4/17/2014

February 20th, 2014 Meeting Minutes

Secretary's notes for the February Meeting:
Called to Order - 7:00pm
Members present -10
Guest Present - 0
Introduction of Officers
Introduction of Members
December Minutes from the Christmas Party are in this Newsletter
Treasurer's Report was given by Jane Harman
The topic for the meeting was Small Claims Court. Shown were pictures of Mark Dunn's Investment property after the Tenant was evicted. Since I am the Property Manager and I have an llc the most I can collect on my own is $1500. If we want to collect more we have to take an attorney with us. Their limit is $6,000. In this instance we had more damage and rent owed than that so we had the attorney drop the case and file in Circuit Court. We will have until the actual court date to change the amount owed by this Tenant and then we are going after him. I have been to court in Madison County and Delaware County. Madison County follows the laws but is more in favor of the Landlord instead of the Tenant. It is ridiculous how long a Tenant can stay and not pay rent while tearing up the property. We will be looking into this problem to see if there is someway the laws can be made more fair.
We talked about the Tax Sales coming up which is a Certificate Sale and the differences. There were also copies of the paperwork showing the properties to be sold.
We are still having issues with IVY Tech and our Scholarship Program. Gary Rice is trying to get this straightened out. I will keep you posted.
 Meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm.

2/05/2014

Small Claims Court

Well I thought for sure that someone out there had questions for the Circuit Court. I had an opportunity to sit and talk to Laura. She was very nice and did her best, with much experience, to answer my questions. My one problem is that I have taken for granted that all Property Managers or Landlords care as much as I do about making nice homes for people to live in and following the Indiana Laws as far as Tenants Rights. I as a Licensed Real Estate Broker have making Laws and requirements that I maintain but I guess we are not all alike. I'm sure that we all care that if we lease a property to a Tenant we expect them to take care of it and pay their rent when it is due. Is this any different than where I live? I do my best to keep my house nice mainly because I live there but I also make a payment every month. Why is it that I will get calls saying I'm sorry I didn't pay the rent this month but it snowed and I couldn't get to you. What if I gave every new Tenant 12 self addressed envelopes with forever stamps on them and said, as it states in my lease, you may mail the rent to me but it has to be to me by the 5th because on the 6th there is a 10% late fee added. So people would know on the last day or first day of the month walk across the street and mail their rent to me. I ask my Tenants to please call me if you have a problem and know there is no way you will have the rent to me by the 5th. Common Courtesy! On the 6th when I'm calling to find out why I have no rent for that person I will be told that it snowed and they thought I knew it. Now have have a lot of properties and most of them will have paid and I put my payment in the mail also but they feel there is no reason for them to say anything to me.
I kind of got off course a little here. The problem I am having is that I have upgraded almost all of my properties. My rent is not cheap. I know that someone I am renting to expects more and so do I. Now I had a problem with one of these Tenants this is what happens:

1. My lease says the rent is due on the 1st and they have until the 5th and on the 6th there is a 10% late fee.
$1000 a month rent + $100 late fee = $1100 Normally these Tenants have a really good reason for being late even though I have to chase them to get it so they ask for me to be patient till the end of the month and they will be able to pay the month they missed plus the next month at the same time and on time. Now we have another $1000 due total so far is $2100. I did not get it or a call.

2. I send a certified eviction notice and I also take one to the house. My lease states that on the 7th it is an automatic eviction notice. I spoke with a judge Sat evening and he said the Circuit court judge will go by the wording of my lease. I am changing that to the 10th and as long as they initial and sign the lease stating that they have read and understand everything in my lease I am fine but let's say it is done the way we have been doing it. On the 7th I have sent them the eviction notice by certified mail $6.10 giving them 10 days. It is the 18th and I am the Justice Center filing for the eviction. It cost $94 if it is one person and $10 more for someone else on the lease each. Our total now is $2110.10. When I turn my paperwork back in they set the date for me to go to court. The last one took me 33 days. Laura said it should never take more than 3 weeks and shouldn't take that long.

3. Now we are into the next months rent $1000 + late fee because they are not going to pay it. Our total is $3110.10.

4. When our court date comes we are called into a small room at the end of the hall. I have only had one time when a Tenant showed up. This time I am using as an example he did not but they still gave him another 10days to be out.

