All Forum Posts by: Steve Babiak

OK, when I came to the site and started posting, I set my limit at 100 forum posts, at which point I would post no more until I made an intro. Been about 6 weeks between forum posts for me, and in that time I still managed to increase my influence score by over 1000.

My profile is complete and has the usual stuff that people are suggested to include in the intro, so no point repeating what you can see elsewhere.

There are numerous benefits to this site that I've discovered, some of which I'll point out here. Start with the broad variety and the knowledge and experience of the members and contributors. Soak up the great information like a sponge. And you will frequently come across real estate related debates raging between these knowledgeable folks; I encourage you all to pay extra close attention to both sides of those discussions, because you'll learn both sides of the issue.

Users will challenge posts that seem questionable, and try to extract some better evidence to support these suspect posts.

The site is moderated, and there is a management commitment to prevent / eliminate 'spam" posts, and to properly deal with those who choose to not pay attention to the rules. junk and fluff still show up, but at least the users can point it out.

And we even get some entertainment with some humorous posts and activities. Some silly stuff, like in these next two links:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/29904-my-tenant-is-a-call-girl
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/84/topics/35154-suggestions-for-dealing-with-aspen-tree-shooters-
And we get sarcasm galore (read just about any post from MikeOH). And we even have the stupid here (like the guru whose name is misspelled in the profile, probably by a virtual assistant trying to build internet presence for the upcoming "launch" - PM me to learn more on this, because I'd hate to see this get corrected).

Most of that should be considered as a credit to the site management and the commitment made to have a quality site.

Now for the RANT part. Two things here.

First, I'm still baffled by the number of users who will write in the forums that they agree with a post, and yet when you see the vote count for the post in question, it is zero. Give votes to the good posts. It makes a post stand out upon first glance to have some votes. After posts receive a certain number of votes, the color of the votes area changes to make things stand out even more. Vote and give your fellow members credit for their contributions.

The other thing that I have a bit of annoyance with is the users who notice garbage in a post and fail to notify the management with the "report abuse" function. Don't let the site get contaminated with this crap - use the "report abuse" button to let the management know something needs attention. OK, the "report abuse" function failed to work properly with Internet Explorer browsers, but that has been corrected according to Josh Dorkin; so now, there are no more excuses for allowing crap onto any forum you are reading.

End of the rant.

My next post is going onto Josh's post where he announced the fix for the "report abuse" function, since this was an issue I did report to him, and he deserves thanks for being kind enough to fix it.

Thanks for letting me share.

Originally posted by Michelle Grassling:

you stop doing what your doing. you talk to her for an hour a day? no offense but you have a crush on her.

this is a business time to start running it like one. let her know what the rules are then follow them yourself.

A lot of humorous help in this thread, but the bit quoted here is dead-on for serious guidance.

Require that all maintenance requests be in writing, and that they be sent to your office address / place of business so that the staff that you have dedicated to ensuring customer satisfaction can take care of such matters.

That should limit things reported to you to the more serious issues, and that you seem to want brought to your attention anyway.

Now, if she writes down the sorts of things that you mention she is happy to chat about, then your otherwise great tenant is likely going to be a long-term pain. Upon lease expiration / renewal, charge higher rent in proportion to the extra maintenance that this person requires; at least that will pay you for some of your time.

Originally posted by jawsette:

There is another way they can do things which is a harsher step that some are beginning to consider. And that is a deed restriction that required this property to be held by the purchaser for XXX period of time before selling or the sale is voided. This has the posibility of affecting all future owners of the property, not just you.

Although this type of deed restriction is placed on some REO transactions, it's not such a sure tthing with a short sale. The REO is owned by the lender, so when they produce the new deed, they can put that restriction in there. The short sale is NOT owned by the lender, so the lender is not producing the new deed. Sure the lender might stipulate that this sort of restriction must be put in place on the short sale or else, but they don't have that same level of control as in REO.

And depending on how that restriction is written, it may or may not affect future owners. I would think that it would be far too restrictive to dictate that each subsequent owner must hold title for the specified term, and the purchaser (meaning you) should fight anything that overly restrictive.

Kel,

When it comes to "asking" rent: easy for landlord to go down a bit if necessary, but tough to ask for more than advertised. Ask toward the upper end of your price range and see if you get nibbles or not; if not, ask a little less.

Victor,

What info would be needed to have a title searcher locate such IRS tax liens that have not yet showed up on county records (say the owner has tax bill due, and IRS is in process of trying to get it collected).

Thanks.

Greg C,

Don't stop posting. Josh was just doing as he and the moderators are meant to do - to try and make sure that discussions stay "on topic" as closely as possible.

I'm sure he doesn't want you to be like a turtle and put yourself in a shell. This site is about networking and interacting, after all.

Many good ideas have already been presented; I'll voice opinions on a few of them.

Jon Klaus syas charge them extra rent for the extra equipment. MikeOH and NC Mark say don't include any extra equipment. NC Mark added that he would be including washer/drier in his latest, with a lease clause saying that he's not responsible for maintaining them. These are all viable practices, and they all make sense. You need to pick which one of these is most appropriate for the rental clientele that will be occupying the premises (and on what the competition in that rental market offers). I don't think you can charge extra rent and then have a lease clause that says you aren't responsible for maintaining the extras; but I have heard of this even being done by some landlords in the Phila area.

I like to include the ceiling fans that are the low-end Lowes or Home Depot store brand models; they can be bought for like $19.99 or $29.99. Not much difference between that price and a light fixture without the fan, but the tenants seem to like getting the fans. Just be aware that when they move out, that the top of the fan blades will need to be THOROUGHLY cleaned (in most cases).

Now if you include ANY appliance, whether it be DW, fridge, W/D: have a lease addendum that covers these. Itemize the make, model, serial number, color, etc so that upon move out you keep what you started with. Learned that from somebody who lost new appliances that were exchanged for second hand junk.

Josh,

I have a plum tree that does the same thing. Any mechanical damage that happens to the root causes a new shoot to pop up. So, when I cut the edge of the grass to mulch, up come some more shoots. When the lawn gets aerated in that vicinity, up come more shoots. When I cut the darned things, up come more shoots.

Now, I also have this silver maple tree that broadcasts those whirly jig things, which are actually seeds. And they sprout just about anywhere they land. Luckily, I can just pluck those out by the root when they are freshly sprouted - but still a pain.

Nature has programmed these things for survival by this mechanism; tough to beat Mother Nature.

Taxes - both property and local earned income.

Parking - urban areas might only have on-street parking. In suburbs, guests visiting will need to be able to park somewhere.

Is there an HOA / condo assoc?

How much time for the commute to work?

Hope that helps to get others thinking.

Around my area, when you challenge the assessment, they can adjust either UP or DOWN, depending upon how they review things.