All Forum Posts by: Rob Beland

Why are you paying $2.5M for a $1.8M property?

@Jose Doradothe IRS determines what you pay in taxes when you sell real estate held for investment. Transferring the profit to your LLC infers you are trying to avoid paying taxes. Good luck with that. The LLC you created is a pass-through entity. It doesnt exist in the eyes of the IRS. Its all your money whether its in your name or in your LLC. It will do basically nothing to reduce your tax liability.

@Nicholas B.you sound like a great resource and hopefully we can teach you about investing and you help us diy landlords as well. 

And when your agent says to wait you say you will get a different agent to submit the offer. 

I like that idea @Jon Holdman although I'm curious to know approximately how long it takes to get through the pipe. I also like the idea of a handheld grinding wheel with the right blade @Matt Motil. I wonder if that would make quicker work of the job. It's in a basement and all overhead so a chop saw would get heavy after a while. Thank you both. 

@Sandy Weedare you considering wholesaling yourself?I think there would be a conflict when yo go to a homeowner as a Realtor and try and get them to agree to put their home under agreement with you with the intention of getting a higher selling price. As a Realtor your first job is to get the property sold for the current market value so you're basically saying that you want to tie it up for below market value and then make a profit. Just my thoughts. 

What's the best saw/blade combination for removing old steam pipes from a basement (asbestos insulation already removed)? Is there a better option than a sawz-all and a metal cutting blade? Any chance it can be taken apart at the joints considering its almost 100 years old? Thanks in advance for any tips you can offer.

@Chan K.you can only send the damages letter if you have a signed statement of conditions from when she moved in. That is your only proof she caused the damages. Otherwise its just your word against hers and you will lose in court. She will deny she caused the damage and say that you mishandled her security deposit. 

You should specify the city/county and state you are in so that your post pops up on the radar of local investors. Your talking about state specific laws and there is also the local building authority. You don't want to start getting advice from all over the country on this one @Laron Letzerich. Good luck. 

@Chan K. in MA you can get a judgement for the back rent even if the tenant has vacated the apartment. You need to decide how far you want to go. Between serving notice and the court fees alone you will spend almost $300 to go through the process to recover the back rent. 

As far as the damages, you can sue for damages in small claims court if the damages exceed the amount of deposit you are holding. You need to be sure you handled the security deposit properly and have all your paperwork in line. You must have a signed statement of conditions from the tenant from when they moved in, you must have held the security deposit in an interest bearing account and you will have had to have given the tenant the name and account number of the bank (among other details) on a receipt...and on and on...you get the point. 

If you don't have all of that in order, you are better off keeping what you have for a deposit and be glad she is gone.

Once you have the judgement/execution for the back rent (and security deposit money if you go after it) you can sue in small claims court and petition the court to garnish the tenants wages. You can also request a payment plan. If you get a payment agreement and they miss one payment you can go to court and they will issue a warrant for her to return to court to explain why she missed the payment. I have had a judge tell my former tenant with whom I have a payment agreement in place that if she misses another payment she will be put in jail.

I'm not sure I understand the charge of two months rent. Is that because they have two months left on a one year lease? You can't come up with an arbitrary penalty and decide to charge them two months rent for breaking the lease. If they violate the terms of a lease you evict them and sue for the balance of the rent you are owed. Keep in mind you must make a reasonable effort to find a new tenant to come in for the remainder of the lease term you can't continue to seek the unpaid rent from the former tenant. 

A lot of information here I know so you might want to continue to read up on Massachusetts Landlord/Tenant law to be sure you fully understand the process(es) you will be going through. Good luck. Sometimes it's best to just move on and chalk it up to a lesson learned.