Sarasota Landlords Article (Orlando, Davenport: sales, real estate, apartment complex)

[gypsychic]

This is the top story online today in the Sarasota Herald Tribune:

Debt and taxes are killing landlords | HeraldTribune.com | Sarasota Florida | Southwest Florida's Information Leader

Basically about the high taxes and insurance "killing" them, especially in this market where values are plummeting. So be careful who you rent from if you are considering renting here. The guy in the picture, I know from when we lived in Sarasota years ago. He bought all those properties back when they were very cheap, and now he is complaining about his expenses. If he owns 72 properties, he must be a terrible money manager, I know what he would have paid for most of those back in the day, and even with today's costs he should be doing rather well. Instead he hopes for a "hurricane to blow them away, cash his check and get out of town because there is no reason to stay here." Some of these investors I just have no use for.

[Ladywithafan]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

This is the top story online today in the Sarasota Herald Tribune:

Debt and taxes are killing landlords | HeraldTribune.com | Sarasota Florida | Southwest Florida's Information Leader

Basically about the high taxes and insurance "killing" them, especially in this market where values are plummeting. So be careful who you rent from if you are considering renting here. The guy in the picture, I know from when we lived in Sarasota years ago. He bought all those properties back when they were very cheap, and now he is complaining about his expenses. If he owns 72 properties, he must be a terrible money manager, I know what he would have paid for most of those back in the day, and even with today's costs he should be doing rather well. Instead he hopes for a "hurricane to blow them away, cash his check and get out of town because there is no reason to stay here." Some of these investors I just have no use for.

My lease is up downtown May 1st, unless my landlord can lower my rent, I'm moving. Love it but with studios/1/1s right around the corner going for $675 to $700....the $825 that I pay is looking too high...

Considering this issue, I'm wondering if I should get a "normal" apartment in a complex instead of having a "landlord".

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

My lease is up downtown May 1st, unless my landlord can lower my rent, I'm moving. Love it but with studios/1/1s right around the corner going for $675 to $700....the $825 that I pay is looking too high...

Considering this issue, I'm wondering if I should get a "normal" apartment in a complex instead of having a "landlord".

Lady, I am thinking a normal complex might be better for you in light of what's happening in the economy. Some of these "investors" bought properties with the inflated equities of other properties and built a house of cards which is about to tumble down and the renters are the ones that are going to be hurt. Besides, you will probably have better maintenance in a nice complex.

Good luck!

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

My lease is up downtown May 1st, unless my landlord can lower my rent, I'm moving. Love it but with studios/1/1s right around the corner going for $675 to $700....the $825 that I pay is looking too high...

Considering this issue, I'm wondering if I should get a "normal" apartment in a complex instead of having a "landlord".

Usually, the landlord would rather keep a good tenet than lose them. If you like them and the place, I would mention the other places that are cheaper. My tenants confronted me on one of my rentals I have, saying that they could get cheaper rent elsewhere. I immediately lowered their rent to keep them.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

Usually, the landlord would rather keep a good tenet than lose them. If you like them and the place, I would mention the other places that are cheaper. My tenants confronted me on one of my rentals and I have, saying that they could get cheaper rent elsewhere. I immediately lowered their rent to keep them.

Bummer! ;-(

Unfortunately that is the direction that the economy is heading. But, I hope it wont be too long till it heads in the right direction, where you can get more rent, and people can make a few $$ more and afford to pay more rent too.

[loves2read]

what is the law in FL regarding landlords who rent homes/condos and then start to go through a bankruptcy/foreclosure...
in TX--many people who rent are finding out that their landlord has been taking their rent payments and defaulting on his own--the property goes into foreclosure and they get evicted--even when they are current on THEIR payments--sometimes they do not know about the eviction (which is served to the owner's address--not the property address) until the sheriff's rep comes to the door---story in my local paper last week about family that just moved into rental property--paid their deposit and first months rent--had their utilities' deposits as well to take care of--moving expenses--only to get evicted within the first week or so--all that money down the drain---not to mention finding another place to move at short notice..

has anyone had that happen to them

[texasdiver]

Any real estate or banking pros out there have any suggestions on how to protect ones self in this situation? Is there any way to actually find out if your landlord is current? Can you use public databases to find out who has the lien on the house and then find out if it is current or in arrears? Or is that impossible for a private citizen to do?

