All Forum Posts by: Rebecca Styer

@matt lowery 

Did you become a General Appraiser or Residential? I want to start the training online but I'd hate to get to not be able to find someone to take me on as a trainee.  All the things you list as pros are exactly what i'm looking for. I suppose the answer is to go for it, then buckle down and be relentless about becoming a trainee. How was the pay as a trainee? Is the supervision direct, direct? Like, does someone have to be with you for every walk-through? 

My father wants to sell me his property for $1. It's a paid off 3 unit that I would like to 1031 exchange for something much larger and I'd like to pay him back. He wants to avoid taxation of selling it and he wants to put it in my name sooner rather than later, but would still appreciate being repaid for it. I don't want it in my name. I want to put it in an LLC. Can a family member sell it to me for $1 if it's in an LLC? I'm going to ask my lawyer but I thought I'd pose the question here since it's probably a unique situation that may have not been discussed here before.

Also, I forgot I can look up criminal charges on public record but she never gave his name in the letter. She never even gave any indication she was married on the application the sellers gave me which is likely intentional. 

Thanks for all the feedback. I agree the $75 for an unapproved occupant strange.  The lease also says, "The premises shall be used solely as a residence for 1 adult and no children". So in the letter I wrote her I said that it would there would be a $75 fee if she allowed him to stay there without written consent AND that it would be grounds for eviction. The lease isn't super clear but I find it doubtful a judge would MAKE me take this guy. 

I also defined occupant as someone staying 2 weeks or more within 6 months since it is not defined in the lease at all. That seems to be industry standard and totally fair. 

Mentally I keep going back and fourth on the $50 increase. I'd rather she just leave anyway so it doesn't hurt for me to say i'm increasing it by $50.  That's what i'm going to ask for it if she goes anyway. 

I totally appreciate the feedback. I gave her the option to give me 45 days notice without payment penalty to terminate her lease. I should still probably define the penalty if she doesn't give me 45 days notice. 

The letter is to the point but I don't want to leave any loop holes or wiggle room. 

I just closed on a property yesterday. At closing the seller hands me a letter from a single tenant requesting the landlord give the OK for her husband who is getting out of jail in February to be able to stay there, the address, and the landlord contact info. He's in state prison supposedly for DUI.  She had previously been living with her daughter and she moved in in August. I find it impossible he is doing that much time in STATE prison for just a DUI.

A little bit about the purchase. The building cash flows as-is very well. The roof needs replaced and the wiring needs redone/ replaced as it is still knob and tube. In a nutshell I could easily spend 30K on just deferred maintenance. The seller gave us a $11500 credit to complete absolutely necessary repairs like the roof and repair to some of the electric service. 

The rents are under market value by at least $50 per unit (it's a 3 unit building). I plan to raise all the rents in 6 months by $30 which is aggressive but fair - there's no way they could find cheaper housing unless they were renting a just a room. This tenant has the nicest unit. 

Her lease is up at the end of July. The unit is SMALL. I actually have another unit around the same size and couples look at it and walk out (even though I warn them it's best suited for one person). So I can't imagine they would stay beyond July anyway. She was terrified of the rent increasing when we looked at the building. She insisted she couldn't pay a penny more. 

To get to the point, I don't want to rent to him. I'm thinking of writing her a letter explaining that it is not the policy of our company (we have an LLC) to rent to recent convicts (Please help me with the terminology). I've faithfully done credit and background checks for any tenant I've ever rented to in the last 5 years so I have proof I stick to my guns about this. I'd like to allow her to break her lease as long as she gives me at least 30 days notice. My market is hot and I'll have no problem finding a tenant in that time frame - even with the rent increase, even in winter. I want to make it clear I'm not evicting her and she absolutely can stay the term of her lease. But I need to come up with parameters so that her her husband isn't squatting. The current lease in place says it's a $75 per month charge for allowing anyone else to live there without consent. I'm going to also inform her that the rent is being increased. I was only going to raise it by $30 but in order to essentially sway her to just find another place, I'm considering telling her it will go up by $50 - she really does have the nicest unit. Is that too aggressive?

Any feedback is appreciated!!  

I secured a commercial loan for 5% so I don't understand the skepticism there.

They adamantly want 20% down in every place I've looked. Some even required 30% down.  I used a credit union if that's helpful at all.

Sorry Bill I mis-quoted. The $18900 is gross income.  The expenses would be About $5000 in known expenses.

The amount going toward principal is what I'm missing. 

This is the feedback I was looking for.  These terms wouldn't give me any wiggle room for utility expenses or potential vacancy plus the interest rate he's asking for is quite steep.

I saw a craigslist ad for a 3 unit for 120K.  I only have enough for about 10% down right now so I asked the seller if they would consider seller finance for three years. Here were his terms:

10 yr amortization @ 10%, 10% down, 36 month balloon.

In his ad he said the building has a net income of $18900.

Who would be crazy enough to accept terms like this? Am I missing something?

I politely thanked him for responding and told him that I couldn't run a building 3 years with essentially no income.  

Wasting time is not my cup of tea and I know that can burn me sometimes.  Should I be approaching this differently?  I'm mentally prepared for "no" but i'm not mentally prepared to be treated like I'm somehow lucky to work for nothing for 3 years.