All Forum Posts by: Ethan Giller

@Account Closed Yes, I self-manage (with my team) my rental properties which are all located in Philadelphia.  You can apply for a rental license and rental suitability cert same-day online in most cases.  You're correct that most of the time you won't be able to file for back rent for the time period where you didn't have the licenses but you can still obtain them now and use them to file for possession.  Just be careful because without the rental suitability cert then legally you're not entitled to any rent so we have seen judges reverse all rent previously paid to a landlord who didn't provide that to a tenant at move-in.  Email me directly (email in profile) if you want.  You can try cash for keys but there shouldn't be any reason in to operate without the correct licenses in Philly because you're just putting yourself at risk.

@Account Closed Seems like the obvious advice would be to get the missing licenses... and then proceed to evict... unless I'm missing something?   Without more info it's hard to know what to suggest.

@Karen Johnson I'm not sure the answer to your scenario, but Philadelphia has a fairly comprehensive document that covers various transfer tax situations and should be a good starting point, look at the first document here: 

https://beta.phila.gov/documents/realty-transfer-t...

@Cortie Wetherill III the best thing to do here is to file a lawsuit in small claims court, claiming economic damages to your business (rental unit) as a result of the neighbors conduct.  Your goal is not necessarily to actually win the suit or have the owner pay damages, but to send a message that you are very serious about the issue.  Take pictures, use correspondence from the tenant and the professional, and calculate a reasonable amount of damages as a result of the situation.  Once the owner gets served with a lawsuit claiming $10,000 in damages that he must defend, he will start to take notice.

This action is guaranteed to get the owner to respond and realize that you aren't just going to go away.  Or, even better, if they don't respond or show up then you have a default judgment and you can start foreclosing on their property, that will make them take notice.  You can also escalate the filings to common pleas court too.  Basically become as much of a nuisance to them in the legal system as those tenants are to you, while reminding the owner the entire time that you are willing to purchase the property from them at a reasonable price and drop the lawsuit, or you are willing to drop the lawsuit if the tenant quality improves.

Yes, it's aggressive, but yes, it works, and sometimes it's the only way.

@Julian K. at that point.  I bought a deal from them that turned out very well, and I found them to be good to work with at that time.  The assignment agreement was fully explained prior to my signing it, and the transaction went smoothly.

However, I would only recommend working with them only if you are an experienced investor already.  The reason I would say this is because (at least from what I remember): 

a) There is an upfront non-refundable fee to get the deal under contract.  This is understandable to me, because if you lock up the deal then they are turning away other investors.  But if you don't close on time for pretty much any reason, you lose your deposit - so make sure you have cash ready to go or a very strong commitment from a hard money lender.  If you agree to purchase and then want to back out due to funding issues or due diligence issues, you lose your deposit.

b) They do a double close on their assignments, and you pay all the closing costs associated with that.  So make sure you understand your closing costs going into the deal.  It was disclosed to me ahead of time when I worked with them, but they are higher costs than most transactions or most wholesalers.

c) As they are expanding, they have some younger sales guys who may not be as knowledgeable about the real estate industry as hopefully you are. So you have to know enough about the market you are buying in to do your own due diligence on the deal and decide if the ARV agrees with your analysis, and the rehab numbers agree with your contractors bids. I didn't ever get the sense that NWA was looking to scam anyone, but I will say that most of the properties they send out these days, the numbers don't work for me. But this is generally true of any wholesaler you work with as well.

Just my personal experience and conclusions, I have no affiliation with the business other than buying the one deal from them.

@Eric Armstrong, I'll also say that in my experience as a professional landlord in Philadelphia, the judges there are *very* tenant friendly.  So if there is something in the lease that seems excessive, unfair, unreasonable, or vague, and it does go in front of a judge, the tenant is likely to win.  We've personally seen the following happen in eviction court:

-Judge rules that tenants "didn't know what they were signing" with a lease that has a 2-year term instead of a 1-year term, and were able to get out of it after 1 year.

-Judge rules that damages intentionally caused by tenant upon vacating were a "cost of doing business" and the landlord should pay for them.

-Judges invalidating *all* rent already paid during lease term resulting in a monetary judgment against the landlord, because landlord failed to supply just one of the required permits or disclosures (rental license, rental suitability cert, lead safe cert, Partners for Good Housing pamphlet).

-Judge ruling in tenants favor to not pay rent during periods of "excessive property violations", even though there was clear documentation that the violations were all tenant-caused, and then tenant denied access to the unit to repair the damages.

-Judges allowing new trial dates or continuances for months or appeals of non-appealable agreements because the tenant has a sob story.  The rules are very strictly enforced if the landlord has a scheduling request though.

The list goes on.  So while there are certainly predatory landlords out there, it is usually the opposite problem with the tenants being the ones abusing the system.  Most of the time there is no cause for conflict of course, and any time that there is a rental issue that ends up in court the landlord should re-examine their screening and operating procedures to see how future problems can be avoided.  But I just wanted to dissuade the notion that there is systemic landlord abuse in Philly.

@Eric Armstrong, it seems like all of the answers you're looking for should be contained in the lease for the property.  All of those items can be negotiated with wide leeway between two private parties signing a contract (i.e. a landlord & tenant signing a residential lease).

Charges that are not specifically contained in the lease are generally not enforceable.  If the lease is written to be very landlord friendly then certain provisions may not hold up in court either.

The more of the following you are able to provide, the higher a price you can request:

Inspection report by licensed inspector, legitimate sold comps within 0.1 mile range, roof warranty from licensed roofer, permits for the work performed, disclosure of how much electric/plumbing/HVAC was replaced, warranty for the heater (if new) or disclosure of what service was performed, age of windows and grade of windows (if new), warranty on appliances (if new), last service on appliances (if used), grade/brand/color/installation date of cosmetic materials (flooring, paint, etc.), etc.

If tenant in place: strong lease terms, proof of payment history, screening criteria including personality screen, security deposit & last month rent held, annual lease term, etc.  Well-reviewed property management already setup.

If tenant not in place: comps for rent or guarantee of rent for a certain period of time, well-reviewed property management in place ready to market.

I'm continually amused when I see someone offering a "turn key" investment that has almost NONE of the above.  Just something along the lines of "well we put in new flooring and painted the place and a tenant just moved in = turn key".  I find that I usually need to put in an additional $10-15K in work in these situations to get to *my* definition of turn key and reliable tenant.  Not to mention the luxury rehab flip that's 0.25 miles away that gets presented as a comp, or a "full gut rehab" with no permits pulled.

@Andresa Guidelli, CMX-1 generally allows for by-right multi-family use (triplex if the lot size is large enough), it's CMX-2 that usually requires first floor commercial.  You likely don't need a lawyer, just apply for the use permit.  Only if you get a denial do you have to assess why and see whether a variance is required.

See for reference: 

http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/resources/Public...

http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/projectreviews/P...

Look up: Howard Ford (Evictions Unlimited); Michael JP Williams; Baritz.  They do a lot of evictions in Philly and have the best pricing - but they run bulk operations so you get what you pay for, in terms of customer service and individual attention.

If it's a complicated eviction or if you just want more personalized service, you may want to find a go-to attorney you can add to your team, especially since it looks like you are expanding in Philadelphia.  Someone who knows your business and who will be loyal due to the amount of work you provide, and can assist you with evictions as well as other matters (zoning, contracts, small claims suits, general advice, sending threatening letters to people you don't like, etc.).