All Forum Posts by: Rochelle Wilkinson

 The day after he said he was going to call the police I was on site showing an apartment to a prospective tenant and I see the fire department and 3 fire trucks pulling up to my building.. he had called the fire department and said he smelled gas in the apartment..the fire department came in and said there is nothing there that is gas since our stoves are electric.. as the fire department was leaving i told them our furnace have a pilot light.. they went back in and check it and it was out.,. then Baltimore gas and electric showed up and said their gas leak detector detected small amount of gas leaking.. it was coming from a cracked head on the furnace.. so it was old and need of replacement.. so we decided to replace it completely  however I need to mention I have brought my mother in law on board to do the book keeping duties and she is on site 2 days a week to let the exterminator in and do paperwork.. she was bombarded by this tenant who was threatening to call the police due to no ac and without consulting me she hired someone who was willing to install a unit in 2 days time instead of a week and instead of spending $3,500 for a new unit she spend $7,000.. this is a huge problem for me as I have a policy of no work or repairs done over $500 without my consent.. so he got a new $7,000 unit.. and I have taken the checkbook from my mother in law..

 you know it was everything i could do to not respond with " you know the apartments down the street dont even have A/C if you want A/C you have to rent a window unit from them at $50 a unit per room thats an extra $150 a month if you lived there......UGGGHHH

 Thanks for the vote of confidence.. this is the maybe third post i have written and I always get a " you should get out now response".. I don give up that easy.. and like I said I like this work.. and to be honest i have a guy here in Baltimore who is coaching me ( for free because he is just such a nice guy) and I told him that I filled all 13 vacancies, kicked out the squatter, collected back rent from 2 dead beats who were behind a total of $14,000 and evicted someone in the short time I have been in charge.. and I have raised the rent and by October of 2016 the rent roll will have gone from $300,00 annually to $674,000 .. ( some rents weren't  raised in almost 8 years and i started with new pricing for all new entries almost $300 a unit higher than they were getting last summer.. so I actually kinda think I'm pretty good at this.. do I know all the loop holes? nope? am I good with people and details? yes? do i have great vendors who i work well with and who want nothing but to please me? yes..do i truly care about the property and the people living there? yes.. i just get a little thrown off track when someone says they are calling the cops on me for endangering their life due to no A/C.. 

 Thank you.. while this is new to me I actually do like the work.. and everyone ( well the other 59 units think I am doing a great job.). in fact we now have a wait list and I turn people away every day over the phone.. changes have happened for the better and people say now that I am in charge they are staying forever.. even after I sent out rent increase letters.. so I think I will stick around..

 our windows slide left to right not up and down so there is nothing to hold a window unit in place.. it would be dangerous to put a window unit..his apartment runs length wise and if he did open the window in the front of the apartment ( living room dining room) and his bedroom in the back it would cause cross ventilation but he refuses to open the windows for safety reasons.. we are in a nice area and he is on the second floor.. our living room dining room have ceiling fans and we gave them 2 large stand up rotating fans.. the lease does say there is no compensation for a temporary lose of heat or a/c.. so would that still leave me liable for his hotel bill? and can he just go to a hotel of his choosing and bill me??

  If you saw my post last month I recently inherited a 60 unit apartment complex that I am now self managing..ok.. so here in baltimore it is june and temps are running about 85 degrees during the day  and goes down to 69 at night.. it has by no means been a hot summer this year so far..our air conditioning units are about 20 years old and I have had 4 services calls this month about units not working properly.. 2 were in need of freon, 1 need a whole new unit and 1 needs a part they are having trouble getting..all calls have been handled except the guy who needs the part they dont have.. they have said it should be fixed tomorrow.. here is the problem.. I came home to an email that said " if my air conditioner is not fixed by 6 PM I am calling the police on you for endangering our lives" I emailed back and asked if he had recieved the fan i had our handyman dropped off, he said yes.. then I asked if he had opened the windows for air flow.. he said he wouldnt open the windows due to safety issues.. I pointed out that he lived on the second floor and does not have a balcony.. and no one has ever climbed our building and broke in, and lots of people in our buildings have their windows open..his reply was he would not endanger the lives of his family as per someone elses suggestion.. then he sent me a receipt for a hotel an said I would need to reimburse him as they felt they were in jeopardy of heat exhaustion and fled to a nearby hotel.. I looked up the past weeks temps and it has been 85 during the day and 68-69 at night.. and i pointed out that at 69 degrees there would be no need to even run the air..  my question is  " what can the outcome of him calling the police on me have"?  I cant help that they don have the part?? they are very fast compared to other places i called.. all the a/c guys are busy right now..  also on a side note.. what reason/ paperwork do you need to let someone know you will NOT be renewing thier lease.. this is not the first time they have been total jerks.. when i took over my apartments he  was late every month for 6 months, when i went to his apartment and presented him with the late fee bill we argued for over an hour and he even called his wife on the phone and had her arguing with me over the charge..I am done with them.. just need to know i wont spend the weekend in jail.. my 7 years old is in the baseball championships.. thanks in advance..

@ Jay Y.

 @ Jay Y.

 I started a thread and asked people about background .. I will tag you .. please weigh in so I can keep your info to refer back to >> thanks

Looking for input from everyone on what would be strong/ helpful college courses for my son to take to benefit him for future real estate investing. Little background info here.. I never went to college.. my mother was an alcoholic and I pretty much raised myself..literally.. we barely had a meal on the table every night let alone ever sat down to think about going to or applying to college.. at 21 i started a house cleaning business which is very successful.. I am now 44 and recently ( 2 years ago) inherited a 60 unit apartment complex from my uncle ( I was his favorite and he felt bad  about my rough childhood) it was managed poorly by a local company here I have been able to turn it around into a positive cash flow property.. I am still cleaning houses.. and managing my apartment complex.. I am looking to start buying homes near my apartment complex to expand my portfolio.. here is where I need your help.. my 16 year old son is starting to look at college courses.. we had a talk today about earned income and passive income.. i was explaining to him that even though my cleaning company was successful ( 13 girls cleaning over 100 houses a week) that I had a limit to how much i could earn based on how many hours me and my girls could work.. but with passive income it could be so much more.. he is so smart.. and me and my husband both own our own company's.. but I would much rather he get started now with real estate investing than spend 4 years and $100,000 on school loans to not use his degree in his field ( which I see a lot of my friends kids doing.. they go to school and spend 4 years and $100,000 and end up doing something unrelated to their major).. I know higher education gets your application to the top of the pile.. but I want more for my kids than that.. and of course feel real estate investing is the way to go.. I'm starting at 44 I am ok with trial and error... but  for an 18 year old entering college what courses/ majors would be best suited for real estate investment success??  PS.. I gave him a couple of my real estate investment books ( the typical ones off amazon.. rich dad.. how to invest in multi family properties ) to read....