Strangely Silent

Today is the end of the month. I realized this on Thursday, around 11 p.m., after I had just sacrificed an exorbitant amount of cell minutes talking down my seller from the precipice she was on. While on the call, the my client mentioned August was almost over. That reminded me of two of my sisters in laws whose birthdays are both late August. One turned 40 yesterday. The other would have been 39 today if she were still with us. 

Month end also means my mortgages are due. And, wouldn't you know it, all three tenants I personally manage: (Mrs. Sherwood Forest, Ms. Angie and Mrs. Green) had not sent in the rent. At 11 p.m. Thursday night, I found this freakishly alarming and odd and--forgetting my pet peeve about time zones--texted them all immediately inquiring politely about where the hell rent money happened to be.

Actually, I had texted Mrs. Green earlier in the week, asking if she was moving out, and did not receive a response. I sent her the exact same text a second time on Thursday night, which she still hasn't acknowledged. That whole thing is grounds for another blog and I might be motivated to write about this weekend.

Mrs. Sherwood Forest was gracious enough to text me around 10 a.m. her time on Friday. She followed up two minutes later with a phone call and an explanation. Twenty minutes after that she was at the bank. I was never worried about Mrs. Sherwood Forest. In fact, I have never worried about any of these three.

Until now.

Ms. Angie, who has been my wonderful tenant for years and years, has not responded to my first inquiry. Nor did she respond to a second text. This is totally bizarre.

Ms. Angie started calling me years before she ever moved in. She wanted to rent from me in the worst way. Though flattering, I never completely understood this. I don't know where she got my phone number, primarily because I have a hard time understanding her drawl. Over the course of years, she looked at a few of my homes before she decided on the one she is in now.

She has been a loyal tenant for a long time. She is the first tenant to call me when she is going to be a day late (I finally told her she didn't need to do that--now I wish I hadn't). Last month she was slightly short on rent. In the entire time she has rented from me, she has never once been short. Ever. So, I let it slide. I am hoping it isn't a sign of things to come.

I am so flabbergasted by Ms. Angie's silence, that I asked Carolsue if she could swing by this weekend and just make sure Ms Angie is alive. If Carolsue is too busy to go (which may be, I recall something about a trip out of state to a family reunion--or she may just have a life of her own), I may have to go with a process server giving her an eviction notice to get her to respond to me. And that just makes me sad.

I genuinely like Ms. Angie and don't think she is stiffing me on the rent (though I won't rule that out because I have lived it before). I am just hoping she was away for a couple of days of well-earned vacation and she will call me today to tell me something I will probably not understand. Hopefully the gist will be she has the rent.

National Bliz Day

When God was passing out friends, He gave me an extra-special one. Happy Birthday dear Bliz. I would say how long we have been friends, but I don't want to frighten you.

I hope you have a wonderful day. And here's some orange candy for you--your favorite I am sure. 

The Administrative Matter (Part 3)

Mrs. C. had left my house without notice in 2010. At the time I was furious she didn't tell me. A friend advised me to always leave everything on good terms with everyone I meet because you never know when you will need a favor. I had remembered that advice at the time and now I am glad I did.

Mrs. C. signed a new quit claim deed last August. She e-mailed me when she heard from Flip's people and asked what was going on. We had a lovely chat. Mr. C. had passed on. She was doing fine. Her grandkids were being homeschooled. And she would take care of this silly little administrative matter immediately. Which she did.

The Cox's weren't as easy to find. They had moved. Then Flip stopped answering phone calls and e-mails. Looking back, I have to wonder if he had just thought we were done with this particular issue and didn't give it more thought--even though he still got bi monthly e-mails from me asking for an update. I do know my issue with Attorney Jon was very minor compared to others I have heard about.

Last April, Flip sent me a letter suggesting I talk with another attorney about any fees I may have incurred. He told me to call him (Flip) to discuss my options. I called. I e-mailed. I whined. I didn't hear back.

