All Forum Posts by: Mark N.A

I really miss knowing the originating author of a topic. I've been here long enough to know who has something important to say (regardless of the topic title), as opposed to some 'important sounding' topic posted by a fly-weight.

HAHAHAHA!

Were I marketing it I would brand it 'ecologically diverse'... 'presenting an earth-friendly green footprint'... 'providing a rich natural habitat' (for rodents, roaches and so forth)... and 'surely to be a treasure-trove of historical artifacts for future generations'........

Do the rest of us LLs a favor and take her to court so she'll have a judgement against her that the rest of us LLs can find when we do our due diligence.

One of the reasons she did what she did to you was because she has gotten away with it in the past.

Here's some more bad news: EVERYONE in your apartment complex is watching and gossiping about how you handle this situation. How THEY act in the future may very well depend upon how YOU act right now.

Look, I absolutely hate wasting my time in small claims court but it is an essential tool in this business. Have I lost? Yes. Have I won? Yes.

The good news here is that this is your business to run any way you want. Personally, I have not always gone after tenants that I should have gone after. But I have always regretted that decision.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Steve - with my students a majority of their co-signing parents are out of state. I assume if they're affluent enough to send kids to college they own real estate, or at least don't want their credit screwed with a civil action, though going after someone out of state would be a major PITA for me.

Couple years ago I had $4000 worth of damages but after explaining to each out of state co-signer that they were ultimately responsible, that the lease specified that they must reimburse for legal costs, and then dragging one of their kids into court twice - the parents came around and the checks rolled in for the damages.

Getting co-signers for my blue-collar and low-income renters is a great idea, but not too realistic. I have actually had parents of a prospective tenant burst out laughing at the request. That in and of itself DISQUALIFIED that tenant!

Coming from a rental perspective, I just rehabbed two homes to be the best in their particular college neighborhoods.

Results? The students loved it, their co-signing parents loved it, and I'm getting excellent rent with plenty of available deep-pockets to cover the inevitable damage to all the shiny new upgrades.

Wish me luck, though: this year more than ever before my co-signing parents are all attorneys..........

Consider two 18-year-olds each with $100,000. Subject A spends his capital on college and 6 years later has a fresly-minted MBA, but no more capital.

Subject B has the 6 years to directly grow, keep or lose his $100,000. Who prevails?

The answer, of course, is totally dependant on the individual. Not everyone with an MBA finds success, same with someone blessed with $100,000.

But Financexaminer did speak an awful truth: "I don't see being a real estate investor being a solid career path due to the legal environment we live in."

Sounds to me like you equate RE investing with making lots of money. I say go to college and find something you really, really enjoy doing for a living. The money will follow, and if it doesn't you're still doing something you really, really enjoy.

I grew up and attended school with a number of kids from the wealthiest families.

It has been very interesting seeing what happened to them over the next several decades.

The profile was usually a very successful business started by mom and dad. Then one day the keys were handed over to the kids.

Probably 75% of those kids subsquently dwindled those inherited fortunes, often to zero. Drug abuse played a part in some of that, but there was something else, too, some sort of inability to fully understand the nature of entrepreneurship. I believe it's probably genetic.

But basically I think the vast majority of people need and want to be led by the hand, to be told what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and limited to a finite amount of disposable funds.

Creating, managing and growing a business is really just a lot of hard donkey-work and most people just aren't interested in working that hard.

And I don't believe anyone has ever truly succeeded at doing something they didn't enjoy doing.

"Integrity pays".

I go after my 'mom and pop' vendors who, for whatever reason, haven't billed me in a timely fashion. I take care of them and guess what?.......

They take care of me (usually, or I go do business with their relatives -- ha ha welcome to a small town!....).

I think i like being known as a 'housing provider' !

I had little success calling myself a 'dwelling concierge', an 'accommodation enabler', or even a 'Casa Capo'.

In all seriousness we need a strong housing provider lobby. Ron?... Steve?...

All the time with my college rentals: TVs, radios, cell phones, golf clubs, weights, CDs, bicycles, street signs, once a fire hydrant... whatever won't fit into their car after graduation.

My handy-guy told me he always sweeps up between ten and forty dollars in loose change which I let him keep 'cause he also gets to clean out the fridge !!!