TheLandlordBlog.com

How fast can one underwrite a loan?  Well that’s purely a matter of motivation…!  I have one more closing story today.  Actually I have a lot more stories but here’s another new one from this week (more…)

I wanted to finish sharing what happened with our other closing in Tucson last week.  This one was my brother-in-law’s house for which I’m power of attorney.  First I need to back up about 2 months.  My husband has his real estate license and is the realtor for my brother-in-law in this deal.  I’m the power of attorney which just means I’m signing for everything.

Two months ago my brother-in-law and husband receive an email from the builder that says that they are no longer offering the marble countertops and surrounds in the bathrooms like the one that we chose at the design center appointment.  They were instead substituting a solid surface Formica product and we had 48 hours to get to the design center to view the color options and choose which one to go with. (more…)

This week’s carnival has been posted at the Matrix!  Kudos to Jonathan Miller for categorizing the posts for us this week.  Lots of good reading.

I went to Tucson this week for two closings.  One was for a house we are buying, and the other is a house my brother-in-law is buying and that I am power of attorney for since he’s out of state.  When you buy a new-build in Tucson, the way they like to arrange it is to have you come to your house for a walk-through the day of your closing.  You walk through the house with a site superintendent and create a punch list of final touch up or unfinished items that need to be completed before your loan funds a few days after closing.  At that time you will get the keys and the house is yours.  So this was the case this week.  We had a walk through for our house at 7:00 am and the closing was at 5:00 pm.  The walk for my brother-in-law’s house was at 10:00 am, and the closing was at 3:00 pm.  It would’ve been a full day except things did not turn out as planned.

The two homes were with two different builders and it was interesting to compare how two very similar situations went down.  Incidentally, we did not receive a HUD-1 to review for either of the homes.  This is normal, but unacceptable.

Today I’ll share what happened with our house.  (more…)

Well I went to Tucson for two closings and I’m back home 0 for 2.  As usual I spent an entire day chasing down issues that were created on the other end.  Some interesting things happened and I learned a couple things too that I will start posting tomorrow. 

Buying homes was a nice little diversion for a while, but I think I need to be done with them for a while.  At least working with builders.  I’m getting too frustrated with corporate America and it’s too controlled an environment for me.  The take it or leave it we don’t need you attitude has wore out its welcome.  We’ll get the closings done that we already have in the hopper and then I think we’ll get back on the prowl for more multis.  I’m also getting the itch for a light rehab.  It’s been a while since we’ve gotten our hands dirty and I’m missing the creativity there.

More tomorrow.

I’m up to nine inquiries now from the ad I put in the paper over the weekend for a new property manager.  They are sending me emails - some with resumes, some with “here’s why you should hire me” and others just very formal and plain.  I send them the job description and application back.  One has returned the completed app so far.

I’ve heard from one very successful retired man, a realtor, a couple who would like to do it as a team, some handymen, and a few that have worked for property management companies in the past.  One made a point to tell me he used to own some duplexes.

I’m feeling pretty good about finding some good ones to choose from.  I suspect some  will not return an app after they read my job description.  The pay is pretty good for what they have to do.  It should average out to about $15/hour although I don’t pay hourly.  I pay a percentage of rents and late fees collected.  I do require this manager to mow the lawns so some will not like that and won’t apply.  If he/she was entrepreneurial he/she could hire the lawn out to a kid and not do it personally.

The Carnival of Real Estate has been posted!  Thanks to BlueRoof.com Blog for hosting this week.  Check out all of this week’s posts.

I had decided to fire one of my property managers last month and I’ve finally buckled down and am on the hunt for a new one.  I like to avoid hiring property management companies whenever possible in favor of hiring individuals.  They are much more receptive to my way of doing things and I’m in full control of the compensation.

Since I’ve created my own personal landlord system, all I need to do is find someone with the skills I like and the requirements I have, and experience is not necessary.  I train them using a combination of Ken McElroy’s “How To Increase the Income From Your Real Estate Investments” audio set and my property management handbook.  All the checklists, forms, contractors, procedures, instructions are there for them. 

I ran an ad in the newspaper this weekend and so far I have three inquiries.  The ad tells them to email to an anonymous gmail account for a job description and application.  When I hear from someone, I send over the Word doc and after they learn more they can choose whether or not they want to apply.  I’ve received one app back so far from a younger couple (ages 24 and 26) who’d like to do it as a team.  The other inquiries have not sent apps back yet.