The fees aside, I really cared about getting this house back in my name. Panic started setting in around May. What if this was a bigger deal than I thought and Flip was just protecting the Late Mrs. Attorney Jon (they are long-time friends)? What if, because of Jack (my now former business partner), I have been blacklisted somehow? Was I being ignored because I no longer have "connections" in the South? That's how things work down there. What if Flip knew something more about this and didn't want to commit to a lawsuit? What if Flip didn't want his name associated with this mess? Was their a lien on the property I didn't know about? Did Mr. Cox take his truck in a drunken rage and run it into a shopping mall and now their is a lawsuit?

In an effort to get this resolved, I started shopping around for a new lawyer. I wanted someone who was not friendly with Flip--which turned out is pretty much nobody. I wanted someone who did not know about the Late Attorney Jon. When I would talk with lawyers, I would hear variations of, "Bless your heart," which meant, "You are so screwed. There is no way in hell's half acre I am touching this mess."

I spoke with both Mario and Kirby about lawyer referrals. This house happens to be managed by Mario but Kirby had managed it at one time. Because Kirby and I are friendly, I told him this whole sorted tale. "I managed a home you didn't own!?" he yelped. "Do you know how illegal that is?" I pointed out that he doesn't manage it now, Mario does. And please don't tell Mario. Kirby said something along the lines of, "I'm backing away and we never discussed this," which was fine with me. 

One lawyer asked me how could he know I didn't forge these documents and did I have some sort of vendetta against the Cox's? I told him I have evidence that late Attorney Jon had recorded other deeds for me before and I could bring in former tenant-owners (though where I would find them I did not know) to testify. I had e-mails between Jon and I. And, though--I don't remember doing this, but thank God I did--I had scanned a copy of the original signed quit claim deed from the Cox's before I mailed it to Jon back in 2009.

Another lawyer gave a low whistle when I said the Late Attorney Jon was my lawyer at one time. "Don't you know about him?" he asked. I replied that he was a very nice man who loved his wife and daughters. Even I know that is a stalemate in the South.

In the month of July, I spoke with about 18 lawyers. Many left me in tears. Some passed me on to other attorneys. I left messages for more lawyers than that. Most said what I wanted would cost a lot of money and I might loose, so thanks anyway. When I countered this was a small administrative matter and all we had to do was find the Cox's--I have their social security numbers--and have them sign a quit claim deed again, I was given more scenarios about how badly this could go.

I didn't sleep much last month.

I did talk to a few attorneys who knew Flip. Each one asked me why Flip did not finish this. I always replied that I thought this was a small matter and Flip was too busy. One told me I should make him. I was too humiliated to tell him Flip wouldn't take my calls.

Finally, though sheer clairvoyance or perhaps enough of the lawyers I talked to called Flip, I got a response to an e-mail I sent him in early June. He said they found the Cox's in a Northern state and he would be in touch. That was it.

A week later another e-mail came from Flip. A letter, quit claim and a check for $50 was being sent to the Cox's for their trouble. They knew nothing of this ahead of time and would be finding a Fed Ex on their doorstep sometime the next day.  A copy of the letter was sent to me. It was wordy, filled with "henceforths," and "wherewithals" and other legal speak. He also referenced the abandonment and default clauses Jon and I wordsmithed the night of our phone call all those years earlier.

I have to tell you, if I didn't know the ins and outs of this situation, I would have had to read the letter about six times to get the gist. I am sure the "avoiding a lawsuit" verbiage, the $50 check and the "sign right here" post it note was all they were looking at.

Yesterday Flip e-mailed me. He started the letter with "Booyah" and attached a copy of the new signed quit claim deed. It is being filed with Shelby County this week.

I saw Mr. Partner Wednesday and told him the news. Then Marty Sunshine jumped in and explained what an ordeal this was. I think he wanted Mr. Partner to appreciate my nightmare.

Because of the Dodd-Frank Law, as well as my own personal experiences, I will not be doing owner financing again any time soon. However, a friend of mine is now in a funny situation where she is considering owner financing for a tenant of hers. I have shared this story with her, and hopefully she will think long and hard before doing so. I have also offered her a copy of the contract the Late Attorney Jon helped me write. Just in case.

The Administrative Matter (Part 2)

When someone goes through the process of ending their life--someone who boasts of being married to the "light of his life" and leaves behind five daughters who are everything to him--one can assume the person in question has a few things going on. No matter how wonderful one thinks the person happens to be.

