All Forum Posts by: Wesley W.

@Levi T.

I know the uphill battles of collecting a judgment, but that is really not what I am asking. ;)

They are "low hanging fruit" as I know enough about them to collect. (I'd rather not go into detail in writing.)  It's the service after the move that I am trying to line up.  I appreciate you trying to provide helpful advice and feedback, but my question is...

I'm looking for clever ways to find out where they have moved to after they leave.

Thank you in advance! :)

@Jeff Bridges

I'm not admitting to anything.  These are inherited tenants and there is a long back story that is really not germane to my original question.  Suffice to say they will have no security deposit upon vacating and will have a balance due to me.  They know this and will not willingly give me their address.  I will have trouble serving them court papers if I don't know where they live.

What I'm asking is if anyone has any clever ways of determining where they move to once they vacate.

Thanks!

@Beth L.

They won't be giving it to me.  They know I will want it to serve papers to get a judgement.

@Jeff Bridges

Great idea, except they will not have any security deposit to return, hence the "end up owing" phrase in the OP.

Hello folks,

Anyone have a clever means of finding the new local address of vacating tenants that (shudder the thought) might end up owing you once they relinquish possession? 

My first thought is have someone follow the moving truck, but I am sure there is a whole tool box out there for this.

Thanks in advance!

I would lean towards a separate set.  Being a live-in landlord necessitates you keeping a definitive line between being a neighbor and the owner.  Among the other reasons you stated, I think sharing appliances serves to blur that line a bit more.

I've mentioned this in a few threads recently, but it seems to keep popping up.   @Brie Schmidt has a great method for incentivizing the PM so their goals are aligned with the owner's. She outlines the written contract with her PMs on one of the BP podcasts.

It's something like this...take 25% of gross monthly rent and use that as an annual "vacancy bonus." So for 10 units renting at $1000 a month, owner pays the PM $2500 vacancy bonus over the year. So each quarter PM would get $62.50 if that unit had no loss of income.

 I've mentioned this in previous threads, but @Brie Schmidt has a great method for incentivizing the PM so their goals are aligned with the owner's.  She outlines the written contract with her PMs on one of the BP podcasts.

It's something like this...take 25% of gross monthly rent and use that as an annual "vacancy bonus."  So for 10 units renting at $1000 a month, owner pays the PM $2500 vacancy bonus over the year. So each quarter PM would get $62.50 if that unit had no loss of income.

@Roy N.

They are 2-4 residential. I can understand the sellers are less sophisticated, but since the units are occupied and I am paying retail, I don't have a big margin like the folks who buy vacant distressed properties do. So, I am trying to CYA (or CMA, as the case would be). ;)

@Kelly N.  thanks for your input

 (anyone know why my @ mention doesn't always work?)

I neglected to mention that if I can get those items elsewhere I do.  usually the sticking points are regarding the tenants. I get pushback sometimes with providing the leases, and almost always with tenant info and estoppels.  The rent rolls in our market are the seller's claim to what is being collected from each unit for monthly rent.  The estoppels are the tenant's claim to what is being collected, as well as any other arrangements they may claim to have as part of their tenancy.  Both of these things I feel are VERY important in determining if this a deal worth pursuing.  I feel like I need to know who is living in the building, whether or not they have a security deposit, and what they are paying in rent.

CO's can be FOILed, but if they are not current, that can get me in hot water with the city, and could require MAJOR expenses to make it good. I recently backed out of a deal when I found the third floor was not a legal floor despite the seller housing tenants there. Code Enforcement informed me that on their next inspection it would fail and would require external staircases for about $50K. The building had been used as an O/O, which have different rules. The seller moved out and put in tenants, and this wouldn't be caught until the re-inspections came around or the building was sold.

What part of my list would be unreasonable in your market?

Thanks again!