All Forum Posts by: Raj Kumar

These two items came from the insurance inspection and I asked my property manager to get quotes to fix them. This is the quote I got from his contractor'

Repair Soffit $2,395.49

Tear out side walk and re-pour with broom finish $ 1,350.27 

I live far away from pensacola, but looking at the pictures, at the max 10 soffits need to be replaced (they are available in Lowes for 15$ a piece) and I don't think it will take more than 8 hrs to fix it. Am I missing something here?

I am not sure about the sidewalk quote, but somehow feel this is on the high end too.

Please advise...

Sidewalk Crack

Soffit damage

Yes, lots of lessons learnt and I am planning to return the deposit. I am going to ask them to return the key and the receipt, give them a check and ask for acknowledgement that they got their money back.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

I checked online this morning and money is in my account and I called the bank just to be sure, they said they run the bills thru the machine and if there were any counterfeit notes, they would have caught it.

The only reason I did it is because the prospective tenant said they have looked at 6 places and have to sign a lease by the end of the week and I did not want to loose them of my unavailability to show.

I think my tenant put it in the over night box, he did not deposit in the ATM. So it will not be available until the bank opens.

One of the things that made me very suspicious was I asked her to meet my tenant in person and give her driver license, so he can make a copy and send it to me. She texts me in an hour that she has an emergency and sends her mom over to hand over the cash.

The following are the texts I got from her this evening after I told her something is suspicious. 

"Nothing has been suspicious? We wanted to lease the property, it won't work, by GA law we have 3 business days to not execute the lease. The keys will be  there shortly. You cannot keep my money. I am filing a police report and I just hung up with my attorney, so I am fully aware you cannot keep my money. 

We would have given you a business check, you stated bring cash, that is suspicious. "

My response

"I never said I am not giving you back the money. I just need to talk to my lawyer. I am not as connected as you are, I don't have access to lawyer's over the weekend. You can file a police compliant by all means and you have every right to do so, but I am not going to do anything until 1)I talk to my lawyer and 2) They key is back in the lockbox. "

Her response again

"Thats fine, I am on the way to file a police report so there is a record to go with my cash receipt. Just so I am covered. I am on the way there. My mother will be there in an hour and she will take a video of her placing the key back in the lockbox.

And I responded sounds good to me.

 He counted and deposited the money over night in the bank, it has not shown up in my account yet. Can I legally hold off the security deposit?

Yesterday, a prospective tenant called and scheduled a showing for one of my warehouse properties. Since I was out of town, I gave them the lock box code to tour the property. They looked at the property and texted me right back that they are very interested and would like to sign the lease right away as they were going out of country on Monday. I emailed the lease and told them that i need the signed lease and 4000$ cash(1 month rent(2000$) and 2000$ security deposit) and they can drop everything at one of my tenants as i was out of town. I get a text that she has an emergency and her mom will instead and come in and drop the cash and she will sign the lease electronically. This is when I smelled something fishy, but this property has been vacant for a while, So i thought I will take a chance. But to my surprise her mom came down and deposited 3000$ cash with my tenant and they gave her a receipt acknowledging the deposit. I texted back this morning again asking for the lease, she said she will sign and send it ASAP. I just got a text few mins back that they are not interested in signing the lease as they have to do extensive renovations and requesting a refund of their entire money as they have not signed the lease. 

I asked my friend to inspect the property now just to make sure and he said everything is fine except they key is missing.

Based on your experience, Please advise what will be the best course of action... Thanks in advance for all your help!

@Joel owens - Thanks again. Looks like the closest one is Jacksonville, FL.

@Eric Odum - Thank you. I have talked to 3 or 4 small companies, but have not found the right one yet. Most of them are interested in managing and leasing, but I would like to manage it myself. 

@Martin Z - You are absolutely right about loss in vacancy $$$. I have an office property that's been sitting on the market for almost 9 months, but the realtor has not done anything other than list it. I have been thinking of marketing myself, it's a little harder as I don't live in the state. How did you come up with the mailing list? I was planning to collect addresses from the chamber of commerce and send out fliers.

Yes, I am asking about a commercial leasing broker/agent. Well So far I have paid anywhere from 6 to 10% commission and that's what the agents asked for. I will even pay 10 to 20% depending on the type of service. I don't want to pay someone 10% if all they are going to do is list it in loopnet. What is the standard commission rate for leasing agents you have described?

All the agents that I have used do both selling and leasing and I don't think anyone had co-star. May be because all of my properties are in B centers(Myrtle Beach, Saint Marys, Peachtree city, Pensacola) and co-star does not collect information like they do in Atlanta. How do I find agents that do leasing only?

Yes, I am thinking about breaking them in to 3 or 4 units.

I pay the commission once the tenant occupies. Again that's what I was asked by the agent.

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

I have a 16000 SQFT Strip mall in Saint Marys, GA which has 4 small units (1000 Sqft) that are rented and 1 large unit (12000 SQFT) which was a furniture store before. I am trying to find an agent that will assist me in leasing the space.

I do own other commercial properties, in general what I have seen is that the realtors list it on loopnet and MLS and wait for the leads to come by. I have had only one agent so far that was proactive and spoke to tenants in the area and stole a tenant from another building to mine.

My question is, should I expect more from a realtor than just listing it on Loopnet and MLS?

I have decided to replace the entire ceiling with plywood. 

Thanks for all your input.