Saturday, March 27, 2004
Well, it's been quite a week down here on the ranch. The first good news is that we finally got clearance from the bank to close on our condo. Yeah, us! I have asked for an April 2 closing date, as April 1 is bad juju (it would be April Fool's Day, after all!). Finally we can get down to the business of getting my very first renter ever. I am totally freaked out about this. My mom has had renters in her rental house since before I was born, but I never took part in finding them. You can bet that I'm going to be totally anal about the first or second one.
My friend who owns several houses turned me on to a web site called MrLandlord.com. This is a great site. Overall it is an ecommerce site that provides things like books on landlording, legal forms, etc. They have some excellent partnerships that offer services at very good prices, such as running a credit check. There is also a "gold membership" that enables you to access other parts of the site, but I can't tell what they are. But probably the most valuable part of the site is the forums. People post questions and other people post their responses, and every question/answer is archived and searchable. That's a really valuable resource. These guys are really focused on the small landlord who owns one to 20 units or so (such as myself). I'm glad that I found it.
Well, some things are definitely a lesson learned. I have some land that I bought on Ebay. Yes, I actually bought land off Ebay. Unfortunately, it had back taxes that were not advertised. Well, the taxes were ok, but the water bill hadn't been paid. Since I happen to be saving every penny to close on my condo, I had to agree to a payment plan. The next thing that I need to do is a title search. I am doing this stuff ass backwards, but I made a calculated risk. I only paid $1800 for the land, and the back taxes are $4500. So in the end I'll have paid about current market price for the land. The return potential is still huge on this land, especially since this guy actually managed to sell so many plots. At the same time, we are exploring suing him in small claims court since the tax amount is actually quite small. In New York City the top amount to sue for in small claims court would be $5000, which would just about cover us. Of course, I don't think this guy would ever pay up, but it would be awful nice to get the judgment against him. I'm still looking into whether I can sue him here in NYC or if I have to go to South Carolina or Virginia. Virginia's limit is only $2000, but SC's is $7500, and I'd ask for more if I had to travel. It's only $20 to file a small claims complaint in New York. Wonder how much it is for South Carolina?? I have a pretty good paper trail. I'd have to try to pierce the corporate veil, or else this guy would end up settling with us in land with yet more delinquent taxes. Yeah.
In other news, my sister got into the drama program and Virginia Commonwealth University. If you haven't heard of it, that's because it's the best kept secret in terms of Virginia state schools. You already discovered UVA and Virginia Tech. VCU is next.
Also, my brother just got named as Director of Racing Operations for Day Enterprises, a racing outfit out of Nashville. So he's been hopping back and forth from Mooresville to Nashville. He has his work cut out for him but I've known this kid for a long time and he has pulled off anything and everything that he ever set his mind to. So good luck to him.
Tomorrow I've got some homework to do (for my financial analysis class), then some stuff for mortgage seeking and also some website stuff. Yeah!
Got about 2-3 hours worth of gardening done today. My friend from Michigan sent me about 15 packets of different kinds of seeds, and I started a bunch of them in small nurseries. I was also able to plant some bulbs outside and start some goldenrod that I received in the mail as a bare root plant. I love to garden! I wish I had more room to start seedlings (or that the soil in my garden was more hospitable, but I've managed to get a bunch of plants to take and I'm adding more soil every year). Right now I've got two heath plants in full bloom, one that's coming into bloom, and a full border complement of spring crocuses. My hydrangea is also showing lots of new growth, but my jasmine may not have made it through the winter. It felt good to be out there, mixing peat moss & compost and putting in some new bulbs. They won't come out until next year, but it will just be that much more beautiful.
Find something that you love to do and do it, because in the end you might die before you have a chance to live your life. Peace & Love!!!
My friend who owns several houses turned me on to a web site called MrLandlord.com. This is a great site. Overall it is an ecommerce site that provides things like books on landlording, legal forms, etc. They have some excellent partnerships that offer services at very good prices, such as running a credit check. There is also a "gold membership" that enables you to access other parts of the site, but I can't tell what they are. But probably the most valuable part of the site is the forums. People post questions and other people post their responses, and every question/answer is archived and searchable. That's a really valuable resource. These guys are really focused on the small landlord who owns one to 20 units or so (such as myself). I'm glad that I found it.
Well, some things are definitely a lesson learned. I have some land that I bought on Ebay. Yes, I actually bought land off Ebay. Unfortunately, it had back taxes that were not advertised. Well, the taxes were ok, but the water bill hadn't been paid. Since I happen to be saving every penny to close on my condo, I had to agree to a payment plan. The next thing that I need to do is a title search. I am doing this stuff ass backwards, but I made a calculated risk. I only paid $1800 for the land, and the back taxes are $4500. So in the end I'll have paid about current market price for the land. The return potential is still huge on this land, especially since this guy actually managed to sell so many plots. At the same time, we are exploring suing him in small claims court since the tax amount is actually quite small. In New York City the top amount to sue for in small claims court would be $5000, which would just about cover us. Of course, I don't think this guy would ever pay up, but it would be awful nice to get the judgment against him. I'm still looking into whether I can sue him here in NYC or if I have to go to South Carolina or Virginia. Virginia's limit is only $2000, but SC's is $7500, and I'd ask for more if I had to travel. It's only $20 to file a small claims complaint in New York. Wonder how much it is for South Carolina?? I have a pretty good paper trail. I'd have to try to pierce the corporate veil, or else this guy would end up settling with us in land with yet more delinquent taxes. Yeah.
In other news, my sister got into the drama program and Virginia Commonwealth University. If you haven't heard of it, that's because it's the best kept secret in terms of Virginia state schools. You already discovered UVA and Virginia Tech. VCU is next.
Also, my brother just got named as Director of Racing Operations for Day Enterprises, a racing outfit out of Nashville. So he's been hopping back and forth from Mooresville to Nashville. He has his work cut out for him but I've known this kid for a long time and he has pulled off anything and everything that he ever set his mind to. So good luck to him.
Tomorrow I've got some homework to do (for my financial analysis class), then some stuff for mortgage seeking and also some website stuff. Yeah!
Got about 2-3 hours worth of gardening done today. My friend from Michigan sent me about 15 packets of different kinds of seeds, and I started a bunch of them in small nurseries. I was also able to plant some bulbs outside and start some goldenrod that I received in the mail as a bare root plant. I love to garden! I wish I had more room to start seedlings (or that the soil in my garden was more hospitable, but I've managed to get a bunch of plants to take and I'm adding more soil every year). Right now I've got two heath plants in full bloom, one that's coming into bloom, and a full border complement of spring crocuses. My hydrangea is also showing lots of new growth, but my jasmine may not have made it through the winter. It felt good to be out there, mixing peat moss & compost and putting in some new bulbs. They won't come out until next year, but it will just be that much more beautiful.
Find something that you love to do and do it, because in the end you might die before you have a chance to live your life. Peace & Love!!!
