All Forum Posts by: Vincent Plant

A friend an I have recently started flipping.

We are about to close on our first one and have a nice profit coming in. We are under contract on our second one and are anticipating making a decent amount on that as well.

Here's the thing, we didn't open an LLC, we bought in our personal names. I'll be talking to our accountant shortly but what are some tips on protecting your gains from Uncle Sam?

This is in Pennsylvania.

Thanks,

When rehabbing a home and getting ready to sell what are your thoughts on providing new appliances?

I’m getting ready to list a rehab that we’re getting done with. We are putting a new oven, built in microwave, and dishwasher in. I’m wondering if we can get away without a fridge?

I see a ton a flips sell quickly with no fridge. Just curious to hear your thoughts on wether or not it’s worth it to provide one on a flip?

Well I’m about 3 years and 6 rentals into my landlord career and I finally have my first tenant refusing to pay. Rent is about 10 days past due, and the quarterly utility bill is about 30 days past due (it’s tied to the lease I inherited on this property).

My tenant never said a word as we approached the due date. When I noticed she hadn’t paid I reached out. She said “give me a late fee, I’m waiting on my stimulus.” So if I hadn’t reached out I guess she would have just ignored the due date.

I’m not sure on the laws yet in my state regarding eviction moratoriums and covid restrictions, however I know the work she is in is not shut down.

I’m hoping she will pay in the next few days because we have been down this road before, but she never just ignored the due date. She always gave something on the 5th. She hasn’t sent over one dime this time around and I have a feeling she’s trying to hide behind the pandemic and “incoming stimulus” to get over.

I sent her a late notice email for documentation, stating that I will serve her a pay or quit notice next. But honestly I have no clue what to do next or how to actually send a pay or quit notice.

What should I do?

Thank you.

Quick question for you guys. When you purchase a property from a wholesaler, they send you their assignment agreement to execute. Is it typical for you (as the assignor) to be able to receive and review the initial contract the wholesaler has with the seller?

I have a deal verbally agreed to, the wholesaler sent me their assignment agreement to sign. Looks great to me. I asked them to see the initial contract they have with the seller (the one that I will be assuming) and they seem hesitant to show it. Is that normal? Am I just being overly cautious? I would think I would have a chance to review the contract I’m taking on and will be obligated to fulfill right?

The guy sent me a sample contract and said this is the one we use. It looks totally fine to me but it’s the “the” contract.

I inherited a tenant on a property that I bought about a year ago. The property's sewer/water/trash bill comes in Quarterly from the borough it's in and the account is tied to the house. 

The lease I inherited states that when the bill comes in, landlord is to send a copy of the bill to the tenant and they are to pay it within 20 days or there is a $50 late fee. 

Typically my tenant would pay it, sometimes over the course of a few weeks but it worked out. Now, she has not paid it in months. She owes over $700 towards it and its backed up to June. She is paying the rent in full each month, but she says due to covid she can't pay the utility bill and she is trying to apply for assistance with her utility bills for covid relief. I have applied the late fee and given her formal notices but she just keeps saying "I'll take the late fee, I can't pay it right now, I'm applying for assistance which I should have soon." 

In PA there is an eviction moratorium until the end of the year. I feel like I don't have much control over this situation. The only thing I can think to do is document everything with email notices to her, and possibly begin deducting it out of her security deposit, which I'm not sure if I'm even allowed to do. 

Any suggestions? 

My tenant sent me some forms and asked me if I could fill them out so she can apply for rental assistance.

The state of PA offers funds to tenants who qualify due to the impact of the pandemic. They require me as the landlord to complete a few forms that will go along with the application that the tenant will

Submit. While going through the forms I noticed that there’s a checkbox that requires me to “waive the right to collect rent during the months that the tenant is collecting assistance.” Well, this led me to stop and read further into this program.

So, the max assistance the tenant can receive is $750/m for a max of 6 months.

The rent is $1,150. I gave the tenant a $500 discount off the rent through March and April. Since then she has been paying the full amount on time.

So if she qualifies for the assistance I’m basically taking the risk of now being forced to accept a discounted rent for the next half year. My immediate reaction is, sorry I’m not going for it.

Am I wrong to think this way???

I bought a property about 6 months ago. It’s a low income section 8 that has cash flowed well for me.

My tenant just told me this morning that she has a big mice problem. She’s catching about 20 per week, there’s feces everywhere, she’s spending a ton of money on traps and she can’t take it anymore.

She’s lived there for 10 years, clearly the previous owner didn’t give in to her concerns. The lease I inherited states the tenant is responsible for pest control.

I nicely reminded her of that and told her I would at least buy her one of those big boy $100 electric mouse traps.

She said 2 years ago she had an exterminator out on her own dime and he told her he can’t do anything about the problem because the house has to be sealed so they can’t get in. So she is telling me that as the landlord it’s my responsibility to seal the property and then she will gladly pay for any exterminator from that point. I’m not so sure about this.

Do you guys think I should have to deal with this? If so, what’s the best (cheapest) way to seal a property from mice?

I made a goal in 2018 to get to $10,000/m in passive income and my wife and I would quit our jobs and live off the income.

Over the last 2 years I’ve purchased 4 single family rentals using a 20% down conventional 30 year mortgage, including one that I Brrrr’d. I have another under contract currently which closes at the end of the month which will bring my total monthly passive income to about $2,500. All the while I’ve saved all my rental income and rigorously saved income from working so I’m still sitting on a nice chunk of capital to continue to push forward and buy more.

I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished but at the same time I feel discouraged. I’ll now own 6 properties and 6 mortgages to worry about (including the one I live in) and I’m only 1/4 of the way to this goal. I feel like I’m nickeling and diming my way along as there is a ton of work left to do. I want to have faster results and get to where I want to be faster. At this rate of 1-2 purchases per year I’ll need about 20 homes and alternative financing because I’ll be maxed out on loans. It just seems like there are people out there growing faster and getting exponential results in small periods of time.

How do you get to the next level here folks? How do you go from enjoying a bit of extra income from your deals, to living the free life full time off of the fruits of your labor?

Well the 2nd month in a row my tenant asked me to work something out because she lost her job cutting hair from the pandemic.

The rent is $1,150. It’s low budget home. Last month I took the compassionate route. She approached me and asked what she should do. I knocked $500 off the rent. She paid me the balance right away.

This month sure enough she reach out on 4/30 asking how much she owes this month. I said, the full amount. She said she doesn’t have it and hasn’t gotten her stimulus or unemployment money yet.

I said ok and told her this will be the last time and knocked $400 off the rent. She hasn’t paid anything yet.

What are people doing when their tenants can’t pay? I know evictions are banned, but are we as landlords supposed to just forget about the rent that’s due?

What are we doing here?

So I’m learning quick with the brrrr strategy that no one seems to talk openly about the 6 month waiting period on a brrrr before you do the cash out refi.

If you buy with a mortgage, you have to be on the title for 6 months before you can refi.

If you buy with cash you have to wait as well.

Everyone talks about brrrrs being a great “quick” strategy, NO ONE talks about all the waiting around.

Are you renting and then letting your tenant live there for months before refinancing? What if they blow the appraisal for you?