All Forum Posts by: Seth Williams

Lol - that's a good one @Henry Le 

Probably the craziest story I ever heard was from a colleague of mine. He had to serve his tenant an eviction notice, and so the tenant proceeded to urinate all over the carpeted floor throughout the entire house.

...I guess he just pushed his tenant over the edge by expecting to collect rent on time.

I'm sure there a far-weirder stories from other landlords, but that just happens to be the weirdest one I know of.

I'm looking for some entertaining short stories from the Landlords and Property Managers here on BP.

• Have you ever had to notify your tenants about something that you thought for sure was common knowledge?
• Have you ever been shocked by the lifestyle and/or behavior of your tenants? 
• Have you ever discovered something CRAZY in your property after your tenants moved out?
• What kinds of tenants have lowered your expectations of the human race?

I want to hear about it all. If you've got a bizarre or unbelievable story about some of the tenants you've worked with in the past - let's hear about it below.

Try to keep your posts to a few sentences (i.e. - concise and to-the-point) if possible.

Looks like a building with some nice potential @Bob T. (assuming you can get it for the right price). I visit the north end of Chicago every few months and there are a lot of cool buildings that can look pretty amazing once the right rehabber gets a hold of them.

Atta boy @Derrek Coleman :)

Thanks for your thoughts @Cassandra Santori - that's certainly a valid point. I actually use agents pretty regularly when I'm trying to buy properties in a new market that I'm not familiar with. Some realtors can provide some valuable input (and you're right, it doesn't cost me anything as the buyer).

@Aroldo Villarreal - no, you don't need a realtor representing you in order to get the ball rolling. If you want to make an offer, there are a few ways you can approach it:

a. You can call the realtor directly and explain what you'd like to do (they'll usually be happy to help you put together a written offer on their standard purchase agreement).

b. You can call the property owner and try to work directly with them (however, I've found that many of them will just refer you to their agent...   because they don't know what they're doing either - and that's why they enlisted the help of their agent in the first place).

c. You can cut to the chase and send a written offer directly to the realtor, using your purchase agreement template (not the standard issue document that most realtors use). The benefit with this approach is that you'll be able to lay out the terms of the transaction exactly the way that you are willing to accept them. Even though there's no guarantee that the seller will accept your offer, this approach will at least allow you to use documentation that you're most familiar with.

In the end - I'd say that the best approach is the one that will allow you to take action. Don't feel paralyzed and sit on the sidelines just because you don't have a realtor in your corner. Be proactive and make things happen! You'd be surprised at how far you can get on your own if you just start moving forward.

Hi @Steven J. - glad to hear you're getting results! Is this property you're looking at in Minnesota? To my knowledge - (double check me on this) I think Minnesota is a Tax Deed state, which would mean that there isn't really a "tax lien" for you to buy, only a deed (assuming the property hasn't already been seized by the county).

You could use this high balance of delinquent taxes as leverage to buy the property outright (for a very cheap price) and then sell it back to the current owner with seller financing. I know another investor who has done this a few times with pretty good results.

Hey @Harry Asnien - thanks for the shout out, I'm glad to hear some of my stuff has been helpful to you! Feel free to drop me a line if you get stuck on anything along the way (believe me, I know there are a lot of questions to ask in the beginning).

@Account Closed - I just sent you the calculator. Check it out and let me know what you think.

@Nathan Joens - You can see an overview of how I verify my inputs here.

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway - @Brandon Turner has been an amazing resource in a lot of ways. Always responsive, always supportive, always has a positive attitude about everything. I'm not sure how he manages to juggle it all as well as he does - but he is clearly a natural born servant and leader.

I have to say, @Braden C. was extremely helpful to me this past year. Whenever I had questions for him about his wholesaling business and how he ran things - he was very responsive and gave me a lot of good strategies and insights to think about. Thanks Braden!