All Forum Posts by: Chris Messier

It's getting the sale to go through that I'm interested in first. Looking for suggestions or experience with this. Can the courts get involved and force the owner to open the building for the appraisal? I'm also responsible for the smoke certs, so I can see this being an issue too. I plan to attend the appraisal and use that time to make a material list for the smoke detectors. They will need to be hard wired common.

Trying to purchase a 3 family investment property that is a bankruptcy sale. Per the listing agent the seller is bitter and has decided he will not allow the appraiser to enter the building. What are my options? Closing is scheduled for 30 days from now. 

Consider capital gains. The way I understand it is if you live in a home for 2 of the past 5 years it's considered primary. So in 3 years from now you'll reach the threshold where selling before that date you'll pay no capital gains, sell after that date and you will.

The ONE Thing, Gary Keller. Great read, provides tools to be more productive.

Thank you all. I was looking at this more from a liability perspective and what might be the min requirements to stay out of hot water. This is in the context of two MFH 3-units each that I own. I currently do pre salt the walkways and steps and honestly might be going a little over board with trying to keep the properties clear of snow during storms. At the end of the day I feel like I have a pretty good story to tell for the attention that I give to prevent injury but at the same time wondered if anyone had experience with the courts for snow related falls. I feel like it could be open season for a tenant to take advantage of an inch of snow on the ground.

During my most recent eviction through the Fall River, MA Housing Court the Arbitrator did something on his own but that I will now forever request during the early stages of arbitration. On the summary process agreement for judgment under "The parties further agree as follows" he wrote in "The defendants shall seek no extension and shall waive their right of appeal." Of course the tenant needs to either not be paying full attention or at the time agree. Often things continue to go south as time goes on and having this solves a lot of issues. This is a simple step and it was a duh moment for me that I didn't already practice this but figured I'd share as it could help someone else in the future.

I have read posts discussing who does the snow removal but didn't come across one regarding how often. Question is, if there was a snow storm that lasted let's say 8 hrs and accumulated10 inches, do you clean up once the storm stops or several times in between? With the concern of a slip and fall suit I wonder what the courts consider negligent. If you do it yourself, discount rent to a tenant, hire the neighborhood kid, or a property management company this should apply. If you rely on someone else for snow removal and they don't make it there until hours after the storm the landlord is ultimately responsible if someone falls on the stairs or walkways right?