5. If at the end of the 10 days they are still there it is my obligation to go back to court to have a Judge sign another notice of eviction to have them removed from the property. The last time I got this far it took almost a week but I learned I don't have to wait for them to mail it to me, I can go up and pick it up.

6. Now I am on my way to the Sheriff's office. I give them my paperwork and they set a date and time to meet me at the house so that I can change the locks. They are not moving them out. They are allowing me to change the locks and if they have personal items in the the house it is my responsibility to put them in storage for 30 days. I will admit that I have only had to go through this once. It took the Sheriff's office 2 weeks to do their paperwork and serve the Tenant. We are now real close to another month but I am not going to add it on just in case it is a few and I mean a few days short of another month. I am now paying to have their stuff moved to storage and paying a storage bill. $100 to move it and $40 to store it for a month. At the end of the month what am I doing? Selling it? Giving it away? Throwing it away? Letting the Storage Facility have it to sell then what does that do for me the next time I need a unit? Total to date $3250.10.

7. Back to the house. What a mess. Have you ever had a house that you had to evict the Tenants ever be ready to move into? I haven't. Now I have a lady who does a wonderful job of cleaning. If the rent is $1000 a month then it is not a 700 square foot house. It is probably 1600 square feet or larger. To clean this property will take her 3 ten hour days at $15 an hours. $450. Hopefully I can have carpets cleaned. $250.
Painting and repair of walls. $750. Now we have just spent $1450 to put this property back in the condition it was in when they moved in. They had a $1000 damage deposit. I subtract it from the work that was done and I'm still owed $450. Total now is $3700.10. Through this whole process I have not been made a penny.

8. 45 days have passed and I am now going back to court for the rent and damage hearing. I prove all that I have stated above plus receipts and picture. I have an LLC. I am a sole proprietorship. I am only allowed a $1500 judgement. I have never heard that before. Now we are out $2200.10. Ok because I was a sap and thought I was being told the truth, and they wonder why we are becoming so hard hearted, I could have cut a month off of this. We would have only lost $1100.10. Now Judge Speece told me that if I would have had an attorney with me we had a $6000 maximum. He also said that I could not get the money for the attorney back either. I can get the filing fee and 8% interest for as long as it takes up to 10 years to collect. Should we as the Rental Property Association try to get an attorney to work with us? I was told I can still do the paperwork and all he or she needs to do is be there. At this point I am wondering if this is something you would be interested in looking into as an Association or as an LLC I should look into it for my business.

I know that I am not the only Property Manager or Landlord that has this problem. Maybe there is some way that we can change things. As a Real Estate Broker we have to agree to go to Arbitration. Would something like this work for us?

Our next meeting is February 20th in the small room at the MCL. We get together at 6:00 for dinnner and lot of conversation then the meeting starts at 7:00 and last till the MCL closes at 8:30. We have been known to stand in the hall of the Mall and talk till they kick us out and then weather permitting we move to the parking lot. I have invited Judge Feick to come and speak to us. He is running for office again so I thought that we might interest him also. If we are going to have to have an attorney to work with us then let's find one that is interested in us enough to come and talk to us also.

I understand that there are many Investment Property Owners that bought their properties many years ago with the idea of this being their retirement. With the changes that have been made in mortgage regulations, taxes and Landlord rights as far a Tenants are concerned it is harder and harder for these Owners to keep their properties. Muncie wants their neighborhoods to become nicer or the rental properties to be kept up but do not seem to want to help the Owners. Now the other question I have is why is it always the low income Owners that are able to get grants or tax credits? Oh please don't get me started.

I'm on my soapbox again!

Subject: We can chang this

   AND, don't use the self check-out; it puts people out of jobs.  If no one used them, they would take them out and put PEOPLE back on the registers...


This is worth reading!!  All the way to the bottom.  I am going to do what it suggests! I had no idea hershey's bars were not made here.  From now on, I will know where everything is made that I  buy.

 ACE HARDWARE - Made in the USA - Very Encouraging
                                READ ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM! LOTS OF GOOD INFO HERE!
 
