All Forum Posts by: Michael Plante

I would send an email to the state Atty generals consumer affairs office

stating in the email you are CCing the title company, selling agent, listing agent and your mortgage company

I would do the same with every local radio and TV station as well as all of the big networks. CNN, ABC etc etc
also CC every local real estate Atty, real estate accountant and real estate companies and agents

It will take take a couple hours to gather the email addresses but we’ll worth it in my opinion.

I have done the Atty general alone and got results within days after waiting months

Admittedly not when there was $400,000 but it can’t hurt.

A local title company can’t afford to have their name out there as not protecting customers wires

Real estate companies can’t do business with a title company who does something like this either

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Marlia Stone:

Hey BiggerPockets, I’m here for any advice that you can give me on my current situation.

I recently purchased my fist Duplex property in July 2021. The property seemed like a great investment with minor cosmetic issue to be done. Certain things in regards to the property my realtor didn’t advise me to look further into after the home inspection, such as the gas and electric bill. As I began to work on the property with my contractor. We found more and more issues wrong with the property like the plumbing and state guidelines. A month later I tried to turn the gas on and put the service in my name. One unit was successful and the other wasn’t. The service was off for a year(which I didn’t know) and the unit required an inspector. I hired an inspector referred by PGW and it failed due to it not being up to “Code”. For the unit to be up to code I had to hire an electrician and all of them were mentioning that It would be thousands of dollars to fix.

On another note I tried to put the electric in my name as well. One unit was a success and another unit was not. The repress mentioned that one unit has been off since 2017( which I didn’t know) During the home inspection, for some reason the electric was on for both units and is currently on (Illegal Electric). Being as though this was my first investment property, who was supposed to figure this information out? Was I?

These two are keeping me from listing the property and putting tenants in there. It has been almost 4 months since I purchased the property and it has done nothing, but stress me out to the point where I am considering selling and starting over. I’ve lost more money than was expected. Please share any advice that you may have or any stories that may help.

SO sorry to hear about all this trouble

I have been buying rentals for 40 years and probably would have run into all the same troubles you did.

Best of luck. I wish I had good advice for you

2 Votes

I would suggest winterizing, drain the water lines, antifreeze in toilets, leave lowest faucet open etc, incase the heat shuts off

1 Vote

I don’t negotiate a quote . I find it disincentives the person

if I think it is too high I find a lower quite or agree to the ‘too high’ quote

0 Votes

Remember an inspectors job is to find bad items.

If they find enough the buyer cancels the contract. Puts in a purchase offer on another one and . . . Calls that same inspector and pays them again

Just sold a 3 year old house. Went under contract THREE times.

3 inspections. Average of 12 things wrong found by 3 different inspectors. Funny thing is NONE of the 36 items supposedly wrong were on all 3 reports

1 said the foundation was cracked as evidenced by a water stain on the tile floor in the dinningroom

Lol. It was the size of a quarter and was from where my wife had a potted plant. It was rust looking because of the fertilizer she used
Another said the insulation was too deep in the attic and could start a fire 🤨

My friend is a fire safety inspector He took a look, said the inspector was completely wrong

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Dustin Corbett:

Good morning BF.

Been looking to get in the game for a little while now and ran across a potential investment by pure luck.

Was originally looking at single family residential to start out with rentals.

Commercial deal came in to our laps:

$310,000 purchase price
4 retail store fronts(3 rented to a cafe, 1 to a boutique)
2 apartments rented out upstairs
1 vacant apartment upstairs(biggest of the 3 residentials). Family lived in for years and moved away.

$40k rental income next year
Slighty over $45k 2023 with rent increases in place(were cut back for covid purposes)

NOI is $28k before mortgage

Numbers all seem legit and a good investment.

My question to the seasoned vets is: Would I be going too quick too fast with this many units to manage? The way I see it, it would take roughly 4 single family homes in my area to get back the same return in the same time frame. Cash flow would be slightly more with 4 single families, but we're not looking to get rich quick here and the cash flow on the commercial building would suffice, plus appreciation, paying off debt, and doing small rehab to the vacant property along with renting it out would increase value with additional rent.

I run a business with 40 employees and understand the business side of things pretty well. But I don't know if I should leap into this many tenants without "landlord" experience at all.

I appreciate any feedback you can give!!

