All Forum Posts by: Scott Martin

Littleton Flooring Company, ask for Jason Hall, 405-888-3273.  (Tell 'em I referred you!)

Great folks, top quality work & reasonable prices!

Jason Hall, with Littleton Floors, Office: 405-341-7130, Cell: 405-888-3273. 

Great guy, great company!  Tell him I referred you!

Yes, Jay D. Parks, CPA, & Matt Dobson, Atty.  If you can't find them on LinkedIn or Fb, just shoot me a private message.  I'd be happy to hook you up, they're great guys to know in this biz.

Hello Tyler.  I was in your shoes not too long ago & there are many many different brokers to choose from.  If you're here in the okc metro, I'd be happy to get together for coffee sometime, tell you what I learned, which broker I picked & why. (I had another fellow realtor do the same for me, which made my decision much easier)  Let me know if I can help.  Scott A. Martin, 405-802-8877

Sounds like something else to consider when putting the lease agreement/contracts together (clearly stating that tenant will be responsible for any unpaid utilities) & something to consider when deciding the deposit amount.  The fact of the matter is, that these large utility companies, along with local governments are going to continue to make sure that they make their buck...and good luck stopping them!  And as a landlord, you must continue to make sure that you make your buck, i.e. covering all possible bases with your contracts, higher deposits, etc...  (**** does roll downhill, just be glad that you're not at the VERY bottom)

However, here in Oklahoma, I would highly suggest having the utilities automatically setup to switch to your name in the event of the bills not being paid by the tenant.  

This lesson was recently learned at the rental next door to me:

The previous landlord had utilities setup to switch to her name in the event of a shut-off (which can be done with a simple phone call). First, by learning that utilities weren't being paid, this made her aware that she had a problem with the tenants, so that she could deal with the actual problem.  And also protected her property in the meantime from frozen/busted water pipes, etc...

However, the new landlord (outta state owner), with new tenants found through a local PM, did not have the utilities setup to automatically switch, so he knew nothing about what was going on at the property, until it was entirely too late.  By the time he started having problems receiving rent, there was 20+ crackheads living there, all utilities were off due to non-payment, except the water, which the tenant manually shut off himself after a pipe busted from having no heat in the house...not to mention sewage backed up and the entire property completely trashed!  Had he set the utilities to switch automatically, he would have had a much better chance of addressing the problem (eviction), before it got out of hand.  Very expensive lesson learned for him! (And hiring the cheapest/most-unprofessional property management company in the OKC didn't help things either!)

I'm no guru, just my thoughts on the matter...

I'm a Realtor here in Oklahoma City & just started using a new CPA.  I know he works with many real estate related professionals and he came highly recommended.  The name is Jay D. Parks & Associates, 405-341-7044, [email protected]  (His office is off of 15th, in Edmond)  Hope that helps

Thank you also to Dmitriy, Nick and Sara for the welcome.  And a huge thanks to Brandon and all the others for everything you're doing here!  This website is absolutely amazing & the folks here might be the most welcoming bunch I've come across in a while!

Thanks Devan and welcome to OKC, best of luck to you as well!

Hey there Nick, if nothing else, don't feel alone. I'm in the same boat as you, only I'm an hvac guy versus an electrician. REI can seem overwhelming to anyone & I have definitely felt overwhelmed myself, since I found BP just a few weeks ago. But I look at it like this, 15 years ago, I was overwhelmed by hvac, just like you probably were when you first started out as an electrician apprentice. If we were both capable of mastering our trades, I am confident that we'll both soon master REI as well... And good luck to you!

Thanks Paul, I've checked out most of that, or I've got it printed in my current stack of "to-read" stuff. Planning to buy J. Scott's book soon and will definitely check into the others that I haven't read yet. And I've been planning to attend our local REIA meeting next month, but still not sure if I need to be a member first...something else I need to check into. Thanks again.

And thank you Zach, I'd love to here about the brokerages you've dealt with.  I can use all the help I can get.

And thank you Amine, you are very right, BP is absolutely amazing!