Foreclosed...
So, as most of you know there are woes with dealing with the home in Sandusky...
But I'd not have thought woes in the same vein but completely unrelated would strike here in Cleveland....
On Sunday, October 18 we opened a letter that was addressed to "Resident" at our address and in our mailbox. We only later saw it didn't have an apartment number on it. It was a shut-off notice from the Cleveland Heights Division of Water. Seems the water and sewer bill for our building (multi-family house with three units) hadn't been paid and they were threatening to shut off the water on Thursday, October 22. The next day I called the building manager (the bill was in his name) to address this concern and he said he would look into it. Water is paid for by the landlord, not the tenants.
On Wednesday I used our NEO CANDO database (that my center runs) to look up information on the property since a landlord not paying utility bills is a sign of impending foreclosure. I had tried looking it up on Monday but it seems I didn't have the extra permissions I needed to look it up until the developer of NEO CANDO helped me. And there I see it. On August 3, 2009 the building was put into foreclosure. On November 2, 2009 it will be up for sheriff's sale at an opening bid of $60,000. Suffice to say, this is did not help my mood that was already under the worst stress and closest to Depression I had felt in years.
I spent the day worrying what was going to happen in 13 days. Luckily I was told and confirmed that a new law past (and I can honestly say thank you Obama) to protect renters from this kind of crap (as during the last few years of the foreclosure crisis many renters were being booted out with little notice even after faithfully always paying their rent). The new law states that renters have 90 days to vacate after a new owner takes a foreclosed property if the new owner wants the renters out. It's possible a new owner would want renters anyway - though that's unlikely if a bank buys the house. Luckily, the banks made enough poor-faith loans they're stuck with too many foreclosed homes they can't shift so they don't want any more.
Of course, now I'm concerned what to do anyway. I still have to pay my rent on November 1 - but as the last three rent checks went to a guy who is no longer paying his mortgage on the property. I've done a few searches for open rentals in the area but there's not much right now. Luckily there will be a lot more before the 90 days are up.
Luckily (if somewhat surprisingly) the building manager did pay the water bill so we have water. Had it been shut off, the city might have been able to force us out within 3 days under some asinine rule that the building was unlivable. And no, the irony was not lost on me - that we as landlords could not legally shut off any utilities for our house in Sandusky that had a renter who was violating the agreement by staying on and yet the City of Cleveland Heights could legally shut off our water even after we had faithfully paid all the rent.
Oy vey...
But I'd not have thought woes in the same vein but completely unrelated would strike here in Cleveland....
On Sunday, October 18 we opened a letter that was addressed to "Resident" at our address and in our mailbox. We only later saw it didn't have an apartment number on it. It was a shut-off notice from the Cleveland Heights Division of Water. Seems the water and sewer bill for our building (multi-family house with three units) hadn't been paid and they were threatening to shut off the water on Thursday, October 22. The next day I called the building manager (the bill was in his name) to address this concern and he said he would look into it. Water is paid for by the landlord, not the tenants.
On Wednesday I used our NEO CANDO database (that my center runs) to look up information on the property since a landlord not paying utility bills is a sign of impending foreclosure. I had tried looking it up on Monday but it seems I didn't have the extra permissions I needed to look it up until the developer of NEO CANDO helped me. And there I see it. On August 3, 2009 the building was put into foreclosure. On November 2, 2009 it will be up for sheriff's sale at an opening bid of $60,000. Suffice to say, this is did not help my mood that was already under the worst stress and closest to Depression I had felt in years.
I spent the day worrying what was going to happen in 13 days. Luckily I was told and confirmed that a new law past (and I can honestly say thank you Obama) to protect renters from this kind of crap (as during the last few years of the foreclosure crisis many renters were being booted out with little notice even after faithfully always paying their rent). The new law states that renters have 90 days to vacate after a new owner takes a foreclosed property if the new owner wants the renters out. It's possible a new owner would want renters anyway - though that's unlikely if a bank buys the house. Luckily, the banks made enough poor-faith loans they're stuck with too many foreclosed homes they can't shift so they don't want any more.
Of course, now I'm concerned what to do anyway. I still have to pay my rent on November 1 - but as the last three rent checks went to a guy who is no longer paying his mortgage on the property. I've done a few searches for open rentals in the area but there's not much right now. Luckily there will be a lot more before the 90 days are up.
Luckily (if somewhat surprisingly) the building manager did pay the water bill so we have water. Had it been shut off, the city might have been able to force us out within 3 days under some asinine rule that the building was unlivable. And no, the irony was not lost on me - that we as landlords could not legally shut off any utilities for our house in Sandusky that had a renter who was violating the agreement by staying on and yet the City of Cleveland Heights could legally shut off our water even after we had faithfully paid all the rent.
Oy vey...