I will always think the world of the Late Attorney Jon. Always. Suicides are never easy to process, especially when it isn't up to me to absorb everything and figure out the whys. I was merely a client of his who happened to live 1,700 miles away. And for that matter, he rarely charged me for anything he did for me. I remember one time, when our business was in much better shape, I absolutely insisted he bill me. He sent me a bill for $25 for about 20 hours of work. I paid him $50.

What I came to find out was the Late Attorney Jon was disorganized. I also found out he had a few demons--but that is not something I wish to dwell on. I heard this and that from various sources and was able to fill in the pieces. There is nothing like telling someone, "Well, I've heard rumors" and the other person (in this case it was from Attorney Flip and Jack) voluntarily filled in the blanks. Neither asked what I knew--which wasn't nearly as much as they independently shared with me. The bigger picture of Attorney Jon doesn't make the man I knew any less likeable. It just made him human.

He will always be that guy at 10 p.m. one Friday night who had two giggling daughters in his car, crawling all over him, reading through my contract, giving me pointers, while waiting for his eldest child to finish basketball practice. We talked business on the phone that night for an hour and a half. That phone call years ago saved my hide this past month.

That said, the Late Attorney Jon left me a mess. He did not take care of those two deeds. We were vulnerable. If Mrs. C. was involved and responsible for some sort of major car accident, the victims in question would be able to go after all of Mrs. C's assets--including a home where I was paying the mortgage and the taxes. It would not matter one bit if I had a loan on the house. The house belonged to Mrs. C. If Mr. and Mrs. Cox didn't pay their income taxes, their would be a lien on the property I own.

And, to add to this, I was told by more than one attorney though the contracts we had with these people clearly stated the house would be ours if they defaulted, if the Cox's or Mrs. C wanted to reclaim the properties and pay us the back payments, they could then go after us for the rent we received. And, getting this resolved would probably involve lawsuits, judges and a lot of expense. One lawyer actually said to me, yes, it is nice and everything on paper but the Late Attorney Jon was your lawyer and judges aren't going to be excited about any contract he was involved in.

Yay us.

After Jon died, I asked Legal Eagle if she would take care of this. She said no she wasn't touching it. It was too messy for the amount of time and attention it deserved. I countered with it was a small administrative issue and she repeated the potential consequences at stake. I knew this of course, but I was going with the optimist best-case scenario.

After a year, I found out that the Alabama BAR had assigned Flip to Late Attorney Jon's affairs. When I met with him last summer, I found out how disorganized Jon was. In the conference room, stacked top to bottom, were box after box of the Jon's files. And, those were only the recent ones. There were plenty more boxes in storage. When I spoke with Flip, I assured him I had seen the quit claim deed for the Cox's six months before Jon died. Flip went through ever single file Jon had in the course of time and found many things related to me. But that deed has never been found.

To be continued

The Administrative Matter (Part 1)

I slept better last night than I had in years. This morning I woke up refreshed. And grateful! I can't forget grateful.

Years ago, our business model was to purchase a home, allow the tenant to purchase it from us with owner financing. The tenant would essentially own the home and we were the mortgage company. This model worked fabulously in Arizona. It was 100 percent successful.

When we started buying rental homes in Birmingham, we didn't want to be landlords. So, we offered the same terms: rent for a year then buy, then refinance us out in three to five years. This did not work fabulously. In fact, it was very unfabulous. Only one Birmingham tenant fulfilled this contract. Because the model failed, we became landlords and the rest you can read about in the archives of this blog. Hence, we have an accidental business.

Part of the reason for this failure has to do with what happened in 2008. As you may remember, the housing market tanked. And then the economy. Or vice-versa. It doesn't really matter. They both went out in a fiery death, leaving me with a gazillion homes that were now underwater.

In 2008, one family, the Cox's, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chapter 11 means they were reorganizing their debt. As a mortgagor, they missed a payment and repaid me in increments based on the terms of the bankruptcy. Essentially, they wanted to keep the house.

In 2009 Mr. Cox lost his job of 18 years when his company closed down. He called me to tell me this was the case, but assured me all was good. Two weeks later they filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and included the house. This wasn't a reorganization, but a cut ties and start anew.

