All Forum Posts by: Monika V.

@Lamar George When you say "South Tucson" do you mean the city of South Tucson or the geographic area? 

I accidentally bought in the city of South Tucson and I generally would not recommend it due to additional documents, etc. I had to fill out and submit in person soon after the purchase. I've only had vandalism issues when units are unoccupied. Mostly the vandalism is annoying (e.g. stealing the copper ground wire off the side of the building... can't imagine that re-sold for much). 

Hi Mike, this is similar to the plan my housemate and I have, except we want to find a tri- or quadplex. Our strategy is to wait for a little, study what's going on and see if things calm/cool down. We'd be looking to buy Q2 2017 or later so this strategy works for us ... for now. 

I'd also be curious to hear from others who have done this successfully. 

Has anyone had a tenant that would not use the bathroom fan or open a window, then stated that they got sick from the mold which grew as a result? 

@Account Closed Thanks again for the feedback! I was trying to think of a way to ensure my family member sets expectations with the tenants, but after reading your reply I think that's a can of worms it's better to not open.

@Thomas S. I totally agree with you that there is no point in giving someone a tax free gift every year, however I think my family member finds the prospect of multiple simultaneous vacancies a little overwhelming. It was a long series of conversations to even get to the point where my family member agreed to raise rents. We are going to post some test ads as @Roger Vi suggested. I have friends who want to rent single family houses in this same neighborhood and from their perspective as well as mine from posing as a prospective tenant, I think the test ads will validate the amount of the increases. Luckily, we don't have rent control.

@Arlen Chou Definitely, there are some tenants they want to retain. This is part of the reason for still, at this point, keeping things below the median. Once this is done, then we will see who moves and who will get bumped up again.

Thanks @Radhika M. and @Account Closed, we will definitely be giving 60 day notices. Thanks also for the book recommendation! Also, I will push for them to sign new leases. In AZ, my property manager has tenants sign leases with a built in percent increase after the first 12 months. If this is possible in CA, I think it's a good plan.

@Gino Barbaro Thanks for the link to your blog post!

@Account Closed

@Arlen Chou

Thank you very much to everyone for all of the input. It's very helpful and I really appreciate the thoughtful answers. I especially like the idea of posting a test add on Craigslist to check the kind of responses received. 

Hi everyone! 

I have a family member who inherited a portfolio of houses in the bay area. They are all located in the southern peninsula within 1 neighborhood. This is great! The not great is that they are rented for an average of $850 below market rate. The range is about $400 - $1400, with about half of them around $1000 under. 

The plan is to increase the rent for tenants $1,000 under by around $800. The others would receive increases in a similar ratio. This is a huge increase, but still leaves the tenants with a discount. Has anyone else encountered this situation and taken similar action? What was your experience? 

Why are you specifically interested in a hard money loan? It seems like your situation leaves multiple other financing options open. The main thing I would watch out for is not getting too attached to the idea of this house before checking to make sure it's a good deal. Also, even though it's grandma's house you still have to check everything for yourself to make sure you really capture all deferred maintenance in your analysis. It's unlikely she knows the extent of all the issues.

My last property in Tucson was approximately $12.5/sqf but I agree with everyone else that this can vary widely based on the property. I oversaw everything myself and did some of the work. I agree with everyone else that the range can change based on the property and its condition.