All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

But isn't it a "Fraud" to deliberately tell a buyer that the Seller has already moved and purchased a home in order to sell the home?

She told me this place had many showings but nobody placed an offer.  Was it because it was told to everybody that the seller was trying to buy another home based on him selling his home, which nobody wants to touch with a ten-foot pole. 

I feel she lied to me in order for us to place an offer.  I wouldn't have placed an offer if the truth was told to me.  We would have moved on to the next home we wanted to see.  That place has now been sold. 

Nancy Neville

One more thing I forgot to tell you.  Because we were moving and downsizing, I gave away our furniture, keeping only a very few items.  Plus I interviewed painters and bathroom remodelers and workers to upgrade our current home in order to get top dollar for the house.  

Because my husband cannot walk very well, and he is very slow to do anything, when he has enough energy to do anything, I had to clean out our two car garage of all his tools and all the stuff in it, as well as pack all our stuff in the house, and I worked day and night.

Had to call for a special pickup for all the junk that we had to throw away, that I alone had to haul out to the curb by myself. 

I spent a lot of time calling people, interviewing, packing, cleaning, getting ready for the move, all this based on a lie that this guy already bought a home and had moved, to find out he didn't buy the house and didn't move, and the owner of his house still lived there and had now lost her job. 

Where is the justice?  

Nancy Neville

Well, it's my turn to get some advice. 

In July my husband and I decided to downsize our 2200 sq ft home to a nice mobile home in a nice Manufactured Home Community. 

We found a home and placed an offer on this home and it was accepted.

The fraud part of this is that the parks "Selling Agent" told us the Seller had purchased a home and had moved out and thus needs to move ASAP.    This was a total lie. 

When my husband and I toured the home there was a woman living in the home, but there was only a sofa, a TV, 2 beds and clothes in the closets.  There was nothing in the kitchen, no table, nothing in the bathrooms.  Completely empty.  I assumed this was the wife babysitting the home until it sold.  Even though the ad stated they needed to move ASAP, I could see two hours moving time for them with a small U-haul truck.  So it made sense to me when the Sellers Agent told me he had bought a place and moved out.  I wondered why, however, the woman was left behind to babysit the house.  But it was just a passing thought.

Finally, we receive the closing date.  It was scheduled for August 3rd.  When we placed our offer on this home, the move in date was scheduled for August 16th.  I questioned this date, before signing the purchase offer, because we needed to move in ASAP, and the ad stated ASAP and the seller's Agent assured us he had already purchased a home and MOVED OUT.  When I questioned the August 16th move out date and said I needed to move in ASAP, the Seller's Agent told me to not to worry, because he would be out way before then.  She just wanted to give them a leeway But kept reassuring me it would be within a few days of closing. 

Two days before closing the Title company calls me to let me know that all was well and the owners of the home we wanted to purchase would be out by August 31st.  And I said, "Oh No....that's not our agreement"  So I called the Seller's Agent and she agreed with me and told me she would call me back.  That there was some type of misunderstanding.  She called me back an assured me again that they would be out way before the August 16th move out date.  (I kept asking her why he can't move the rest of his stuff on the 3rd.  The day we close because all there was, was a few items in the house and the Seller's Agent told me she didn't know why.

The Title company calls me one last time and told me again that the Seller had until August 31st to move out.  So I call the Seller's Agent again and then the truth comes out. 

I asked the Seller's Agent if the Seller was renting the home out and was why the Title Company kept telling me that he didn't know when he could move out because it depended on them, and they.  (She used those words.  And I wondered who were "They and Them?"  Were they Tenants?  Was he renting out the place?  The Seller's Agent told me that they weren't tenants but the woman was actually his wife.  So I asked her.  Did he leave his wife?  Is that why he has to ask her when she planned on moving?  Is that why you said he moved all HIS STUFF from the house?  And the furniture I saw was hers?  That nothing made sense.

Now here comes the Fraud Part.  She is upset now.  She tells me, "No, he lives there too."  I said to her, "You told me he bought a home and moved.  And now you are saying he doesn't live there but lives in the trailer?"  She said, "Yes, he lives in the trailer with her"  So I said again, well why can't they move on the 3rd since they bought a home and they only have a few pieces to move?