When I got word of the bankruptcy, there was a lot of mayhem and panic on my end. I could not find a lawyer to help me (it was out of Legal Eagle's scope of reference) and I wasn't sure what I could do anyway. They have a right to file. They can also walk away from the home--which I later found out they were doing.

This wasn't really an issue. Because, as part of my owner financing, I have a clause that says if the property is abandoned it goes back to me. And, to solidify this point, I made every tenant who is buying the house from me and using our company as their mortgage company sign a quit claim deed up front. If the tenant doesn't perform, the quit claim deed is recorded and the home becomes mine again.

The late Attorney Jon was my lawyer for this. In my early years he helped me fine-tune my contract. Jon told me once my quit claim deed idea was clever. And, he also added an addendum when the tenant-owner signed my contract saying they knew they were signing a quit claim deed. They also had to initial this and the clause about default in my contract. So, there was 100 percent transparency. Everyone knew what was going on. Everyone agreed.

Because the owner financing business model tanked so badly around this time, the late Attorney Jon filed a lot of quit claim deeds with the county recorder for me from 2008 to 2010. However, he missed two. One belonged to the Cox's. The other belonged to Mrs. C. I was aware these two were pending. The Late Attorney Jon was also aware. There were slight issues with both--easily resolved at the time with a phone call or two. I contacted the Late Attorney Jon on a regular basis to gently remind him to get this done. Without these deeds recorded both tenants still owned the home.

Though we were paying our mortgages, insurance and taxes, all while collecting rent, we had no legal claim to the property. And, if either the Cox's or Mrs. C had a creditor come after them, the creditor could slap a lien on the property. Or worse, what if one of them was involved in some sort of criminal act or a car accident. The property would be collateral for either of them if there was a lawsuit. And, there was nothing I could do.

I discussed all this with the Late Attorney Jon when I went to visit him in February 2011. Our visit was for the sole purpose of getting the nitty-gritty details done. He showed me the actual original quit claim deed he had with the Cox's and said he would get it filed. No worries. He would get with Mrs. C. and take care of that issue. An easy fix he assured me. He hugged me as I walked out after our lovely visit. That was the last time I saw him.

The Late Attorney Jon took his life July 18, 2011. 

To be continued

Flipping Estatic

The e-mail today from Attorney Flip started with "Booyah!" and I darn near lost it.

The stress from this particular issue--and there has been a bit--released as the adrenaline flushed from my body, leaving behind a peace in its wake. A peace I haven't felt in a long time.

My minor administrative issue is officially resolved. I will write about it later. I am still processing how grateful I am. And trust me, I am grateful. 

Fingers and Toes Crossed

I got a very thick envelope from Flip on Saturday. I was terrified to open it, as thick envelopes from lawyers tend to include words like "billable hours" and "pay in full."

However, in this case it wasn't. It was a copy of a letter sent to a former tenant. Apparently Flip found my tenant, sent them a Fed Ex with a letter explaining how we needed their help to resolve this ultra-minor administrative matter. All it will take is a signature from them.

From what I can tell, he didn't call them ahead of time to tell them it was coming. So, my former tenants got a long-winded letter explaining the Late Attorney Jon didn't do everything he was supposed to do. And, could my former tenants be totally awesome and do what the needed to do so a lawsuit wouldn't be filed? In consideration for their time enclosed was a check for $50.

Attorney Flip had e-mailed me last week and told me he was doing this. But now it seems real. When he did this last year (there were two issues), the former tenant e-mailed me immediately and asked about it. I was sort of hoping this tenant would do the same. So far, nothing.

Hopefully this will be resolved with no drama and hopefully the next time I get a letter from Flip it will be a very thin envelope.

Mario Party

Sadly it appears my relationship with Mario's company is tenuous at best. It isn't that I dislike these people on a personal level, though they are working really hard for me to do so. Simply, they they have spent the summer grating on my last nerve.

For example, after a repair was made without my authorization, everyone seemed to get on the same page. In fact a few days later, the tenant made another request for repair. This time for a ceiling fan. This time the work order was sent to me for authorization.

The work order was forwarded to two people before it was sent to me. In the "special notes" section of the work order it stated: "Fiona Landlord." I swear I am not paranoid by nature. However I got the distinct impression that was code for "She's a complete pain in the ass."