I use email on the front end for several reasons.  I want to eliminate anyone who is not internet savvy.  It also allows me to see their writing/grammar capability.  With the application I require them to send me a digital photo of their house and vehicle.  This also weeds out anyone without a digital camera.  I want to see their house because I want to see if the outside looks maintained, and I want to see their vehicle because I require them to transport a push lawnmower between buildings.

I’m planning to gather up applications for two weeks and then do phone interviews with 2-3 candidates.  I’ll keep you posted.

Now that the weather is cooling down I’ve been going for a lot of morning hikes.  It’s a great time to clear my head and make plans for the day.  I’m so excited because my favorite hiking spot is going to be only 3 miles from the new house.

I’ve been watching some changes in the landscape very closely this week.  We’ve had a good monsoon so there’s extra vegetation and lots of green.  On Monday I noticed a lot of lush new low-growing plants (weeds?). 

On Tuesday they were even bigger. 

Wednesday they were covered with thousands of caterpillars munching away!  You had to literally watch every single step for a stretch of the trail or you would squish them.  I’ve never seen so many caterpillars.

Thursday the lush plants looked bare.  The leaves have all been eaten and all that remained were stick looking stems. 

And Friday, there were very few caterpillars left.  They are moving to areas far off the trail from what I can tell.  I’m going to be watching for cocoons soon and need to do some research to figure out what these are.  They’re long and fat - up to 4 inches long.

I took pictures to post but am having trouble getting the pic to show up here.  I’ll work on that and try to get it to work.

Ok, now I’m starting to feel bad for my production-line loan officer.  He’s working late hours trying to push an unimaginable number of loans through before the end of the month.  He must have called me a half a dozen times today with a new idea to run past me, then past his boss, then to the underwriter, then back to me…

Title also called to cancel the closing appointment on Monday.  It’s interesting how they call to inform you about non-negotiable appointment times, they cancel at will, then reschedule at will.  You have nothing to say about the time and whether it works with your schedule.  If I had a 9 to 5 job or had a travel schedule like I used to, I would have a very tough time getting through these transactions.  It’s the same with the pre-walk and the final walk appointment.  You have to be there at their specified time, period.

Back to the loan officer…  We concluded that since I don’t have a property management business entity in which I’m 100% owner, and since we are going stated income, self employed, and since I don’t have a business license (who gets a business license for their REI LLCs?), AND since we’re already pulling an exception since my business has not operated out of the same location for the last 2 years, that I have to get a new CPA letter.  My existing letter would have been fine after all except that it was dated April 14.  It has to be dated within 90 days of close of escrow.  I fought like the dickens to not have to do this because my CPA charges $250 each time I need a letter.  I’ve had to get plenty because everyone seems to have their particular wording they want.

The loan officer also had to change my occupation from “property management” to “real estate investor.”  Reason being is that I cannot prove that I am the 100% owner of a property management company, as opposed to a part owner or owner via marriage of a company that manages properties. 

I hesitated to have him submit me as a real estate investor because this is a primary.  People lie about primaries all the time but we really are going to move into this house.  I’m thinking there will be immediate suspicion about this and I’ll have to somehow prove that I’m moving in.  I already had to sign a paper that said I promise to move in within 60 days of close, which is highly unlikely.  We are going to take some time to paint and decorate before moving our things over, and we’re putting in a pool and I don’t want to be there during the construction.  So I’m sure the bank will be going to knock on the door and snoop (they’ve done it before) and I’ll have to later convince them that I haven’t committed fraud.

My loan officer was shocked today to find that I’ve never had to produce a business license or Articles of Incorporation showing me as 100% owner of a seasoned entity before.  It’s never come up in probably a dozen transactions this year.  I’m as surprised that he’s asking as he is that I’ve never been asked before.

Things to consider doing:

1. Form a business entity for real estate investing that’s 100% mine and season it.  Basically create it for borrowing purposes.  We’ve been through so many attorneys.  Now that I think of it maybe it is odd that we’ve never thought of doing this before and that none of our attorneys have suggested it.
2. Get a business license for one of our LLCs for borrowing purposes.  This still sounds crazy to me but I guess after we move to our new place I’ll look into it.