Drum Roles, she says, "it's because the home he wants to buy depends on the homeowner moving out,"  I said to her, "Are you kidding me.  You told me he bought a home and moved out".  She said to me, "He did buy home and he did move out".  And I said to her, then why can't he move out on the 3rd during our closing.  And she said to me, "Because he closes on his new home an hour after you close on his home".  Now I'm outraged.  "So he never bought the home!  And the homeowner still lives there". She raises her voice now and tells me, "He did buy the home and he did move out.  He moved his furniture to a warehouse.  And he closes one hour after you".  

I told her that, this was enough.  I'm walking away from the deal.

THE BIG DEAL OF THIS STORY - And why this is so very important. 

My husband is very ill.  He has cancer that has spread to his bones.  My husband is much older than I am.  He is 84 years old.  He told his doctors that he didn't want any more medication or treatments and will no longer be seeing them.  That he wants to spend the rest of his life, however long that may be, as a human being.  Last December in 2017 he stopped seeing his doctors and takes not even an aspirin.  

Each day he gets weaker, and it was imperative now, that we moved to a smaller place with no stairs.  We couldn't move to a Senior Housing Community because we have two animals.  They only accept one.  Plus, my husband, bless his hearts, says he doesn't want to live in a Senior place because all there is there is "old people".  :)  His last wish for me was to move to a smaller place where I would be comfortable living alone, both financially, and house size wise.  The profit we made from the sale of our home would provide me with money to live off it for the rest of my life.  

IT WAS IMPERATIVE that we moved IMMEDIATELY, and that I got him settled because he is losing his capability of walking, he has dementia, and so much more, and I needed to move to a facility where it would be Wheelchair friendly.  (Wheelchair ramp, and no stairs in the house) Time was of the essence.

That day when we sat in the Park's Home Sales Office, My husband and I told her the reason we needed to move and needed to move fast.  It was IMPERATIVE that we got our home up for sale before the holidays.  We couldn't afford two homes at one time, and me taking care of my husband there, and all the things I would need to take care of our current home, which has lots of lands, and a very big house. 

She deliberately lied to me, telling me this guy bought a home when clearly he did not.  He just placed an offer on the home based on him selling his home.  

By the way, the Sellers Agent told me in our last conversation with me, that the Sellers house that he wanted to buy who had the owner living there, just told him that she just lost her job.  And yet I was supposed to close on the 3rd when nobody knew when anyone could or would ever be able to move.  

Because this is a Manufactured Home Community and their laws are a little different than a Real Estate Salesperson's legal responsibilities (I am an inactive Real Estate Salesperson so I know that law, and I know that this would be considered Disclosure Fraud), I'm wondering if it still is Disclsoure Fraud in this case)

I've called several attorneys but nobody calls me back.

Nancy Neville

I don't recommend QuickBooks Online for Landlords.  It is okay, but we need something more robust than that. 

QuickBooks Online is like someone moving into a new home, and they rent a U-haul truck that is only big enough to handle their boxes but not their big stuff. 

It's doable, but the end results when you get to your new home is that all you have is boxes and nothing to sleep or sit on because the "big stuff", that you really need was left behind. 

Nancy Neville

When you jumped into this business, did you have a teacher?  Did you attend Landlord School?  Are you a Real Estate Broker or Agent and knows about Market Values and Location, Location, Location?  Sat in courtrooms to learn the landlord-tenant laws?  Probably not, but I bet you have learned this business by experience and trial and error to have 19 doors. And you're trying to do the same thing when using QuickBooks.  It's very rare to pick up any software program without having some type of manual to read or someone to teach you. 

Now you've wasted a lot of time trying to use QuickBooks on your own.  And now you hate the darn thing and probably are losing a lot of money you could be making if you used QuickBooks correctly to boot.  

Too bad. 

Nancy Neville

John, QuickBooks Pro will allow YOU to CUSTOMIZE it by YOU creating DEFINE FIELDS (blank fields that allow you to input data you want to create) that no other software program will allow you to do.

I wanted to see my tenants move in date, Security Deposit, Rental Amount, Move Out Date, etc.  So I created blank fields that will allow me to enter in that data, those answers for every tenant that I have. 