                                Costco sells Goodyear wiper blades for almost Half the price that you Will    pay on the outside and they are made in the U.S.A.
                                Read and do the following.
 
                                Unfortunately our politicians and top CEO's (GE etc) have pushed for trade to China and
                                Mexico for years so Americans are now out of work. Did you Know that there is no
                                Electric coffee maker made in the US and that
                                The only kitchen appliances made in the US is
                                Viking?
 
                                I DIDN'T KNOW HALLMARK
                                CARDS WERE MADE IN CHINA ! That is also why I don't buy cards at Hallmark anymore, They are made in China and are More expensive!
                                I buy them at Dollar Tree - 50 cents each and made in USA
 
                                I have been looking at the blenders available on the Internet. Kitchen Aid is MADE IN the U.S.
 
                                Yesterday I was in Wal Mart looking for a
                                Wastebasket. I found some Made
                                In China for $6.99. I didn't want to pay that much so I Asked the lady if they had any others.
                                She took me to another department
                                And they had some at $2.50 made in USA . They are just as good. Same as a kitchen rug I needed. I had to look, but I found some made in
                                The USA - what a concept! - and they were $3.00 cheaper..
 
                                We are being brainwashed to believe that everything that comes from China and Mexico is cheaper. Not So.
 
                                I was in Lowe's the other day and just out of curiosity, I looked At The hose attachments. They were all Made in China . The next day I was
                                In Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I
                                Checked the hose Attachments there. They were made in USA ..
 
                                Start looking, people . . ...In our current
                                Economic situation, every Little thing
                                We buy or do affects someone else - most often, their Job.
 
                                My Grandson likes Hershey's candy. I noticed, though, that it is
                                Now Marked "made in Mexico ."
                                I don't buy it anymore.
 
                                My Favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico ...
                                now I have Switched to Crest.
 
                                You have to read the Labels on everything.
 
                                This past weekend I was at Kroger . . . I needed
                                60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer Sheets
                                I was in the light bulb aisle,
                                And right next to the GE brand I
                                Normally buy -- was an off-brand labeled,
                                "Everyday Value." I picked up both types of bulbs and compared them: they were the same
                                except for the price . . .
                                the GE bulbs cost more than the Everyday Value
                                Brand, but the thing that surprised me the most was the GE was Made in MEXICO
                                And the Everyday Value brand was made in - you guessed it - the USA at a company in Cleveland, Ohio .
 
                                It's Way past time to start finding and buying products you use everyday that are made right here.
 
                                So, on to the next Aisle: Bounce Dryer Sheets... Yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada.
                                The Everyday Value Brand cost Less,
                                and was MADE IN THE USA ! I did laundry
                                yesterday AND the dryer sheets
                                performed just like the Bounce Free I have been
                                using for years, at almost half the Price.
 
                                MY CHALLENGE TO YOU IS to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and
                                see what you can find that is made in the USA.
                                The job you save may be your own or your neighbor's!
 
                                If you accept the challenge, pass this on to
                                OTHERS in your address Book so we can
                                ALL start buying American, one light bulb at a time!
 
                                Stop buying from overseas companies - you're sending the jobs there.
                                (We should have awakened a decade ago....)
 
                                Let's get with the program and help our fellow Americans
                                keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the USA .
 
 
Sorry about the way this article lined up but  I copied and pasted it and it would not let me make changes. I would have redone it completely but It takes time I do not have. I'm sure you will get the point.
 
Debby
 
      

 
 
 
 
 
 

1/28/2014

We need to take a look at the Delaware County Small Claims Court

Good Afternoon Members,

I went to court last Wednesday for a rent & damage hearing. I learned something and I know Tammy Parker who was called up before was shocked about also. How many of you have your Investment Properties in an LLC? Most landlords that have more than 4 rentals or less, LLC there business to protect their personal property. Did you know that it doesn't matter how much rent the tenant owes or how much damage they do, $1500 is the limit you will get. This really upset me. I made a few calls. Asked some questions and I have an appointment to go to the Circuit Court Office to ask more questions. What I am being told is the amount of time it takes this office to get paperwork out is why we have to wait so long to get into court or into the little room at the end of the hall.. Do you have questions you would like for me to ask? Email them to me. With everything I'm being told there is the $1500 maximum. I have also pulled a copy of the 2011 Small Claims Court Laws from the Internet. I went back into my files and pulled another set that I have from several years ago. It says the same thing but I was not an LLC then. We need to get this changed. Does anyone know how to do this or who to talk to? This is going to be the discussion we will be having at our Feb. 20th meeting.

