All Forum Posts by: Mike Shahi

@Russell Brazil thank you!!!

@Russell Brazil thanks Russell. This was for our house in Montgomery County. Our listing agreement is set to expire on November 30 but we just wanted to move on. He acknowledged via email that the MLS listing has been removed and that the listing agreement has been terminated.

My other question is that the listing agreement states that we are not allowed to sell to any client that he brought to us during the listing period or he will be owed commission. In the same agreement we see that this protection period is only for 30 days- so that means on day 31 we can sell to a buyer that saw the property assuming we have a new agent/listing, correct?

@Jonathan Greene thanks. I emailed the listing agent and cc’d the brokers sales manager that was listed on the listing agreement requesting a listing agreement release form

Regarding the commission- this is only for 30 days after the listing ends/expires, correct? That’s what is said on the listing agreement

Maryland

1- I ended the listing agreement with my agent. I sent an email and he acknowledged that the listing has been removed from MLS and that the listing agreement has been terminated…

Looking at the listing agreement contract, it states that the “contractual obligation shall remain in full effect unless terminated by mutual written consent by all parties”.

Is there a specific form that needs to be filled out or is the email acknowledgment enough?

2- he said that he will be owed commission if any buyers he brought us during the listing period ends up buying my house. The contract states “listing broker compensation shall be paid if property is sold, exchanged, conveyed within 30 days after the expiration of the listing agreement or termination of this agreement etc etc etc etc”- our listing agreement was set to expire on November 30, 2024 but we terminated it early- does this mean he will be owed commission if one of the buyers ends up buying my house on say January 1? What if I hire a new agent next week and this buyer comes back to make another offer?

Thanks

Hope all is well. My parents own a home in MD and owe about 500k on it. As is, the home can sell for 1.1/1.2. The home was purchased in 2008 for 700k. 

Mom passed away last year unexpectedly. Now, Dad and I are trying to figure out our next move. Sell the house as is or use the lot to build new construction and sell for 2.5+. The all in price would be around 1.5. (Cost of construction and payoff of remaining loan on the home)

1- selling the home as is would help on capital gains tax. Dad would automtically get the 500k exclusion since Mom passed away. We have two years from date of death to take advantage of this loophole.  I'm also reading about a step up basis which would pretty much make capital gains tax my Dad would owe, zero. Mom's 50% and Dad's 50% of fair market value. I think it would put the cost basis at 850k. If the home sells for 1.2, that puts him below the 500k capital gains tax exclusion so he walks away with a nice profit and no tax. Please correct me if I'm wrong, thats why I'm here

2- Tear the house down and put up new construction. Since the loan on the house will need to be payed off before construction begins, it means the new loan will be solely under my Dad's name- and since he will not reside in the property, it is now seen as an investment property. Dad will now only qualify for 250k capital gains tax exclusion and will probably end up having to pay taxes that eats up the profit. I'm doing the math and after a sale price of 2.5 minus holding costs, agent fees, capital gains tax, it wouldn't make sense for us to wait 15 months to walk away with around 600k profit. We can make that now selling the home as is. 

Am I missing something? Please provide any input. Thanks all for your help and guidance

I have a house in a hot Bethesda, MD neighborhood that I want to sell. Had two agents look at it and with low inventory and comps that were all over the place, they suggested I start at a fair "low" price and allow a bidding war. 

I don't think I can get more than 1.1-1.2 for it- I'm trying to avoid agent commission fees that will eat up 50/60k of my profit, and thinking about the FSBO route. Like you, I want to set a buyers agent fee and if they want more, they can talk to their buyer and increase the asking price.

I just can't pay 50k/60k in fees for a house that will sell itself in 7 days- I know it. Nothing on this street has sat for more than 7-10 days. Whitman school district next to NIH and Suburban Hospital etc....

@Rodney Sums

You hit the nail on the head. She admitted having OCD.

The issue is that when she did make maintenance calls for me to come downstairs to fix something, it turned into a one hour convo about life, work etc so now the landlord/tenant relationship turned into a friendship. (In her mind). It’s difficult to pass by someone everyday and pretend they don’t exist when they live under the same roof.

Some of the maintenance calls that she’s placed have been for such minor issues and sometimes I just sit here and think to myself what the hell are you going to do when you move into your own home in a few months with nobody around to make repairs?

She’s called me for things like the cabinet knob being loose and all I did is tighten it with a screwdriver in 5 seconds. She stands there like, what did you do? What was it?

She can’t hold her own for sh*T and I’m wondering what the hell she is going to do when I’m no longer around in a few months to call for repairs and “security” - actually why do I even care? I’m counting down the days

@Sergey A. Petrov

Wow. Sounds exactly like my tenant. Everyone here provided great input. I do admit that I have a really hard time saying no. I enabled this behavior

There’s a great saying- pick up a bee from kindness and learn the limitations of kindness

So to provide a quick update she gave me a call this evening and apologized for the late phone call and stated that this is not going to become a new habit. She was awakened in the middle of the night by what she thought was noise from the security door. I told her that if she feels that her life is in danger to call the police- after a few seconds of silence, her tone somewhat changed as if I made an offensive remark and she said we will have to respectfully disagree with that solution. Wtf?

I should have told her “OK when you move into your new house in a few months and you hear noises who are you going to call?”

This was my third and last tenant in the basement. I have house hacked ever since I moved into this home but at this point I’m done with it. I really want my own space and peace. All three tenants kept the space clean and paid on time but like someone said earlier we are all humans with different personalities and frankly I’m just tired of it all- I need a break. My mental health is far more important

I have a tenant living in my basement that pays on time and keeps the space clean. She's been here 2 years and recently purchased a new construction home with an expected completion date of December 2022. 

She has a very interesting personality and can seem demanding. Up to this point I've seen used good emotional intelligence and catered to her every need. I've addressed even the most minor issues like changing light bulbs when I can easily put it on the tenant. 

What has bugged me the most are her constant phone calls about noise. She seems to get anxiety and is constantly on edge. I'm getting tired of the "what was that noise?" phone calls which ends up being nothing but banging from utility trucks or the tapping sound from rain- seriously?. The house is secure with bars on the windows, cameras and security doors at each entrance. One time she asked if I was home and stated that she hears someone walking upstairs. I was about 10 minutes away but I told her if you feel unsafe, to call 911 and the next thing I know my house is surrounded by police. 

Last night was the last straw when I received a phone call at 1:30am asking to look at the security cameras because she "hears something". I looked out the window and nothing. I let her know that I don't see or hear anything and she stated that she could just be going crazy - you think? 

I feel like she has crossed personal boundaries and it's become unacceptable behavior. A part of me wants to talk to her, maybe shoot over an email to put in a place a process for emergencies and what exactly constitutes as an emergency. I don't think I have the legal right to ask her why she behaves this way- "have you been robbed at gunpoint? Had a previous house broken into?"

We are at the finish line with her lease so a part of me wants to let it go. I don't want to create an enemy and then having her file constant complaints out of spite. I'm not really sure what to do- talk to her or let it go and just live with it. 

Is this a bad strategy for buying investment properties? or homes in DC in general? Investment properties I can see why NACA would be bad with the amount of competition out here. My friend wants something renovated in the 450-500 range. Her co-worker bought a renovated home off Eastern Avenue NE using NACA for $480k- she was told she only put down like 4k and was immediately sold. I told her there has to be a catch with these programs