All Forum Posts by: Mark H.

In my state the mls remarks dont mean anything.. that said, the inspection contingency does mean something. Other than a financing contingency, its the buyers last chance to walk without losing the earnest deposit.

I'm assuming your state has a disclosure requirement, what is the purpose of an as-is addendum? If you know about a defect, you have to disclose it, if the buyer thinks you covered something up, they're going to sue (or threaten to sue) to shake you down for money anyway..

So an as-is addendum is really just a "shot across the bow" for negotiating purposes here - telling buyers to take it or leave it & not to bother trying to negotiate based on a nit-picky home inspection report..

Do you really expect an "as is" statement to protect you legally in the event of buyer's remorse?

It really depends on the judge you get. Obviously, the landlord thinks the tenant is responsible, and without having these details in writing, everyone involved is right, until the judge says otherwise.

In my area & in my leases, tenants are required to set up utilities before they can move in, and maintain those utilities for the duration of their tenancy. I've seen some leases that require utilitues to be maintained for a period of time after the tenant moves out, but i sincerely doubt any judge in my area would enforce that.

The crux of the issue is did the landlord *know* exactly when she was moving?

In the absence of written documentation, it'll be whomever tells a better story.

It isnt about "quality", as a landlord i fully expect the tenant to mess it up long before it could ever wear out. As for hiring "local guys"... ive tried several times.. the local guys ive dealt with for carpet want more to install carpet than the local guys that i use to install ceramic tile. Seriously, i can install tile here cheaper than carpet, and the tile guys actually pick up after themselves.

There is no carpet in my primary residence, and as my rentals turn over, they wont have any carpet either.

As someone who cut his teeth in automotive service, a certain phrase always set off the bs detector. - "ive been doing this for xx years". If you hear that phrase in an automotive service facility, grab your wallet & back out of the door.

Ive found a similar phrase in the home-improvement business. "You get what you pay for"... if i hear *that* phrase, i most certainly know im getting gouged.

Cash is fungible.

If you have $20k in savings today, borrow another $20k tomorrow, pay $20k in assorted other bills over a few months... then put 20k down on a loan, did you borrow the downpayment, or did you borrow the $20k to pay your other bills?

Another example... Ive got 5k in my business account. I collect $2k in rent from my tenants, then stop by my bank, deposit that $2k, then write two $1k checks to cover the mortgage payments on those rentals.. did the tenants just pay *my* mortgage payments?

According to the rules of accounting, they did not.

But they did to most people...

401k "loans" that arent paid back arent treated like normal consumer loans. The irs might send you a bill, but no one is going to drag you into a debtors hearing and order you to empty your pockets in front of a judge.

Call the non emergency line at your local pd ask for an escort, because you fear for your safety? If the tenant picks a fight with you (alone), youre a crazy armed landlord. If they do it with a cop, they go to jail.

What can they "win" in small claims court? Its the wrong venue to compel you to do something. A small-claims judge isnt going to order a mold inspection.

No one has ran accurate numbers on short-sale vs foreclosure losses. Fannie "thinks" short-sales are a good deal for the taxpayer, but they also claim the bulk sales to hedge funds are a good deal as well.

It's all BULL.

Anyone who is looking at actual closed sales know that short sales close for less than reo's.

The IRS will tax the $25k whether you short sell or the bank forecloses. There's no way out of the tax except insolvency or bankruptcy, as it should be.

And I doubt many people with $200k homes are in the 30% federal tax bracket, especially if they have a legitimate hardship. Deadbeat millionaires should be worried, regular folks, not so much.

I read an article about a woman who got mad at her husband, and she set him on fire while he was in bed, asleep. It was a scary story, but I still married a woman myself, knowing that at some point, she *could* snap, and set me on fire while I sleep. After all, it has happened before!

In the meantime, my tenants get gifts at Christmas, a gift-card, or this year a basket from Costco.

I can only hope I "get a lot of tenants and it becomes a significant expense".

Lol.. If you've got fifty or a hundred (or more) tenants, and the expense of a de-minimus gift for each becomes "significant", your profits should be significant as well, or you're not doing it right.

The scary part of Ira investing is that much of this hasn't been spelled out by the IRS, as far as what they really expect. The other side of "managing" a property is that the Ira is "benefitting" from the "work" (management) that you are providing. Since investors might normally pay a pm 5-10% in management fees, your self-management could be considered a "contribution" to the Ira, and the entire account could be retroactively disallowed & taxed. Not cool.