All Forum Posts by: Ray Reed

@Lashawn McCauley the court officer is to make sure that the tenants vacate the premises. so even if they are out of the house the bare minimum the officer does is check the rooms and verifies no one is still in the unit.  they then post a notice on the door addressed to the tenant that they are not allowed in the unit and if they attempt to go in without the landlord's permission, they will be arrested for trespassing.  They also give you a form with the warrant of removal and the date that it was executed.  I like to pay the extra $79 to have this final process so there is closure and everything is documented and i have a copy.   Unless the tenant returns the keys, they are still in possession of the unit.  self help lockouts are illegal in NJ so once the officer is involved, you can change the locks. 

@Kerryanne Henry glad i could help.  the site has changed in the last year.  before you could retrieve archived landlord tenant records. now you cannot and only have access to 2 years worth of LT history.  How i work around that is I call the LT customer services department to see if there are any archived chases in that person's name. 

@Lashawn McCauley i am a little confused at 'Must allow court officer to remove the locks...' .  As soon as you file for eviction, that information is public. that is enough for me as a landlord to shy away from a prospect. that means they had payment issues or some other issue strong enough to make the landlord take it to court. Most court officers charge extra to change locks or they tell you you to get a locksmith.  most of the times, my tenant is gone by the deadline but i still have a court officer come do the walkthru and provide me the documents. i never have them touching locks. 

The Landlord Identity Law, N.J.S.A. 46:8-27,  reguires all rental properties in NJ to be registered.  I believe you would have to go to room 111 in city hall. lately landlord tenant court has been requiring registration before you can proceed with and eviction. if you try to evict, they will adjourn your case until you get registered. this week i saw a woman win her case on a 2 family owner occupied house.  at the very end the judge remembered he never asked about the registration. once he found out she didnt have her house registered, he reversed and rescheduled the case. 

make sure you register the property with the city (if one or 2 family house) or the state (if 3 units or above).  Also register with the rent control department in the city. 

@Emmanuel Lopez how much are you able to sell it for?  Do you think it would be a pain to manage? If keeping it, do a cash out refi and pull most of your money out.  You would then have money to do the next deal.  I was in a similar situation but decided to do a refi at the end of this month (6 month seasoning period). 

Put in many offers.   Its a numbers game.  If they all accept pick the best one(s).

if you are looking for $1500 then i would definitely explore a small closet. it doesn't have to be big.  what the other investors told you is probably correct but where you advertise for sect 8 are the same places you advertise for paying  tenants.   sometimes you get lucky. a person may want to be close to relatives, they may not want to change schools, they grew up in that immediate area, etc.. 

@Thomas Visaggio is there a reason why you are targeting section 8?  if you have a decent product you will easily get $1100 for a two bedroom from a cash paying tenant.  Things to consider when going section 8 are:  1.) the process can take a while before they allow the tenant to move in.  2.) not all sect 8 tenants pay a small portion out of pocket. I have had a good number where the tenants were responsible for over 50% of total rent.  3.)  you can't add late fees in eviction court and your late fee shouldn't exceed 5% of the tenant's portion.   In the past  people went sect 8 in newark because they were getting the most rents that way but that is not necessarily the case now. 

would you be able to fit a small closet in that  room?  If so and you still have room for a bed and dresser,  that would be your best route especially since people may use it as a bedroom anyway. 

http://www.newarkha.org/Housing/Housing-Choice-Voucher-Program-Section-8