I wanted all this information to show up on ever Invoice or Receipt or bill that I send my tenants and told QuickBooks to do so. 

QuickBooks will allow you to do Mortgage Amortizations, keep track of property Information like land description, square feet, purchase date, type of house, whatever you want QuickBooks to tell you, YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE it to do it. 

YOU can do a Profit and Loss Report by Class to see where you stand financially on each individual property and/or building.  

QuickBooks will allow you to depreciate your fixed assets. 

Will allow you to handle flips

It does so much that it is worth its weight in gold.  

Nancy Neville

In the 30 years that my husband and I have been in this business, I found that new investors, not knowing what they do not know will quit within the first year and some within three years.  We made it and made lots of money.  But my husband and I are a little "rough around the edges", and have seen it all, been there and done that, prior to us being Landlords.  So we made it, despite the odds. 

Throughout our Landlord Career, people would see the car we drove, or the house we owned and wonder if we were lawyers or doctors, (not our tenants, we never drove the good car to our rental homes and they never knew where we lived) and when I told them that we were Landlords they would say to me, "Landlords!  Is that all you do?" And I would laugh and smile and say "Yes, that's all we do".  And they would answer back, "Gosh, I think I'll be a landlord too" because they didn't know all the things I posted above about being a landlord and what it entailed.  And that is the mindset of so many people who invest in this business today.  

I want to know the worst because we all have the knowledge of how much money we can make being landlords.  That's easy.  That's a no-brainer.  But if you don't know the rest of the story, then all that money, all those dreams and what being a landlord can do to you mentally, physically and financially, is a game changer.  It can make you or break you.  It could mean jail time if you do an eviction the wrong way, and sometimes even cause your death by a mentally irate tenant.  

Plus, we are RESPONSIBLE for other people's lives and our neighborhoods. and their children who live in our homes.  We are more responsible for everything and anybody than any other profession. So it is not something to be flippant about it.  

Nobody wants to hear the bad stuff about anything.  And how can one be realistic about anything if they don't know anything? 

Thus the reason I wrote the above in great detail.

Nancy Neville

A Lecture for New Investors by Nancy Neville

Okay, I understand it.I’ve been there. You’re tired of working for somebody else. You want to be your own boss. You want to make money. Houses are still selling rather cheap, depending on the area, and you think, now is the time to become a Landlord! Just buy a house, rent it out and money rolls in, just like that.

I’ve been on Bigger Pockets for several years and I cringe when I read that someone has just bought a house or a duplex, or a 4plex and they are soooooo excited, that they are about to burst, and then they ask the question.“WHAT DO I DO NOW”?

Oh my goodness! You mean they’re asking this question now AFTER they purchased a home! Yikes!!!!

I see more and more people buying buildings for rentals and don’t have a clue what to do with them once they have them.

Being a Landlord is a very serious business!!!! I can’t stress this enough. The life of a landlord can be exciting and challenging, but it is 24/7 and it is a business of people management, and doing things legally and doing things right, and making decisions, bad or good.

This is a business of evictions, of fires, of break in’s, of damages, of being responsible for other people’s lives. What THEY (your tenants) do affect YOU!

There are laws to follow in order to make your building legally rentable. One is to have a C of A(Certificate of Acceptance) this is decided upon by the state or county or city where you live. They have to approve of this home to be a rental. Then you receive a C of O (Certificate of Occupancy) decided upon again by the local or state or county authorities. This states the home has been approved and available to be a rental. And some of these must be applied for every time a tenant moves. So check your state laws.

There are Landlord Tenant Laws, Building Codes, and laws that are not laws at all but based on a Judge’s opinion of whether or not a tenant did wrong or not. For instance, normal wear and tear. Judges have various opinions on what they deem normal wear and tear.

This is an Industry of thinking skills. This is an industry of holding your temper and implementing your lease agreement no matter what. You need to think like a Judge. You need to think reasonably.

You need to be a good listener. You need to be in control.

Once you buy a house you need to know how to keep that house and how to keep your tenant's long-term.

