All Forum Posts by: Paul Zofsak

Hi BP friends. I have an upcoming purchase that may or may not need some foundation work.  I have one bid already for 19 exterior piers and 13 interior.  I never noticed any kind of slope or issues, but the appraiser raised a red flag and now the lender is requiring estimates.  I can't afford that amount of time or that amount of cleanup and repair afterwards so I need to get a second, or third, opinion.  Can anyone recommend a good foundation repair company in the Houston Texas area?

Thank you,

Paul

I have two properties I am about to acquire and am actively looking for a new PM.  I have one that comes recommended to me; I will be interviewing them later this week.  Are there any others in the Houston area that someone else mighty recommend?

So it turns out that there are about $168 in back fees for the water company from the previous owner and the gas company pulled the meter due to the house being a foreclosure and being vacant for a certain amount of time.  The kicker is though, the gas company requires a permit from the city stating that the gas line has been checked and is safe to reinstall the meter.  The permit will be issued after an inspection which is done by either the city or a licensed plumber.  The inspection is pretty in depth, takes a couple of days, and costs about $350 from my regular plumber.  The MUD will hook up the water after the deposit and back fees are paid, no inspection needed.

I have emailed both gas and water companies for now.  I think I remember reading that the utility companies will removed the meters on foreclosed properties as a standard, or maybe in just some cases, just curious.

I currently have a contract accepted on a foreclosed property and the inspection revealed the gas meter as well as the water meter have been removed.  Could this be theft or maybe the gas and water companies have removed them?  For what purpose, is this normal or standard?  What am I looking at to get them put back in?

Thank you

The PM has notified the tenant and placed a "notice to vacate", that has gotten additional fees paid; however not all of them.  The tenant is aware of how the late fees work as I managed the property the first year until I no longer had time; they paid late fees in the past.  At the end of the day its a gray area in the contract, like said, fool me once...

There are many other PMs in the area; I will have something else to ask up front next time when interviewing a prospective new PM.

Wow, I never expected that many responses.  The contract states that the PM as the right to collect late fees and keep them; however it doesn't make mention of how they do that, pretty gray area if you ask me.  Secondly, I have questioned my PM on the matter and got two responses.  The first time I questioned the certified property manager (the one that is up on all the housing codes and laws), she told me that they do that to protect the owner so that if it comes down to it they could proceed with an eviction since technically not all the rent has been paid.  The second time, I questioned one of the owners, he stated verbatim what the contract says, the contract doesn't make mention of how they will apply the rent in the case the tenant pays late, just that they have the right to collect late fees and keep them.  Either way, I will not be using this company in the future, and will be leaving online reviews about their practices as well.

The contract states that they have the right to collect the late fees and keep them, that's fine by me, but I agree its time to put them on notice.

So, if I have a one year contract on what basis can I legally get out of it without paying a bunch of penalties?

I am dealing with this local property management company for the first time; everything looked great until my tenant stated paying rent five to ten days late every month.  The tenant then pays the rent but nothing extra to cover late fees.  The property management company deducts the late fees from the rent and counts what is left over as my income and takes their standard 10% from that.  For example, rent is $1200, the tenant pays $1200 five days late, the management company deducts $65 from the rent and tells me that my income is $1135, then takes $113.50 from that for management fees.  They keep the late fees per the contract but are doing nothing to collect the uncollected rent; when I pressed the matter they asked if I wanted to proceed with eviction.  The tenant is a good tenant other than paying a little late; that combined with the expenses of re-leasing and carrying costs, it makes no sense to move forward with eviction.  Is it just me or am I paying my property management company to NOT do their job or is this an industry standard?

Thanks for all your responses; I do feel I need to clear the air a bit however.  First off, I am not tied to my price, I started with an appropriate price and have since lowered it.  Showings started off at 3-4 a week and have fallen off to about one a week.  Days on the market for this area are about five weeks, I have been listed for about six; I am not going into panic mode, just being proactive.  As a frame of reference the realtor I dealt with three years ago to buy my personal residence answered his phone or text the majority of the time right away or would return your call within the hour; that is what I have come to expect as the norm until now.

The snot nosed kid in the backseat comment was way out of line considering the lack of information the poster had beforehand; on average I contact my agent about once a week to exchange information, not cry about not having showings/buyers.

I expected going in that this house would take longer to sell, I didn't go overboard with updates or expenditures, and I have it currently listed about 10K above my break even point.  A lot of the things mentioned I was expecting, but this being my first sell, I wanted to poll the BP community to find out more about what can be done on the realtors end and I have gotten a variety of answers.  Some say there is much more marketing that can be done to the opposite side of the spectrum with others saying to drop the price and run.  I am comfortable where things currently are but don't want to be caught sitting on my hands when the time for action or decisions comes; I prefer to do my homework in advance.

Thank you all