All Forum Posts by: Alex M.

Thanks @Ed B.  We are hoping that is the case. Glad to know you managed to handle it this way!

@Allen Maris thanks for the responses. Glad to hear that it is not an ongoing problem and/or that it never got that far for you. I'm hoping the fallout is limited here, also... but also calling my lawyer in the am to see what they recommend as a CYA.

@Account Closed - that's not a very helpful or on point response. The question is whether anyone has dealt with this and what they have done to manage the situation, not whether readers have opinions (informed or not) on language usage or neighborhood ranking systems and which class to invest in and how... 

On further searches on BP, I see that a lot of folks have had this same exact scam pulled on them - Craigslist ads with lower prices and one to many people that get the place rented to.

I am very curious to hear from anyone who has had to deal with landlord tenant law issues that have arisen from this - i.e. disgruntled scammed wannabe tenants who decide to either break in and claim the place, or pursue action through the courts.

As someone going through this right now for the first time, any words of wisdom would be appreciated. 

Thanks BP!

Curious if there were any issues from this @Raman Bindlish?

I am going through the same thing myself in Philadelphia right now - went on vacation for a week and came back to find the locks changed and the ad on CL for $200 a month less than what I am asking for rent.

I changed the locks, and made sure the property had no items in it that were not placed by me, but I am concerned that an angry scammed person/family is going to damage the place, and/or try to lay claim to having a rental or a lease on the unit.

I see a lot of folks on BP who have posted similar stories, but have not yet heard what anyone did to deal with the issue beyond changing future rental ad posts to be watermarked.

I realize this is an old post, but this just happened to me!!!

I just finished a rehab, put the property up for rent, went out of town for a week and come back to find the locks changed - and CL ads for $800 instead of the $1000 a month I am asking.

I managed to get in and change the locks, but I have no clue what to do next if someone indeed believes that they have rented the place and have been scammed out of some money. 

Any other landlords have this happen to them? Please share your words of wisdom on how to deal with any fallout from the scammed "tenant"?

Take this all with a grain of salt, but here's my two cents. I started looking in those areas a couple of years ago before I bought my first property. I found a number of places that should have cash flowed nicely, but was warned off of the area by a lot of other investors. I chose not to buy there. There are quite a few other parts of philly that should provide similar returns with better appreciation potential.

At 10 doors now, but only 5 are rented. Closed on three of the other 5 two weeks ago. One is already posted for rent and we've had a couple of showings. One is under work with a contractor, one I am working on, and then two other units are not likely to get filled for a couple of months.

It is tough to self manage all of these rehabs and rentals while working 50+ hours per work in the "corporate" job.

@Account Closed - thanks. I certainly hope so. 

@Thomas S. no problem. No offense taken. My response was intended to state that I appreciate your direct response, not that I was offended by it. Hope it did not come across that way.

@Thomas S. and @JD Martin - thanks for the comments. I should be clear that I do factor vacancies into my budgets. I just would really like to avoid a vacancy in this property at this point in time - if it has to happen, I am able to cover it. It is a choice based on weighing the pros and cons of dealing with difficult tenants, versus having to cover expenses in the "short term", meaning over this next 12 months.

As far as precarious positions go, it is not quite so black and white. I had 3 rental units at the beginning of the year - 2 filled, one needing rehab. I now have 10. Only 5 are rented, so while I can cover the cost to have another vacant, I would really rather not. I am currently finishing up a major rehab on one unit - a SFR - and closed last week on three more units. I will be doing very minor rehabs on two of them and hope to have them filled within a month. The third will be close to a full gut rehab. I'm not planning to expand any more within the next 1-2 months, but will be on the lookout for a few more units hopefully by the beginning of the summer.

Quick update: Thanks for all the feedback - both constructive and critical, as well as funny! This is why BP is the BEST. Ms. Salon Owner finally sucked it up and signed a lease. I'm into this with her for one more year, but security deposits are being paid, and everything is in writing and agreed to. I will need to make decisions about how strict to be about paint, but will likely offer her the option to clean it up still and only charge her for it if I have to send someone. 

@Ashley Schroeder and @Theresa W. - lol. Great names!!! Thx for the constructive guidance/recommendations also. @Raphaela Todd - I agree. Nice but FIRM is the way to go.

@Account Closed - thx for recommendations - especially the caution around Mr. Artsy and setting a precedent, and the "I'll get back to you on that". Unfortunately, on Ms. Salon Owner the lease would not have gone to month-to-month after this. It would have locked in at a year, just with an old lease from the previous owner. I was just trying to get into a more solid Pennsylvania Association of REALTORs commercial lease.

@Michell P. - keep us updated on your situation, also. Glad to hear someone on here gets the not-being-ready-to-evict side of this.

@Thomas S. - Ouch, but I agree. It was a little hard to swallow your feedback, but I think that that is totally the right way to look at it. It is me. If I was stricter, had not allowed this situation to develop in the first place, I wouldn't be posting asking for help on how to fix it.  I definitely am and will use this as a learning lesson and a practice park for how to deal with "problem" tenants.

@Kurt Gardner - yeah. I can, and probably will live with them for a little while longer. I hope to "train" them a bit better in this time. Once I am ready to deal with vacancies on this property, and the necessary rehabs, I will be moving them all out one at a time to improve the rents and tenants.

@Steve Babiak - always appreciate your constructive feedback. The lease is a PAR commercial lease, with a few addendums to address water bills, Business Improvement District fees, and common area repairs and expenses. It does have very clear language on alterations to the exterior, so moving forward, it should be much easier to keep on the same page now that we have a new lease in place. The old landlord had a pretty messy lease, and had not been very clear with expectations or expenses for his tenants - I am dealing with the repercussions of that at this point.