All Forum Posts by: Mitch Kronowit

Thanks for all the replies. Here's an update:

The tenant got served yesterday, which must have opened his eyes because he called my property manager today and said he had the rent money (supposedly made some money recently in his business).

We're still inclined to continue the eviction. I find his "disappearance" and evasion of our property manager for the last 2 weeks inexcusable.

However, I am considering making the tenant an offer to evict him "lightly", i.e., he pays for this months rent, pays my attorney fees, and gets out within a week. The tenant will get his security deposit back, minus repairs, and keep a judgment off his credit report.

Any thoughts to this kindler, gentler eviction, or should I just continue with all the ugliness of taking him to court? Thanks again.

Those numbers, 4 and 10, sound like the old and new conforming limits. When the limit was 4 mortgages, many conventional lenders would turn down borrowers simply because they couldn't sell those new loans to Fannie Mae.

I thought I was up against that limit until I researched it and discovered the limit was restored to 10. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if many lenders and loan officers don't know that.

We purchased a SFR in Murrieta, fixed it all up, and hired a property manager to rent it for us. About 6 weeks after we closed, he found a self-employed tenant with a 730 FICO and over $20k in the bank. Our new tenant paid the rent for two months then stopped. He doesn't return phone calls and won't answer the door when our property manager knocks.

We gave a 3-day notice via mail and by posting one on the garage door (it was gone when our property manager returned). No response. So now we've hired an attorney to handle the eviction. I'm waiting for word that the tenant has been properly served.

Why did an otherwise well qualified tenant just flake out? Did his business go bust and he's out of money? If he a professional deadbeat that forged his documents? Did he steal someone else's identity for the credit score? It's nothing I've ever seen before.

Any speculation how this might turn out? Is he scrambling to find a place to move to now, before he gets thrown out? Is he going to file bankruptcy? How trashed is the place going to be when I remove him?

Yes, I'm pretty ticked off right now. I've been renting out my condo in San Diego for over 10 years, managing it myself 90% of the time without any tenant problems. Not even 1 late payment in over a decade. (Was I lucky or good? Note: I rather BE lucky than good! :wink:) Now, the second time in my life that I use a property manager, I get a dirt-bag tenant.

However, I'm still interested in buying more rental properties, but my wife has really soured on the idea, so it's probably going to take some time before she's comfortable again. Thanks for reading.

1. If you're looking to flip any property, you have to get it cheap enough for there to be a profit when you sell.

2. You're not going to get an REO well below market value unless you come in with all cash and have the documentation to prove it.

3. Transactional funding investors aren't going to give you a dime until you've got a property under contract.

So as you can see, it's a Catch-22, Chicken-or-the-Egg thing. I have some investor friends who have had better luck with short-sales, but not in California. My property manager did get a fix-and-flip in South Central LA (yeah, I wouldn't touch it either) that he paid all cash for and invested about $8k and 3 weeks of his time into. I'm not sure if he's sold it yet, but he stands to make about 50% on his money.

Best of luck. Let us know what you find.

Hello Everyone,

My name is Mitch and I've been a landlord since 1997 when I started renting out my 2 BR condo in San Diego. My wife, Monika, and I live in our 3 BR SFR in Mission Viejo. We just recently purchased a 3 BR SFR out in Murrieta, CA, our second rental property. I am on the lookout for rental #3.

Just a little background on us: I am a California native, graduate of Cal State Fullerton (BS Physics) and the University of Phoenix (MBA Global Management). I spent 9 years active duty in the US Navy landing on aircraft carriers and teaching flight students how to fly jets (without killing themselves or I). The last 10 years I spent flying for United Airlines and am currently a stay-at-home Dad/part-time real estate investor waiting for either 1) my airline to pull its collective head out of its "posterior" and run a quality operation, or 2) make enough money in real estate that I never have to work for another crooked CEO the rest of my life.

Monika is a native of Poland and currently works in Newport Beach as a Registered Nurse. She was my rehab partner on our Murrieta property, i.e., I fixed the plumbing and electrical, she cleaned the house and planted the landscaping, and we both shared the painting, inside and out.

I'm glad I found this web site. I have probably spent over 50 hours on the Internet researching real estate topics and have found over 50% of the people out in the world are either phony or trying to sell me something that ISN'T real estate. I am looking forward to learning all I can from others and sharing what little I know with who ever I can help.

Thanks for reading.

Welcome Marty,

Might I suggest you get a copy of "Flipping Confidential" by Kirsten Kemp? She is the hostess of TLC's "Property Ladder" and started out flipping right in your area of Santa Barbara. Yep, by her third or fourth deal, she was flipping million dollar homes.

Best of luck!