I talk to the PM and usually get an idea on how they are - first impressions count. I

Just looked at the past few years of tax lien lists for Yavapai county Arizona.

I have a 19-unit apartment complex that needs strong management in Martin County Florida (Indiantown).

Okay the 4 unit buildings when built in 1981 have one meter going in.There is no sub meters.Fulton county water stated that is what the builder requested in 1981.Fast forward to today.Fulton county does not do sub metering for these buildings.The water company stated these buildings only have a 3/4 line meter on one and 1 inch line meter on the others.Water bill has been high.We fixed a bunch of leaks and filed leak adjustments to Fulton county.Water company says they can test meter to make sure it reads right.Previous owner had high readings as well.Some tenants are only supposed to have 2 to 4 people living there on lease.End up having 8 to 10 people and they use the water constantly even with no leaks.Currently we provide water,sewer,trash into the total rent.We have to do it this way because with one line if the 3 tenants pay the bill but one does not the water company will cut off water to the whole building and lien it.Since it is one line into the building even if all leaks are fixed I can't go up to a tenant without proof they are using more water.I can tell tenant with an adjusted lease they are responsible for any usage after 50 bucks a month but they might not pay the difference.My plumber told me of a company that will install individual meters and then bill the tenants directly.Have any of you had experience with these companies?

I used to do these for fun years ago and soon remembered (after posting this) that my primary way of tracking one down is to visit my friendly neighborhood county recorder's office and search for loans by the same lender (HSB) and see who canceled/discharged them.

Thanks everyone.Carole yes there is limits.The problem is catching all the people there at once for a violation.If the code enforcement walks in and doesn't actually see all the people then there is nothing they can do.Had this happen in another county where there were a bunch of people occupying a house next to my property.The inspector only worked 9 to 5 Monday through Friday.Many of the people worked and were gone when the inspector could come by.Thus they could never do anything about the situation.This is why I think as a deterrent if we charged 50 bucks a head there would be no benefit for them bringing in all these people because the landlord would get the money.

I'm not sure what the rate is in our county, but with our personal rentals (here in south central WI) we had the lowest vacancy ever. 2.5% in 2011.

County Clerk Book number from recorded DOT9.

Pictures with a date and time stamp should be fine.Check the cupboards and fridge to see if cleaned out or not.In Georgia if there is 500 of personal property or less you do not have to go through eviction.If it appears more than that you usually wait for the Marshall and out the stuff where they want it.If you are in Fulton county do not waste the Marshalls time with an empty unit.They have sometimes 900 writs to serve in a month.Simply re-key all exterior locks and not just the front.You don't know who they gave a copy to.

Then take the address of the particular home and research it on the county website.If the owner address is different than the actual property's address, then odds are, you've found yourself a cash investor.