All Forum Posts by: Pam Grim

Oh gosh, I'd sell it in a heart beat if I could!

I'm upside down. The upside down part is the credit line. Half is our stupidity, as we used it to pay off our credit cards & vehicles, the other half is $30K down on my ex's house.

Hmm, renting it out is a good thought. I'll have to mull (sp) that one over a bit.

Thanks for the advice.

Pam

Hello,

I'm just starting out. My husband & I had 2 houses, one of which we were renting out. We got divorced & both took one house.

I'm working to get debt paid off that I accumulated while also being laid off last year just after our seperation.Then I would like to start accumulating rentals again.

To help me pay off my debt, I have 2 room mates. One of my room mates couldn't pay rent last month (for Nov). He's been here at my house fo almost 1 year. He has had problems paying other bills through out the year too.

He's now paying rent in 2 payments. He pays for the first part of Nov. on the 15th, and the last part of Nov on Dec 1. He's also renting out the master, because he says the spare rooms are too small and he doesn't mind paying extra. However, he's not paying the full amount I asked for b/c it was too much. He asked to do lawn work for a rent deduction (which he's not doing anymore).

He's 46 years old and pretty much just smokes weed and drinks alot. But he's quiet and I hardly ever see him.

My question is, is it worth working with this guy? If so, how do I get him so that he's paying in advance, even if its still twice a month?

To be honest I wouldn't mind having my master back. At the time I rented it out I was w/o a job and was desperate.

Thanks for you help,
Pam

I'm really new and don't have anything productive to add, but I just wanted to say that what you're doing Mike is really cool. Beyond just being able to make a profit, it has to feel good to be able to make a difference in those neighborhoods.

I do have a quick question though...how do you deal with the tenants in the those bad areas? Especially the drug/gang types you talked about? Do they ever threaten you? How do you handle those situations?

I am a newbie, but I worked for an investor trying to gain experience a while back.

We had one house in particular that was in a really bad area. The investor had cleaned it up and put some cheap appliances in it, made it look pretty nice. While it was vacant waiting for a tenant, the stove, washer & dryer & some other fixers were stolen. They just kept coming back every couple days taking something else.

Finally the investor stopped buying stuff for it, and told perspective tenants the appliances would be installed upon her moving in.

When we finally found a tenant right off the bat she had problems paying. She came up with some pretty bizarre stories!

This may be slightly off subject...I was wondering how you research what other cities also cashflow well overall?

Thanks, Pam.

(I'm an extreme newb.)