All Forum Posts by: Steffany Boldrini

Great question Todd, first red flag is asking for full payment upfront. I went through it anyway bc she had a good footprint online, I liked the designs, and a couple of ppl at another STR group recommended her (not an excuse, I was super busy and thought I was dealing with a professional). Then her communication was horrendous, with me having to follow up several times before getting an answer, then she would respond to 1 out of 3 questions. Fast forward to when they were there (but not the designer, she never went and never told me she wouldn't go) I see my card was charged a huge amount, including an additional 5k from her own company, above and beyond the 7.5k I had sent her!! She said "oh a few items will be returned", then she wouldn't give the receipts, and the rest is on my post. Lesson learned to never trust anyone on social media. You can see all the other victims we found so far here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/312695317484928/posts/871178041636650/

 I picked her exactly because she had a good social and online footprint!! Found several others affected by this individual.

 she is all over social media, found quite a few others in a similar situation

thank you Bruce

yes, we are doing that as well!

I want to share my experience with Jenny Yi, an STR designer in case others have had similar issues. I hired Jenny Yi to design our latest STR in person, she demanded that I pay the full amount of her services upfront, $7,500, which I thought was strange as we are used to paying half upfront and half once it's completed, but proceeded anyway because a couple of people recommended her. Unfortunately, my experience has been problematic, to put it mildly:

• * Communication: There were significant communication issues, including difficulty scheduling calls, which is still an ongoing problem.
• * Additional Charges: Jenny requested that I deposit on her checking account an additional $20-25k for her to purchase furniture, which I refused because I thought it was very strange, opting to give my card # instead.
• * Work Quality: Jenny never showed up to the house, she sent 2 people instead, she never mentioned she would not show up herself, she never asked for approval to send two others instead, they did not complete the job, and there were multiple unauthorized charges on my card.
• * Receipts and Expenses: Once I brought to Jenny's attention that we were 20k above budget, she refused for days to give me the receipts, saying that I needed to give her my credit card statement first. After a lot of back and forth, she proceeded to share a few receipts, with multiple duplicate receipts, that do not total to amount that I was charged on my card, and there are discrepancies in the charges such as multiple mattresses, multiple coffee makers, 116 towels, etc. She ended up "finding" 5k that was put on other clients orders, she refunded 5k and still refuses to get on a call to review all the receipts for the remainder of unauthorized charges.
• * No calls accepted to review receipts: I have asked Jenny several times for the last 3+ weeks to get on a call to review the receipts and all of the items that are in the house, I have given her several deadlines to resolve the issue, she has never accepted any of my invitations to join any calls despite me pleading her to do so as my credit card payment is now due and has a 29.99% interest rate if not paid.
  
  I have found several people that were also affected with just 2 facebook posts. I’ve reported this to the FTC and have legal counsel. If anyone has had similar experiences with Jenny Yi or has advice on further steps, please share.

@Oscar Sandoval yes that is true, however it takes a lot of work if we're doing multiple counties, and I'd rather pay a monthly fee if there's such a service available :)

I'm looking for a service to find tax delinquent properties, instead of contacting each county separately. Does anyone have good resources? Thanks much!

Thank you all very much for your detailed responses, I greatly appreciate it. This was very helpful. @Michael S. @Wayne Brooks @Brett Peters @Bruce Petersen @Steve Morris

My mentor taught me to calculate the CoC with the interest only payments of the loan (not principal reduction). Now a friend of mine said it should include principal part of the payments on the CoC. Since commercial loans can be 20 or 25 yrs fully amortized, how is this a fair calculation? What would be a good CoC return for you? Should we indeed include the principal payment on the CoC calculation? Please only respond if you're 100% sure how this calculation is made, I've searched online and there's no clear answer. Thanks!