All Forum Posts by: Monica Morff

@Natelya G.

They are on a one year lease that expires at the end of November. 

Hi All!

I wanted to write because o have some questions on a current tenant situation that we have. First, let me preface by saying we have had very good luck (screening) with tenants and this has been our first real problem tenant. Warning: this may be long. 

We began renting to five adults in December of 2017 and they had a year lease and paid on time. They rented both units of a duplex. Fast forward a year, three of them want to move and two want to stay in one side of the duplex so we continue renting to just the couple. First month, they are late and tell is they mailed a check. A week goes by, the tenant says she received the letter back because she miswrote the address. She sends it again, then a few days later texts to say she got notification that we cashed the check and is glad we got it. I respond that we did not receive it and ask for proof of the text she got saying it was cashed. She said it is on her husbands phone and he will get it to us that evening. Well he said it was a money order (they wouldn’t have gotten notification about a money order so obviously they are lying) but he says he broke his phone at work that day and is using a different one so he doesn’t have the text. At this point, we are at the beginning of the next month and we send a pay or quit. They respond that they were “waiting for us to send one” and request emergency assistance for the first two months which we receive and they are current again.

Now, unrelated to the rent, a week or so after we get paid, we are in the lower unit painting and hear him screaming at her, threatening to hit her, furniture is being pushed around, and we hear kids crying. So we leave the unit and request a welfare check from police. Husband gets arrested and we check online- he had a warrant for felony check fraud (from after they moved in) and he spends over a week in jail before posting bail.

Fast forward again to the beginning of this month, we check in right away and they say they will pay soon and want to set up payments online which is great! Well, of course, nothing happens so we deliver another pay or quit notice and they tell us they can’t afford to pay because he lost his job since we called the police. So they are blaming us now for their late rent. At this point, we just continue saying we still intend to move forward with eviction after the 5 days are up if they do not pay or leave. They didn’t and we filed for eviction. Now, we are three days after the end of the five days given and they just texted to say they’d have this months rent and next months which starts tomorrow and have asked what to do with it. 

I really don’t know what to do because at this point I don’t want to deal with them anymore, but also don’t want to be unfair. Should we let them know that we already filed for eviction and will only stop it when the money for two months plus filing fees is in our hands? Or just not accept at all and move forward with eviction? Will the judge rule against us because of our police call? 

We could really use advice! I know that we could’ve handled this better from the beginning and we will now send pay or quit on the day after rent is due, but we have learned. 

Thank you in advance!

@Michael Beeman Thank you for the insight! Thats a good idea to have tours online and get an application first... I have to admit, we have been "old school" so far and show the unit ourselves before receiving anything from the potential renter. Do you have your own website then or do you have them email the application from Zillow or something of the sort? 

We are ready to buy an apartment building and I've really been trying to research if we should buy in the city we usually do, or in a nearby town for much less. Your comment definitely gave me something to think about and some research to do on areas we are considering. Thank you!

@Michael Beeman congratulations! It sounds like you've moved incredibly fast, especially for having a day job. I know you were mentioning markets- I currently invest in a city of 60,000+ people and a market where cheap houses go for 80-90k and a cheap multifamily is still always over 100k, however less expensive multi families can be found further out as you said. I've been nervous to invest in places with low population due to fear of vacancies- what is the population of the city you invest in?

Hi Logan! 

I can't quite say we have made it yet but our goal is to be financially independent in the next six months! My husband and I started investing in April 2015 by buying a SF home for 125k, living in and flipping it over the course of a year, we rented it for a year, then sold it for 188k in September of 2017. During that time we also bought a duplex in June of 2016. With the sale of our first property, we did a 1031 exchange to buy another duplex in October 2017 and had some cash left over. With that second duplex, we updated it, rented it out, then took out a HELOC which we are currently putting towards another rental set to close in the first week of April.

We also bought out own personal property in June of 2017 which we have updated and finished the basement on to add an additional bedroom, bathroom, and family room. Our goal from here is to fix up the newest property and then take out a commercial loan for an apartment building as our lender said we could use equity from our personal property and from the newest rental as a down payment on an apartment. And that should be enough properties to cover our income! 

Of course, we aren't going to stop buying, but my husband plans to quit his day job within the next few months and I quit mine in February of 2017 when we had our daughter.

Anyway, I am rambling, but that is our story and our goals so far! We started investing at age 20 and 21 and went from both working full time to (if everything works out) only working for ourselves at ages 23 and 24. 

@Nathan Platter Thank you for the tip! I think I may have seen that property, unfortunately we weren't 100% positive we were ready to buy again until now. We could potentially go up into that price range depending on the down payment, but it depends on the property. I appreciate the reference!

We have a moderate amount of risk- we usually have 20% into our properties per lender requirements, but then we update and take out a HELOC or refinance in order to get our money back (and then some). So for the most part, we don't keep our own money in properties and just let the tenants pay down the mortgage.

Hi There! 

My husband and I own rental properties in St. Cloud, MN and are looking to get into owning apartment buildings as we currently only own small multifamily buildings. I am wondering if anyone knows of any apartment buildings for sale in St. Cloud, MN/surrounding areas or where a good place to look is aside from Craigslist or the MLS (I'm not finding much there right now). We are hoping for 6+ units in the range of $300,000-$500,000. Contract for deed is preferable with 10-20% down, depending on price. I know this is pretty specific, but thought I'd put it out there.

I hope someone can point me in the right direction!

My husband and I are on the middle of a purchase right now of a triplex with existing renters. The rents for this property are much lower than that of comparables and we would like to increase the rents to bring it back up to market value. the rents currently are $320 and $335 for one bedroom units and $500 for the two bedroom unit, all of which are in particularly good shape but only ~500 sq ft per. The issue is that we would like to raise the rents and we don't particularly care if the current renters stay (2 out of 3 have recent felony convictions and we typically don't rent to felons), however we don't want them to trash the place or anything. All three are on month to month and we would like to raise the rents to $500, $550, and $700 which matches that of comparable properties. What is the best way to go about this? Is it best to raise it all at once? Also, is it proper etiquette to go and meet the tenants in person or simply send a letter? Finally, do we need to make a new lease for it to be valid or will the previous owners lease hold up In the case that we need to evict someone? Thank you!

Hi Kevin, Thanks for your response! We currently own a single family with a mortgage (PITI) of $846 that rents for $1300 and a Duplex with a mortgage (PITI) of $880 that rents for $925 and $700. Our net profit after monthly expenses is around $1200 per month total.

We also both work day jobs and together we make about $3,400 per month, but $300 of that is independent contractor work and not recognized by mortgage companies because it has been only 6 months.