All Forum Posts by: Paul Clements

Can someone please let me know the mechanics of the recording process on an owner-financed deal?

We write up a deed and execute the sale. The deed gets recorded at the county level in NJ. Let's assume there is no CO obtained immediately after the sale (will do later after repairs are done), and no township or local-level inspections requested.

Is the township automatically notified by the county of the sale or is there some mechanism by which they would learn about the sale and update their records, other than by the buyer telling them about it, or applying for a CO? 

Agree with others, you don't need to give him any explanation. You're not discriminating based on national origin, but even if you secretly were, he would have to prove that.

If the house is sitting for months in March April and May with no qualified applicants, maybe you need to lower the rent. If people feel they have to pack the space with a dozen people to justify paying it, that's not a good sign. Even dropping it $100 might dramatically increase your applicant pool. OK, so you 'lost' $1200 (assuming you ever could have gotten that rent [with a good tenant] to begin with). But how much has the prolonged vacancy cost you thus far, $4-6-8k?

If people perceive it as a bad deal, they won't apply, even if they can afford it. Although you may attract scammers who don't intend on paying in the first place. The more you try to squeeze every last dollar, the fewer the applicants, the worse the tenants, the less they like you, the more they want to screw you, the shorter they stay. There's a balance to be struck of course, and I do set prices near market.

Appreciate the answers thus far, all.

My general policy is to be open-minded and give people a fair shake. So I do continue to entertain these scenarios, but yeah, it generally ends up being a waste of time. If I had more units I'd probably have had at least one success story by now.

In my experience, the problem people sort themselves out of the process 95% plus of the time (don't respond to messages, don't show up, try to show up an hour late as I sat there with thumb up my A, lie on application, regale me with tales about battling all their past landlords, explain how they're going to leave early and violate their current lease, ask what happens if they break this lease early, etc.; which it goes without saying all equate to instant No's).

Maybe this isn't legally sound but I don't feel I owe anyone an explanation, like credit card companies do. I simply say 'Thank you for applying but I'm sorry to report that we decided to go with another applicant, I wish you the best of luck in your search.' I don't say why they were denied at all and rarely/never am I asked. Sometimes a unit may have 10 or 20+ applicants so it's not as if they were necessarily in 2nd place. I also don't charge an application fee so maybe people feel less angry/entitled due to that. If I feel bad I add, 'It was an extremely difficult decision and your application was among those most in consideration, but ____' to the above (sometimes is true, sometimes isn't). In this case though with all the weird stuff, I would just make up a story to get them out of my hair. 

Come on, just need to get creative. Just say that the tenant you decided you're going to rent the place to is an old friend who's not back in town yet, or say that you have a partner who's out of the country and you're going to hold off on final decision until he gets back, or whatever. There are a million stories you can make up to get them to go away.  

I've had a similar experience that you're describing many times with 'gypsies.' Every single listing I've been involved with, whether residential or commercial, they have contacted me (I know certain clues to look for). They generally offer above asking, don't need to see the place, don't have any documented income, and are usually calling for someone else (husband parent etc). Honestly with all the tactics you mentioned and the siblings contacting you etc, it sounds pretty similar to that.

Every time I list a place, there are inevitably moms, sisters, etc., who are contacting me 'because [son/sibling/parent etc] is busy' (or sometimes away). I find this a little odd and kind of off-putting. Like you're too busy to take 2 minutes to talk to me? And you're going to live in a place you haven't even seen? I get that they want to scout, but sometimes they seemingly want to complete the whole process for them. A co-signer is fine, and I've had those pan out OK; generally not an ideal sign either, but OK.

I say that's fine if just you come to check it out, but we need to meet the actual tenant at some point 'to make sure they like it' (and to make sure they're OK). After that point either the person never shows, or they delay the process too long and it gets rented to someone else. In at least one case I think the tenant might have been mentally ill/had dementia and the family member didn't want that to be known, which is understandable. 

Is this a red flag for people? It pretty much is for me at this point - has it ever turned out good/bad for you?

@Henry Lazerow  Thanks. It didn't strike me right I only offered it due to the aforementioned factors, mainly her not making enough otherwise. I haven't signed agency yet but property contract has been signed. Now that her brokerage reduced what she owes them I offered to pay the full admin fee but not the 3%. It will end up being about $500 extra, instead of $950. She is a brand-new agent just getting started. Don't know how many properties she's closed but I'm guessing in the single digits. She makes most of her income from another job.

Can't edit; I meant it in an abstract/rhetorical sense.

Haha; I knew that was coming. She's actually working though, so no Jerry I will never be like you either.

@Russell Brazil  It's around $160k which is very low for my area, needs a lot of work.

And I don't even know where it's going / what the potential is this early on. I'm barely factoring that in at all; the crux of the matter for me was whether the fee situation/structure is typical (apparently not so much). And from there I just want to pay someone fairly for services rendered, regardless of any personal involvement.