You need to know how to be all things in order to keep your tenants happy, yet make them know the rules of landlording and how to be good tenants.

I always say that one is only as good as the tools they have. You could be the greatest landlord in the world in mind and action, but if you don’t have the equipment, or the education, or the money to invest in the proper tools to make you successful, then you will never make it in this business.

It takes my breath away to read the stuff on here by new investors. And I understand that how can they know what they do not know? That is why I wish there was a Sticky Note on here for New Investors to post posts like mine (and maybe there is and I just don’t know it) that tells them to Read This First before Investing!!!

My husband and I were very successful in the business. (We are retired now due to his cancer). But we owned a huge house. And every time someone would come over and do work on something on the house, they would ask, “Wow are you a doctor?” and I would say no. And they would ask, “A lawyer?” And I would laugh and say no.I’m just a Landlord. And they would say, “Wow and that’s all that you do?”And I’d laugh again and say, “Yep that’s all that I do”.And they would reply.“Wow, I think I’ll become a landlord too”.

And that is the mindset of a new investor. When I say that’s all that I do, let me tell you what to expect in the life of a landlord and all that they do.

• 3 am Christmas Eve Tenants call-Furnace went out. I get up, phone calls made, emergency call, expensive triple overtime to the Heating Contractor, Tenant has heat. Tenant Happy.Landlord sleepy.
• 2 am Fire Dept. calls. Fire at such and such a place. We get dress. Blizzard outside. Drive to the home. Access the damages. Look at the big hole in the roof from the fire dept. Plan our strategy. Talk to tenants. Get our guys out to put a tarp over the roof. Meet in the morning with everyone to solve the problem, what to do with tenants, whose fault, where to go from here.
• You have tenants parking their cars on the lawn
• Having unauthorized guests
• Doing Drugs
• Having a dog they shouldn’t have borders
• Hoarders
• Complainers
• (In my case…drive by shootings, bullet holes in rentals, thievery)
• Water abuse
• Dish on roofs when forbidden to have one on the roof
• And
• And so much more
• On top of being ready to take care of emergencies any time night or day, and solving tenant issues. You need to also take care of the following.

• 1. Fixing up a vacant rental so it can be rented out again.
• a. We had handymen to do most of this, but with 40 rentals my husband and I had to pitch in a do the labor ourselves as well.
• b.I would paint the house and garages.
• c.Husband would fix the repairs inside
• 2. I would take care of the tenants. This entailed
• a. Taking care of advertising the homes (usually, we had more than one vacancy at a time)
• b.Taking phone calls and screening tenants
• c.Scheduling open houses
• d. Staging the house
• e. Interviewing the applicants
• f. Making sure I double checked their application forms
• i. Criteria
• ii.Employers
• iii.Verifying funds and income
• 3.Typing up the lease and making sure they understood the lease
• 4. Then making sure the Tenants abided by the lease agreement
• 5.Paid their rent on time
• 6. And sent that Notice to Quit for Non Payment of Rent the very first-day rent is late.

On top of that, I did my own evictions and I never lost a case and I dealt with the 36th District Court in Detroit.I won because I covered my butt by having everything in writing. I documented everything. Every phone call I made to them and every phone call they made to me.

I never complained to a tenant because they called regarding a repair. I listened when they told me they couldn’t pay their rent, but even though I understood their problem, I made them pay their rent anyway.

Landlording is about making tough decisions and doing things you don’t like to have to do.

Landlording is a Business.

You have to not LOVE YOUR HOUSE. I can’t stress this enough. If you don’t know or understand that this is a business of evictions, damages, and injustices, and fixing this house up over and over again, you aren’t going to be happy let alone successful.

How I wish I could be there for every new investor to help them understand what it’s like to be a landlord BEFORE YOU INVEST. But I can’t and that’s really a shame because it something every new investor should dig into before they invest.

One last thing. Yes, you need to have an accountant to file your taxes for you at the end of the year. Our industry involves huge sums of money in our rentals and other people's money. An Accountant knows how to get you back more money at the end of the year because they know the tax laws, not you! So please don't be cheap and try doing it yourself.

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That's because I was going to reply and changed my mind, but I couldn't delete it, so I just typed in a dot.  :)

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