The California rental housing market has changed. New state and Federal guidelines over the past several years has made it more and more difficult for Californians to remain landlords. I bet if I asked 100 hundred landlords in Sacramento, Stockton or Modesto, what it would take for them to sell one of their rental houses in Sacramento, the list would be short.
I also know that if the price were right and the property had suffered through enough hardships from horrible tenants, the list would get a lot shorter. Assets are either performing or not. If you are spending more money than you take in, that’s called a negative cash flow. If you own a property that has a negative cash flow and you dont need the tax write off, you have to ask yourself why you would do that. Pride of ownership? Each landlord must decide those realities for themselves.
I do know this, the decision to sell my Sacramento house, may hinge on knowing that there is a buyer, that they will offer me a fair price, pay cash, buy the house as is and never order one single inspection.
My name is Peter Westbrook and I am a real estate investor in Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto. I have seen first hand the how just a series of a few bad tenants, that cause damage to a house, can dramatically change a landlords perspective quickly. I also know that if you meet enough of the sellers conditions, most landlords would like that opportunity to just sell their house fast.
In the video below I walk through a house that the owner needed to sell. I am NOT a Realtor and I don’t care that the house needs work, what the address is or whether there is mold and mildew, water damage, fire damage, or broken tiles in the kitchen or bathroom. We don’t care that there are code violations with the City. Tenants and family members that won’t leave. When you sell your Sacramento House to us, we take that liability that you currently have and turn it back into an ASSET for you.
We do the leg work. We make the phone calls. We clean up the mess! All we care about at the end of the day is that we keep our promise to you to buy your house and close when we say.
We want to help you take control of your situation, end the hassles, and get back to living the life you want to live. And you deserve to know all of the options available to you right now.
Call us and we’ll show you the options to help solve your current situation.
All of this 100% free to you (we don’t charge you any fees…. NONE). 100% no hassle. 100% no obligation. Only our commitment to you.
We Buy Houses Sacramento, Get Your Offer at https://www.webuyhousessacramento.org or https://www.westbrookrei.com/we-buy-houses-scaramento
or call us today at (209) 481-7780.
Video Transcription
Peter W.: Hello, everyone. Peter Westbrook with Westbrook Real Estate Investments. Today, I wanted to do a little video on what it takes as a homeowner to finally make that decision to sell that house.
Peter W.: I know as an owner of several properties out of state what it takes to finally come to that conclusion that I’ve got a non-performing asset that is just dragging down really everything financially and emotionally. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an individual, or you’re in business to do what I do. What really matters is the resources that it takes for a house, or to keep a house, away from code violations from the city, to keep a house safe from vandals and squatters. For the past 10 years, that’s what I’ve done. I’ve helped homeowners get out of their own way by allowing them to sell what was currently an asset, or a liability, and turn it into an asset for themselves.
Peter W.: Most people don’t realize the wear and tear that it takes to own a house, and what goes on, on a daily basis in terms of a constant reminder, to be a homeowner, and how the burden of a house is dragging everything else down financially. Imagine for a month that it’s the end of the month. You’ve got property taxes that are due, not only on the house that you live in, but also on the house that you have as a rental, or a house that you’ve inherited. You’re doing everything you possibly can just to keep up with the house that’s there. It’s not helping you at all financially. It is an albatross.
Peter W.: Then, let’s say you decide to rent out that house, pardon me, and in the renting out of that house you get a bad tenant. The tenant pays you rent for the first three months, and the next thing you know they’re late. And maybe they’re late the next month, and then they catch up two months, and then they’re late again. Pretty soon it just it takes a toll because you’ve got to cover all of those costs within the house whether it’s for repairs, or whatever.
Peter W.: Let’s say that tenant takes it one step further and doesn’t pay for three months. Let’s say you’re starting to see the signs of wear and tear on the house on the outside, and you know that on the inside it’s probably facing the same dilemma, and so you do what you do? You call and you say, “When can I come and pick up the rent?” They want to argue with you because, after all, they’re not the problem, you are. They want to turn this into your problem, and of course it’s not your problem. And if you’re a landlord you know exactly what I’m talking about. It goes on and sooner than later, the tenant stops paying rent altogether, and you try, and collect the rent, but you can’t, so you post a three day notice on their door, and you don’t hear anything. You call, and you don’t hear anything, and pretty soon you post an eviction notice.
Peter W.: Now, these renters are pretty smart, especially the ones that have been through the process before. Unfortunately, we as landlords don’t always pick up on the cues when we interview tenants the first time to know that they’re going to be a problem because all tenants are great, right. All you have to do is ask them. They’re going to beat their chest, tell you that, oh, they’ve always been good and respectful of somebody else’s property until of course that day comes around when they’re not, and it happens to be your property. But, you do what you can, and so you go out and you file the… basically the… I’m sorry. You go out and you file an eviction notice. The eviction notice is called an Unlawful Detainer.
Peter W.: By filing the Unlawful Detainer with the court you basically give the tenant time now to respond. You have to actually serve them the official court documents, and you’d have to give notice to the court that they’ve been served, and then a court date is issued. The tenant then has an opportunity to dispute whatever claims you’ve made about them and not paying their rent, or they are threatening to throw in the gratuitous objection, oh, the house is uninhabitable. There are so many problems with the house that you didn’t take care of them. The list goes on and on. That may or may not be true, and it probably isn’t true, but it doesn’t matter the court doesn’t know that, or they file a petition and they delay, or the court date comes up and they delay. Basically, they know that they can probably delay it for another 90 days before you can see them in the courtroom.
Peter W.: And when you file, they do get there in the courtroom, if there is one mistake in the paperwork you’ve got to start the process all over again. In fact, at the courtroom, or at the courthouse, they have advocates for renters that will sit down, and they’re legal people, they’re lawyers, sit down with these people and show them the ins and outs of being evicted, and really show them how they can evade your ability to get them out of your house that they’re not paying for. Now, of course this isn’t going to last forever, but it doesn’t matter, 90 to 120 days at $700 to $800 a month is a lot of money. How many property tax bills can that pay? How much maintenance and deferred maintenance can that pay on a house?
Peter W.: But to make matters worse, you know that your house is being destroyed on the inside because these people are upset that you have the audacity to expect to be paid rent while they are in your house. You know that there is being damage being done, and yet, you still can’t do anything to get them out until the court says that it’s okay. As time goes on, you also then get a notice from the city because they’re not mowing the lawn. They’ve got garbage in the front lawn, or in the front yard, and they’ve got cars parked. The next thing you know there are code violations, and the city says if you don’t correct the problem they’re going to come out and correct the problem for you. How nice, so anyway.
Peter W.: My name is Peter Westbrook. How much of this are you willing to take? If you’ve got a house and you’re just tired of being a landlord, why don’t you give me a call? My phone number is (209) 481-7780. I will make you a cash offer on the house. We’ll get it from being a liability and turn it back into being an asset for you. I’ll make that offer based on fair market value of houses that have sold in your area minus the cost of repairs, and a small holding fee, and you’ll get on with your life. You won’t have to deal with these people anymore, and you’ll let it be my problem. It isn’t often in life that other people are willing to come in and say, “Hey, I’m going to let your problem be my problem,” but this is one of them.
Peter W.: Again, my name is Peter Westbrook. My phone number is (209) 481-7780. My website address is https://www.webuyhousessacramento.org, or https://www.westbrookrei.com/we-buy-houses-sacramento . Either way, I’d love to hear from you. Again, my phone number is (209) 481-7780. I want to thank you for watching.