Dustin

2 Things

1. How long has the cafe been in business? I would talk to the owner see how things are. If you lose them it could be some time before filling in 3 spots

2. Could you move your business into any of the units?

2 Votes

I thought you meant flipping newly built houses

Look into new construction flips meaning buy it already built. Put up for sale a few months after completed

a risky game IMO but can make literally hundreds of thousands of dollars for putting the money at risk With zero fix up

Why?

There are people who have the money to get what they want now rather than wait to have it built. Eg they want a house it will take 7 months + to complete and will cost them 1.2 million. OR pay the investor 2 million and close in a month

this is being done in central FL

By Disney. Purchase price 1.2 million.

Investor bought 3 or them. 1 year later sold all 3 For Over 2 million. approx 3 months ago

tbey have now contracted to have 5 houses built for approx 2 million each. With plans to do the same

2 Votes

Originally posted by @Jim K.:

Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:

@Jim K. here are my thoughts:

1. People suggesting to call the insurance company, NO. This claim in peanuts and even if it was covered, we are not talking much above deductible. Worse yet, you then have a claim on your record. People don't understand that excessive claims can get you cancelled. Only make claims in serious situations. If you think this is serious, it is not.

2. Having good people to do work for you means having people that will "fit your job in" if there is an emergency. I have a good handyman who came over next day when a drop ceiling fell down. I have a sheetrock repair guy that will squeeze me in and a good friend who hangs sheetrock. Basically I would just start calling people and go down the list. If your list has just one person, you are screwed.

3. Some jobs are better left to professionals. Even as a DIY expert, I will pass on many jobs because an experienced professional does better. I believe mudding and texturing is one of those things that needs someone with experience. I just don't do it often enough to get great at it. I could do it and have done it, but given the option I will let someone else.

4. Those who said to cancel the tenant move in, that makes no sense. Six days is eternity to get something this small fixed if you hustle. It is hardly serious enough to cancel a move in and you sure shouldn't loose revenue over it.

5. Be prepared to do anything to fix a problem. If I had to, I would do the sheet rock replacement myself. At least get the old stuff removed, cleaned up and new pieces up. Worst case if I was waiting for a person to mud it, that would be manageable with a move in. Not everyone has the comfort level or skill set, which is find. That just means you need to hustle to find someone else to do it.

6. There is room for DIY and "work on your business versus in your business". There is no reason for anyone to belittle someone because they choose to be hands on or belittle someone because they choose not to get their hands dirty. Yes Jim, you have "street credit" for your DIY skills, but if someone can get a drywall person over to do it just as fast, there is nothing wrong with that either.

As always Jim, you pose interesting and thought provoking questions. Great discussion everyone!

Thank you, Joe. I am very pleasantly surprised at how much sausage got made in this thread. I completely agree with you that DIY is not the way to go for everyone. But if anyone thinks that's going to save them work or time or heartache in a situation like this, hell no. One thing that is blazingly obvious to me about running rentals is that the clock stops for no one and it's all hands on deck doing WHATEVER THEY CAN until the problem gets solved. You can pay someone to take on that burden but it isn't going to be cheap and a competent person in this situation is worth a LOT more than what PMs typically make in the traditional payment structures we have for them.

What that means as far as hiring competent PMs to take care of a place like this I leave to those with the capacity to judge.

As for me, if I intend to survive, I had best get out of this property class. There's a clock on how long your body will do what you need it to do in this business. DIY is not any kind of good answer as the clock counts down and your age ticks up.

I think I'll bring up the skill issue you mention elsewhere, Joe, because you're also right about that.

🙏👍

😀

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Josh F.:

I gave notice to the insured but they didn't take action, which is the basis of the case. I have paid out similar claims, so just need a lawyer to pick up the case.

I would contact the lawyer who got you to pay on the similar claim

Or ask them for a referral

1 Vote

Atlanta, Georgia

All Forum Posts by: Michael Plante

Michael Plante has started 69 posts and replied 2369 times.

Post: Property Tax Increased 282%, What Can I Do?

Post: Victimized by WireFraud on a Real Estate Sale - Need advise

Post: Investment Property Gone Bad

Post: Winter Flipping In Cold Weather States

Post: 36 Units: Property Management Incentive

Post: Will you consider this rental deal if there are 28 safety hazards

Post: First Timer...too much too quick?

Post: New construction flipping vs rehabing houses flipping

Post: Six days before leasing signing, ceiling caves in!

Post: Recommendation for Insurance Demand Letter