lease which has been nothing but problems. I thought, since they were members of another family in the building, it would be fine to rent to them since they had been living in the building for 5+ years anyway. So far, they've brought in an aggressive dog, broken the floor tile (they say by mistake) and constantly pay late on their rent; without paying late fees. Then they switched to online payments but then disputed the rent payments and I've lost both my Paypal and CashApp accounts due to their "unauthorized charges".  I therefore posted a non-renewal notice on the door and mailed a cert. copy to them. Surprisingly, no response. I gave them about 35 days to leave, but I am doubtful that they will leave. So, it seems this may turn into a holdover eviction. Anyone have to go through this before in Upstate New York?  I know no one can post atty info here, but if someone can message me some recommended attys, I'd appreciate it. I've done evictions before, just none which were hold-over.

Quote from @Curtis Mears:

@Michael Chalke

All the issues sound like things you or an inspector should have known about. Your lack of due diligence is not the sellers issue.

I have never had a seller tell me about gouges in the floor or holes in the walls. I notice them and adjust my initial offer. Once you are closed, work to fix the issues and move on.

Appreciate your two cents. While a seller may not have to disclose this information, a real estate agent who knows of this does.  The seller was the selling real estate agent. That is what you are not understanding.  However, you're a property manager, so I can see how one would pass this on as buyers error.

Quote from @Maria Afsharian:

I am very sorry this happened to you. I am wondering if you had a real estate agent represent your side of the transaction? And if you used an inspector, and if so, were they chosen by you, or did the agent recommend them? 

If you didn't use your own agent. Please do. Many buyers and investors don't use an experienced real estate agent to cut costs, when usually as the buyer you don't pay for the agent's services, rather the seller does at closing. Hope this is helpful for your next purchase. 

I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice, but I studied this information recently while getting my real estate broker's license. According to the National Association of Realtors- https://www.nar.realtor/ (Which, not all real estate agents are members of), there is a strict Code of Ethics you can read on their website. 

Articles 1-9 address "Duties to Clients and Customers". Specifically, Article 2 relates to DISCLOSURE. Here you may want to contact the local Board of Realtors to file a complaint and ALSO file a complaint with your state's real estate commission. From what I understand, both encourage parties to mediate vs court cases. 

Please note, based on my experience, most general home inspectors do a basic home inspection and will check, identify, document, and make recommendations if needed for other specific inspections. I always suggest additional inspections regardless for my home buyers - in addition to the general inspector - before a deal is closed. This can include inspectors for pools, environmental, sewer lines, underground oil tanks (In NJ), electric, pest, or foundation. 

Hope this is helpful to you somehow.   

 Hello and thank you for your reply!  I used my realtor from a previous purchase who has been an agent since the 1980s.  She recommended the inspector, as the one's I was used to using were all booked.  I voiced my issues with her and she said she was going to speak to her broker and the board about it.  It's been silence for three weeks on her end.  I am taking the real estate course in NJ now so I something like this is mitigated in the future. I'd post the pictures, but I do not want to link this to a pending case against the agent. There really was no way to find out about the flooring and the holes behind the wallpaper. Even the attorney was taken back when I shown the videos of before and after; timestamped, of course.  One wouldn't know about this until after the rugs and wallpaper were removed.  The previous owner removed the rugs and we saw the damage once she moved out. The wallpaper was removed because it was peeling and most people who saw it requested it to be removed.  I did a showing the say she moved out, and both me and the prospective tenant saw the bare floors at the same time. It was the quickest cancellation I've even been through. I think the potential tenant was in the apt with me for less than a minute. Yes, that's how bad it was.  I've already replaced the two chandeliers, vanity mirror, and vanity lights in the bathroom.  The wall repair is taking several new pieces of mold resistant sheetrock and then the sanders and wood repair company is coming in to do their work. That's the most expensive due to the cost of wood.  I will do what you and @Bob Okenwa suggested.  Thank you both.

Quote from @Steve Vaughan:

Which state are you in?  That can matter.

Some states require a seller condition disclosure be completed on all residential sales.

It covers lots of things from having the right to sell or FROF o4 not to  boundary disputes to structure, roof, basement, sewer, etc.  In WA it's called a Form 17. 

Does your state require one and did she fill one out?  Not doimg it or lying on it could give you grounds for comp. 

What she did was put a large wall to wall rug in each room and had tables and chairs over them.  There was no way to check under the wall to wall rugs to see the deep scratches in the middle of each of the rooms.  As for the wall paper, she had holes in the bathroom and living room.  What she did was wallpaper those walls completely and left the holes as is. with picture frames covering them.  There was literally no way to see this without removing the wallpaper.  The light fixtures she said had dead bulbs, that is all, so the inspector thought nothing of it. I changed the bulbs the other day, some of them do not light, so I replacing two chandeliers and one vanity light w/ mirror.  The home is in the State of NJ, and since this was a known material defect, as a realtor, I believe she was required to disclose this.  If this was only a couple grand, I wouldn't give a crap, but labor alone for the repairing the walls, bathroom and floors is around 4k and we're still adding up all the costs for the supplies.  She did do a property disclosure report, but I do not believe this stuff is listed in the report.

I recently purchased a duplex and the seller was the listing agent. After she moved out and I was moving in, she hid many things that I am now fixing/replacing. She placed wallpaper over huge wholes in the wall, light fixtures no longer work, she had huge rugs over the hard wood floor which have dozens of deep gouges and needs complete refinishing.  I have estimates of 7700 - 10200 in repairs. Attorney says it was an as is sale, and there's nothing to do.  However, she was the real estate agent and materially hid things from us prior to the purchase. These things are not something an inspector work look for.  

Any one have any thoughts on what I can do?

Due to COVID, me and my partners finished the conversion of an old commercial building into a mixed use building back in June. However, we're having a hard time renting them out due to a lot of apartments flooding the market. Could be that some people are not wanting to move due to COVID. We were thinking about using the apartments for like office space instead for the time being until this COVID blows over. Believe it or not, we've had a lot of requests and inquiries on this. How gray of an area is this that we're considering going in to?  It's in Poughkeepsie, New York if it matters. Not sure if it matters, but the whole building and all units have a fire suppression system and other things needed for a commercial building since the 1st two floors are commercial, the city made us make the entire building outfitted with a fire suppression system and wireless notification.

Originally posted by @Tchaka Owen:

Originally posted by @Michael Chalke:

Originally posted by @Tchaka Owen:

Can you study the requirements for the CT real estate license and pass the exam? If so, there's your answer.

 There's state reciprocity between CT and NY. One doesn't need to take the test again in CT.

Then even easier!

Per your question, looks like your best bet is to hang your license with a brokerage in CT.

Thank you, for your comment. I already have a NY brokers license. The point of the reciprocity is that a broker in one state would not have to take the courses and tests to be licensed in another state. What you are suggesting is not what I am attempting to figure out. It would be great to see if a NY or CT broker could chime into this post since they may know the laws better.