All Forum Posts by: Rodney Morris

background:

We are new to land-lording and I had to make some concessions to get my wife on-board. the first property we put out was offered to a friend of hers (side note; I hate dealing with friends and family so i was against this from the beginning) and has been a PITA since. We (my wife) gave her a date and she kept asking when she could move in. So i gave her a date and told her she needed to give us the deposit and first months' rent. She and my wife met and she gave the full deposit and 1/3 of the first month's rent saying she got paid in a week and would give the rest then. My wife accepted, since they are friends, and told her she cannot move in until the remainder was paid.  the rest was due on 08/08 and hasn't been paid yet. she says she isnt staying there and i work shift work so i cannot do a stakeout right now. I have offered and prefer to accept automatic bank drafts and she said she was interested but has not signed up. We also just found out she no longer works at the place she did when we made the agreements. Not sure if she is employed at all.

I know i am going to blasted here so i may as well tell you now. She did sign a M2M lease but my wife opted to not do a background and credit check. I'm sure many of you are going to say i deserve what i get, and i agree.

my questions: 1- since she has not paid the entire first months rent and we have in writing she can't move in until she does has she technically established tenancy? 2 - if she pays before the end of the grace period should we still need to do an eviction? 3 - if she pays and the wife agrees to let her stay is it too late to make her complete the background and credit check before we renew the M2M?

Any other advice for this situation would be greatly appreciated.   

personally i am leaning toward option 3 as well but with something in writing explaining this is a one time only gift and any future occurrences will incur the full penalty. I would have to assume your lease has the fee spelled out, they should have read it thoroughly read it before signing. 

i have a flat 10% penalty in my leases but in my case this would only be $60 - $70. Not sure what you are getting for rent in your area or if you are legally capped.

What are your plans for the space? looks like the walls have been parged before was this an attempt to stop water? if you are planning to finish it for living space you will be building walls and adding floors i assume. this is a good way to hide the sump system @Christopher Phillips mentioned. as he also mentioned downspouts can be a big factor. 

From a fellow newbie, Welcome! I can't help much with the learning, but it sounds like you may need a different mentor. Have you asked the people you met at the REIA to recommend or even become your mentor?

keeping a good tenant happy is just good business, so it's up to you to decide her worth. i would definitely make it a point to let her know the final call is yours and if you decide to get her the new fridge it is ONLY because you needed one anyway.

As a newbie, i like what @Matthew Olszak and @James Barnhart have included in their agreements about applinaces being a convenience. i will be using that from now on. Thanks for sharing that.

@Matthew Olszak  As i stated i am new to this so i appreciate the education/expansion on what is included in the "20 mile drive". i will definitely keep it mind in the future.

this particular incident involved a property that was on market for a while and had a drop in price, all pointing to not having multiple offers. It seems as though a lot of the comments are people defending their craft, and rightly so as i suspect many like myself don't realize what goes into a deal. this was started by the OP regarding a specific incident with his agent, who made sign a buyers agreement. i am in no way saying you have to take on every person that walks into your office stating they are an investor.  I assume the more experience you gain as a broker the better your reputation gets and you can afford to be more selective with the folks you choose to represent. His agent has let him down twice, presumably due to "chump change" deals. the agent should have made it clear after the first time.

most folks work for someone else. this automatically puts us in a position of being in a service industry (different types of service) and as such we all have customers whether directly or indirectly. we are all out to please someone that has a direct affect on our compensation. personally i have always gone above and beyond in my performance in hopes of recognition/bonus/promotion. and in the hopes that when something else comes along i would be considered for that. to your point about wringing out those that help you i agree completely a successful team should share the rewards of their efforts as well as carry their share of the load. it too me a while to learn the difference between going the extra mile and being used, now i can spot it early and stop it before it gets too far, occasionally this means ending a relationship.

Thanks again for the education 

call ghost hunters and try to get the property on TV. Free advertising. 

I'm pretty new to the investing game, so be gentle after reading this. 

i must be poorer than i thought, if someone offered me $500 to drive 20 miles (not all day) i would do it in a heartbeat. sounds like your agent either doesn't really want to represent you or maybe not investors in general. if he had much experience working with investors i would've hoped he would have told you upfront about his issues with small commissions. In saying that, I agree with Ryan, you should have that conversation now and see if the partnership is fit to continue. if not then you have a heads up on what to cover with the next agent(s). 

I am not an agent nor do i plan to get my licence any time soon. i assume you don't land every deal you try to make, no matter how hard you work for the investor. This should be a partnership so if the OP requested a viewing within the agreed area and the agent refused isn't that like an investor dropping an agent just because a deal didn't go through. 

it all boils down to expectations. both sides need to lay them on the table, preferably in the beginning, but it's never too late. Most likely there will be compromise. 

Redgy, maybe you should get your licence, if you were doing the leg work anyway shouldn't you get rewarded?  

Hi Swanny. Currently my ROE would most likely be negative as my first two properties are not on market therefore not producing yet. Hopefully in six to twelve months i will have a much better answer.

Thanks Dave. I thought i had most of the game figured out until i actually got into it, now i have what seems like a million questions.