All Forum Posts by: Pam R.

Local is certainly a great place to start! Good luck!

Hi Joe. Welcome to BP! I'm also 20-25 miles outside of Columbus...just a different direction. Are you looking to start your real estate empire in Columbus, or in one of the outlying communities?

In Ohio, it sounds like our county auditor is like your assessor - they classify, document, and record the taxes and ownership on all property. It is our county Recorder, however, who manages the deeds, mortgage docs, and recording of liens. Which office does that in Tennessee?

Welcome Tom. You'll learn a lot from the postings on this forum. Good luck on your real estate ventures.

And of course, Go Bucks!

I keep 6 months of mortgage payments (not rent) in my rental account (my mortgage includes debt service, taxes, and insurance). I don't know if that's the best formula, but it's enough that I could pay for about any $5k unplanned emergency at any of my 4 units, plus a couple months of the full mortgage without any rents being collected.

I do have access to other money of mine if an even larger catastrophe came up, but the 6 months is what I keep on-hand, at the ready, for those two properties.

I've been chained to my couch today perusing all kinds of posts here, and it got me thinking about my recent closings. Someone may find these lessons useful:

1. I refinanced a duplex in April with a new mortgage broker. My hubby doesn't work (stay-at-home-dad), so I only provided my income information and such. Well, when we went in for the close, it turned out my hubby was there to sign only for dower rights. Ooops. His name is still on the deed, but not the mortgage. I was shocked I did this, as I am fervent i-dotter and t-crosser. Just a complete miss. I could have delayed the close and have it redone, but we decided it wasn't a big deal. I hope I don't regret that.

2. About a week after #1, we closed on a new purchase of a duplex. Two days before the close, my realtor called and said the seller wasn't going to give us the security deposit for the existing tenant, who'd been there 8 years. Not to worry - the two realtors had already agreed they would give us the $550. He was just letting us know. They were FUMING. The seller's realtor even said he needed to call his lawyer - the contract stated we get the security deposit. The owner was adamant - he believed that money was to cover his maintenance costs over the years. Nice job by the realtors fixing that problem before it got to me.

3. At the same closing, the title lady did what they always do - go over every single number on the closing docs, first the sellers, then mine. After she did mine, I said "Wait, page 2". She said "We already went over page 2." No, we had skipped line X, which was funds to me (I think it may have been the security deposit and pro-rated rent for the month). She says "Oh, yeah, there's a couple of ways to handle that..." She had skipped that line on purpose because...the seller was sitting there with a personal check to pay me! What?!? She knew about it, and then alluded that since that was money technically due "after the close" it wasn't really her problem. Well, I made it her problem. Obviously I refused the check, and asked where he banked, and pointed out his bank was right around the corner. We did not sign the papers until he went to the bank and brought back cash. If I wouldn't have stopped her and questioned the items, I wouldn't have found out until after the papers were signed that he brought a personal check. IMO, she reneged on her responsibility to ensure collection of all funds for the transaction. I'll never use that title agency again.

I actually have a more learning experiences like this, but I guess I'll save those for another snowy day.

Your analysis didn't load for me...

That does seem odd. I am curious, as I don't know much about townhome communities, and I assumed they pretty much all had HOAs.

How many townhomes in your community? How many are in the building your townhome is located in? Did there use to be an HOA and it's been dissolved? Are there community rules documented somewhere? Is there some agreement in the deed for sharing costs when certain expenses crop up? (I live in the country - that's how shared driveways are generally handled)

I think the lack of an HOA is something you should research some more. I'm sure there are people on BP that have insights into the pros and cons of no HOA.

Is there an HOA?

It seems awkward to have money from them and no signed agreement of any kind. You'll need to get in touch with them somehow to let them know you will rent to someone else, and refund their money. Don't you have a work number from their application? Emergency contact? E-mail address?

You didn't say when the lease started. Is it still weeks away?

I tend to agree it's a really bad start to things, and to just cut bait.