Because of the ongoing issue Flip is taking care of, I asked for a copy of the lease on this house. I did receive it. I also received a long dissertation from Mario's minion on the correct procedure for getting a copy of the lease for my house. That's nice. However, when time is of the essence, I am not interested in figuring out my login to some Web site, having my password reset and then spending an hour and a half combing through this and that to find the lease. When I ask Kirby's folks for this kind of thing, I actually get it without any sass.

And finally, if I wasn't through enough with these clowns, they have a new employee: Danny. Danny e-mailed me last Friday and relayed a request from the tenant. His request was polite, professional and referred to me as "Mrs. Landlord." In his request, he told me the tenant has a 6 year old, 15 pound dog that was currently living in foster care. Would I allow her pet?

I am not a fan of dogs in a rental property, but I don't have a problem with a crate trained, housebroken adult dog. In this case, the tenant has a two year lease and I am probably changing out the carpet anyway when she moves out.

I told Danny that was fine, she could have the dog (with correct deposits, etc.). I also mentioned as a rule I wasn't excited about pets in rentals. In his reply, he greeted me with "Hey Ma'am" instead of Dear Mrs. Landlord--which is the level of familiarity we were on.

There is no, "Hey Ma'am"! That is not my name. I don't "hey ma'am" anyone I am on a professionally-named basis with.

Anyway, Danny wrote back saying, "Hey Ma'am..." and suggested I "sleep on my decision." What??!! I already said yes to the dog. I again told him it was fine, I didn't want to put more thought into it and by the way, next time I am in town I will probably want to tour this house. I haven't done so in years.

Danny wrote me back Sunday morning. He was back to Mrs. Landlord. However, he told me I'd better give him 48 hour notice before I show up.

Yes. I will do that. That would be common courtesy. But beforehand it would be really awesome if he he and his colleagues stopped bossing me around.

A Simple Courtesy

The house Mario manages for me came vacant June 1. I had heard it would be vacant but there had been no follow up until I e-mailed them and asked about 15 days later. In truth, I didn't care if it was vacant. In the recesses of my brain, I was hoping it would be.

My contract with Mario stipulates if I have a vacant home for 30 days I can fire him. I was thinking of doing so. Part of me likes having two property managers. If something goes wrong with one company, or if one property manager can't rent out the house (Kirby had this one vacant for months), I can give it to the other property manager. And though I prefer Kirby on a personal level, I know Mario is working hard to keep my business, because he knows I have other homes that could be his.

And actually, I would have preferred to give him my Waterford home and my home in Alabaster, as they are geographically close and it would have made sense to split up the houses in property management that way. However Mario is expensive. The little tiff he and I got into (where he told me to go have my husband explain something to me so I would understand it--a comment I have heard he regrets and one I haven't forgotten) was about his company taking liberties I did not authorize.

Granted, the work needed to be done. It was probably for the best, but it came out of a dried up bucket of money. If I had been told upfront he was going to make those repairs, we could have made arrangements and not been scrambling for months later to get those bills paid.

Mario's folks got the house rented in record time: June 29. I was pleased. They got a good rental price and the tenant sounds like she is stable. I suspect they were pleased too up until the point where one of Mario's minion sent me an e-mail last week: saying they did a bunch of work I did not authorize.

And now nobody is happy. Marty Sunshine countered that the repair in question (the air conditioner) needed to be done and the price wasn't terrible. That didn't stop me from discussing this with everyone over there who would listen--and a few who wouldn't. And yes, I understand this is what a property management company does--they fix these types of problems so I don't have to. There is a certain amount of peace that goes with that.

My point is, if I can be sent an e-mail after the fact, why can't I be told prior to the repairs being made? It is a simple courtesy that will help me make informed decisions.

Possibly Flipping Forward

I proclaimed to Marty Sunshine at 7:30 a.m. that Attorney Flip was my second-favorite living attorney. I bizarre honor I am certain, but one he earned by e-mailing me on a Saturday morning.

Flip e-mailed me to ask me a quick question regarding how the wording of the deed for one of our homes should actually read. His e-mail was a suggestion that perhaps my small administrative matter was being handled and would be over soon.

I am hoping things are looking up. Because I need this resolved. It has been looming too long.