[Sunshine9]

We were in SRQ a couple of weeks ago looking for a rental and found a condo in a great location with pretty reasonable rent. Unfortunately, almost every unit was in foreclosure and they would only offer a 6-month lease. They offered us one that was owned outright but we were still worried about what would happen to maintenance and services if most everyone was evicted. We finally decided on an apartment complex in Palmer Ranch. Not the ideal location for us but it's nice and the rent is really reasonable. Quite a change from S. FL.

I'd also be interested to know how many days a tenant has to vacate if a property goes into foreclosure. I've heard 30 days.

[itsajourney]

[quote=loves2read;7848881]what is the law in FL regarding landlords who rent homes/condos and then start to go through a bankruptcy/foreclosure...
in TX--many people who rent are finding out that their landlord has been taking their rent payments and defaulting on his own--the property goes into foreclosure and they get evicted--even when they are current on THEIR payments--sometimes they do not know about the eviction (which is served to the owner's address--not the property address) until the sheriff's rep comes to the door---story in my local paper last week about family that just moved into rental property--paid their deposit and first months rent--had their utilities' deposits as well to take care of--moving expenses--only to get evicted within the first week or so--all that money down the drain---not to mention finding another place to move at short notice..


I haven't had that exact scenario happen to me--but it would have been headed that direction had I not had enough sense to realize that something wasn't quite right. Fortunately, I have been in real estate in a couple of different states-so I was able to detect "things weren't quite right".

When we moved to Orlando from Davenport, FL, real estate prices were thru the roof. Buying wasn't even a consideration for us at the prices of homes 4 years ago. Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of positive thoughts for the landlords I have had to deal with since moving to Florida. To begin with, not one of the private landlords is familiar with FL Landlord/Tenant Statues. These guys think they can just collect rent and bully their way thru everything.

Very long story short, I have had 4 landlords in 4 years--and not because I wanted to. I wanted to move into one house and stay put until prices adjusted and/or kids finished high school. Every landlord was "oh, the longer you stay--the better"

First landlord realized the prices were dropping out and decided to sell at the end of the yr. lease.

Second landlord got in way over his head--I ended up reporting him to Orange County Code Enforcement for multiple health/safety/maintenance violations. He got written up, wouldn't fix them, we moved out after 6 weeks. We're talking a $300,000+ home. Within a few months after that, His family lost all three houses they bought and who knows where they ended up.

Third landlord did the things listed above that poster refers to. We moved into that home Mar 1,2007. Made monthly rental payments. Around April 2008 I realized things were "fishy"-just because of some of the mail that started coming to the house for the landlord. I decided to check public records--which in Florida, you can do online. I found out my landlord had not paid taxes, and our house was in preforeclosure. Same landlord also had another property that went into foreclosure a few months before ours. When I let landlord know that I knew what was going on--he disappeared. When we got served papers, we became a party to everything and I was able to read his default and everything. He had quit making house payments back in Sept. of 2007. So he collected rent--which far exceeded the monthly payment he was to make for 8 months--before we got wise to it. By then I was so PO'd that I was very cooperative with the mortgage company when they were trying to track this slime ball down.

Anyway, I knew that we had a little bit of time before we would get served with an eviction, but we began looking for another house right away. Unfortunately, I have 2 kids in high school and the kids don't want to change schools--it's not a huge area so housing choices were limited.

In the end, everything worked out for us. A neighbor on the same block was getting married and both she & he had homes--so they were renting out hers and moving into his. We got to stay on the lake and gained a pool and 4th bedroom. All in all a nicer home--but also rent payments that went up a LOT.

Who knows what will happen--I am anxious for the kids to finish high school so I am not so restricted on choices of where to live.

[gypsychic]

This is the flip side of everyone who advises people to rent while the market goes down more - the problem is GOOD rentals are hard to come by that aren't in some type of foreclosure and at the same time MORE people are looking to rent. I'm not saying people shouldn't rent, because I know many have no choice, one just has to be very, very careful. So many landlords are like the one in the article, they got in over their heads, don't really care about their tenants, and basically are greedy and only care about themselves. And remember, they will pass along their increased expenses (like taxes and insurance) to YOU, the renter (see the article posted).

I don't know how one can look up who a lienholder is on the property, but as the poster above stated, you can look up the local county tax appraiser's website and at least see if the taxes have been paid, along with the last sales information, and how many properties someone owns.

Good luck to all who need to rent.