All Forum Posts by: Ray Reed

you can bypass going to room 201 by just going to the nj courts website and download the form and fill it out on your computer, print, sign  and make four copies.  from this point you can just go to the cashier and pay the $54 (if the tenant lives in newark).. this saves you a good amount of time. you are in and out in 5 minutes if no one is waiting at the cashier line.  you can even mail the paperwork in but that prolongs the process.

once you file, you can also look at that same website to see your court date. it will be posted on the website days before you get the postcard.  If you have days where you know you will be out of town, write them down on the original filing papers. something like 'not available 7/3 - 7/10'.

When you win the case, about 10 days later the court officer will contact you to see if you still want the warrant of removal served.  if so, they will post it on the front door of the house stating they have 3 days to move. the tenant usually goes to court and asks for an extension or contests the lockout. if they ask for an extension, the court WILL give them 7 - 10 days extra. 

once you win the court case for non payment and file for the lockout, you CANNOT receive any type of payment from the tenant. that will get your case dismissed.  

the fees you will be looking at are the filing fees ($54), warrant of removal/landlord certification ($39) and the actual lockout when the court officer shows up to make sure the apartment is cleared out (about $75). 

In NJ you cannot add the late fees on the eviction paperwork for section 8 tenants.  also to collect late fees, lawyer fees and filing fees, your lease has to have them identified as 'additional rents'.

i just looked on zillow and i saw 3 pages full of rentals for irvington.  you should also check craigslist. 

stay close to the maplewood and union borders.. avoid the south 20, 21st  

one of the requirements that newark has when you increase the number of units is to accommodate for off-street parking for both units.  depending on the lot size and layout, it may or may not be feasible. 

why would you want to do that when you can take a distressed 2 - 4 family house and just renovate it.

If you already have solar panels, it most likely was not configured to accommodate for electric heat.  If you plan on getting solar, the provider would need to analyse your electric consumption over a period of time.  That means to have the optimal equipment installed you would have to have the electric heat installed first so your consumption can be averaged. Even still, you may not have enough space for the sufficient amount of panels. 

i would shy away from electric heat.  i have seen those bills make good tenants move. 

like @John Umphress stated, you may be able to extract a list of charities that help paying the rent.  this does not mean that you don't move towards an eviction.  you can do them both parallel.  I had a situation where the tenant was recovering from a  liver transplant and i filed for eviction but also provided her with a list of agencies that could help her.  i ended up postponing the lockout because i received confirmation that the agency was going to pay the back months and they did. 

Some people like responding to inquiries via phone but i  don't.  you will be surprised by how much time you can waste on the phone with people that wont even qualify. for instance, all my ads say no pets.  when they respond to my ads via email i ask them again 'do you have any pets?'.. if they answer yes, i reject them automatically..  before when i used to post my number, they would try to convince me 'oh its well trained. oh its only 15 lbs. etc. etc.'.  i find it a lot more efficient to pre-screen online and then have the conversation if everything seems ok upfront.   plus you can respond to them right away even if you cannot talk at the moment.

I  just do craigslist. i don't put my phone number because i want to pre-screen via email. otherwise you will have calls whenever it is most convenient for the caller and that can be any time.  When i am uncertain about a new property and the rents it will fetch, i put out a craigslist ad with the address and whatever pictures i can get my hands on and market it for the rents i want. you should know by the response in a couple of days if the rent is too high or low. 

i dont think you need to drive down there since it is an electronic document now. one day i called trenton and they emailed it to me within 30 minutes.

your rents do seem kind of high.  go on craigslist and put in 0 miles from those zip codes and see what the results are.