All Forum Posts by: Scott Ashworth

I believe this changed Jan 1, 2021  

I thought my MLS rental listing would be syndicated to Zillow et al. Zillow no longer participates in this. Zillow in fact charges $9.99/week

Simple but true: Read David Greene's BRRRR book.

Easy read, very practical.

I've added a handful (6) of properties in Downtown Cary since May 2019. Our model is to break-even in Year 1, make $100/door in Year 2...We put them on 15 year mortgages. The overwhelming majority of these properties have been off-market deals. My objective is not cash flow at the moment...I'm merely planting trees for the future. 

PS - once the $50 million Downtown Cary park is finished, the current properties will not struggle to cash flow.

https://www.townofcary.org/pro...

Cathy, I am not sure if this is State specific, but I know here in NC there is a limit for how long a rental contract must be honored. For example: if you have a beach house that you rent by the week, and you sell your property, the Buyer must honor the next 6 months worth of rentals. The Buyer can then cancel the future (beyond 6 months) rentals, but must return all monies received.

There may be a similar provision in MI stating that the Buyer must abide by the contract for x-number-of-months after Closing. I doubt the Buyer is locked-in forever to a contract he/she did not sign...but I could be wrong.

There is a reason why in my state (NC) the contract price is not used for comps or appraisals: through the inspection process it is not uncommon for Financial Concessions to be made. I’ve had as much as $30,000 taken off the contract price, and it was a sub$300,000 home. The Contract price is merely a new “Ceiling.”

If you believe your home is under-priced, hold strong on Financial Concessions. If it is not too late, get a high Due Diligence. 

Lastly, once the property is put under contract, the “power” goes the the Buyer. The Buyer has more options to back out of the contract. If you (Seller) back out, be prepared to refund any monies they’ve given you, spent along the way (inspections, professional services) and other compensatory damages.

I have no doubt. My “day job” is retail. I run my family’s 8 retail stores and we run that business just as you described your Rental business. We were blindsided by some false accusations from a disgruntled former employee...I just remember that even though we won that mediation, in many ways we lost. It sucked. 

That said, it sounds like you have a much better handle on this situation than I had on mine. 

This doesn't sound fun. Unfortunately when things go to mediation/court, it can feel like you "lose" even if you win because of the emotional toll it can take on you. 

A couple of questions: 

1. Did the Tenant receive any monies when she moved out? If yes, did she sign a Disposition of Monies stating she received the monies?

2. Do you have a signed lease stating what happens to the deposit, and how much the deposit was? 

2a. In the Lease, does it mention that the Deposit will be applied to damages/uncollected rent?

3. Do you have any work orders the Tenant submitted? Was a rat ever mentioned? Can you show where those repair orders resulted in work being done? 

4. Can you get the prior Owner/Landlord to verify the above information to be accurate? In other words: did the prior Landlord have similar issues with the Tenant?

5. What processes does the PM have in place to deal with work orders? He/She may need to speak to that during the hearing.

Get as many of your ducks in a row: with PM, past Landlord, and you yourself. You'll be stronger for this in the long run. 

I want to reiterate: your intention is what matters. As long as you intend for this to be your primary residence, you are all good. My advice would be to adapt the mindset that you are going to live in that residence at least 1 year. If, however, an opportunity presents itself where you move overseas, so be it. 

What I am not advocating is you purchase this property, knowing you are moving in 4 months, move across town to purchase another primary residence, only to move a few months later to another primary residence. These are different scenarios than the one you presented. 

Debbie, here is how I would analyze: for every loan, I'd analyze the revenue and expenses associated with that loan.

In other words, if this is one [1] loan, I would add up all the gross revenues, subtract out all expenses and vacancies and repairs to get a net number. If it requires individual loans, break these items out by the property.