Come on. I know that either you or someone you know is upset by this. Let's do something about it if we can.

      
Debby Gilpin, Broker/Owner 
G&G Realty, LLC 3205 S. Broadway   Yorktown, IN  47396 765-759-9506   Cell - 765-760-0212

1/13/2014

Please Keep Yourself Safe

Eaton shooting victim found dead in pole barn

Police have a 'person of interest' in Mark L. Gilland's death, Delaware County's first homicide of 2014.

EATON — Police believe an Eaton man was evicting a tenant from his property when he was fatally shot Saturday afternoon.

 Police investigate an alleged murder at 503 E. Race St. in Eaton Sunday. According to investigators, a man was shot to death with a small caliber handgun Saturday morning by another man who fled the scene. The body of the victim and a firearm was found in a pole barn on the property.

Mark L. Gilland, 50, was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident, according to Delaware County Coroner Scott Hahn. Gilland’s death is the first homicide in Delaware County in 2014.
The shooting was reported at 10:25 p.m. in the 500 block of East Race Street. Eaton Town Marshal Jonathon Snodgrass said investigators preliminarily believe that Gilland, who owns the property, went to the home to evict a resident and was shot and killed while inside a pole barn.
“This appears to be a landlord-tenant dispute,” Snodgrass said.
Snodgrass and Hahn were unsure on Sunday how many times Gilland had been shot. A firearm — a “small-caliber handgun,” according to Delaware County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Greg Ellison — was found at the scene, although it was immediately unknown whether that was the weapon used in the shooting.
Snodgrass believes a man being labeled by officers as a “person of interest” in the case stole Gilland’s Chevrolet pickup truck and drove it to the Red Carpet Inn, 3400 S. Madison St., in Muncie, where he was taken into police custody early Sunday. That man’s name was not being released as of Sunday afternoon.
Ellison said Sunday police were “still investigating everything,” and “all of our guys are following up on leads and talking to people.”
Ellison said Gilland’s body was discovered at the scene by family members Saturday evening, hours after officers believe he was shot. Gilland, officers were told, had been threatened in the past by a male tenant at the East Race Street property, and “worried” family members began searching for Gilland late Saturday after he hadn’t returned home.
“I guess it’s been an ongoing dispute for a little less than a month,” Snodgrass said.
Hahn said an autopsy is expected to be performed on Gilland early this week. Funeral services are pending at Pitman-Richman Funeral Home in Eaton.
Contact reporter Andrew Walker at 765-213-5845. Follow him on Twitter @AndrewWalkerTSP.

Christmas Dinner

Talk about good food!! We had lots of appetizers furnished by the Officers and the World Famous Punch made by Cheryl. It is the best. For dinner we had Pork Loin with Cheesy Potatoes and a Salad. There was plenty. Even enough for most to take some home for lunch the next day. Joann brought a cake for dessert. Red Velvet with Butter Cream Icing. Who could ask for more. The Members that came had a wonderful time. It is always nice to set and talk to each of the Members as friends. I look forward to it each year. I hope that you all will make it next year.
Debby, President

November 15th Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order at 7:00pm
The minutes were in the Newsletter and approved by the Membership.
The Treasurer's Report was given by Joann and approved by the Membership.
Well this was our nominations of Officers meeting and it went well. We have some new officers and one stayed on for another year.
President - Debby Gilpin
Vice President - Charl Clune
Secretary - Tracy McCaughy
Treasurer - Jane Harman

We also decided that the every other month meeting worked well so we decided to try it again this year only we are starting the year 2014 in February.
Here is the schedule:
January - None
February - 20th
March - None
April - 17th
May - None
June - 19th
July - None
August - 21st
September - None
October - 16th Election of Officers
November - None
December - Christmas Party (Approx. the 11th) 


Our meeting adjourned at 8:00pm