I was in eviction court last week in Hennepin County.  I love sitting and listening to the other court cases.  Sometimes it is a little like a case of Cops or Judge Judy!  It is good entertainment to hear what the landlord and tenant say about why they are in court today.
This last week I [...]

I get a lot of questions about tenant evictions.  I suppose it is like any job, it is the one thing that landlords have in common across all investment properties.  Here is a recent note I received:
I have a renter who’s lease expired in September so she is on a month-to-month lease currently. She has [...]

Everyone knows the drill, you take a rental application and you call the previous landlords to see what this person was like as a renter.  Surprisingly, despite the number of tenants I go through in a year, I rarely get those calls.  When I do, I am happy to tell the caller what I think [...]

In the past 12 months, I have been showing and selling many more HUD properties.  I would estimate that 1 in 10 are HUD listings up from 1 in 100 just 2 years ago.  The process is much different than buying a typical REO and you need an experienced agent that can help you navigate [...]

I just had it happen again today.  Property has been on the market for 75 days.  I checked with the listing agent last night, no offers.  We wrote up an offer and I sent it in around noon today.  He writes me back at 2pm and says he now has 2 more offers.  What!?!#@%
This has [...]

I got a great question from a long time reader, John Gall, today.  He asked:
When I look at the [other company's] site which I’m sure pulls from MLS I’m seeing the following status on the listings.  It would be interesting to have an explanation of why one is chosen vs another.  Some are obvious but [...]

One of our team members asked the following question today:
Can you or the team answer a question about 1099 income on a short sale. I thought a home owner who sold via a short sale wasn’t liable for the difference with the Debt Forgiveness Act?
I’ve just received an approval from the bank on my short [...]

What can a 1031 Exchange Do for You?
When you go to sell your appreciated property, it would be a real waste to give away much of your hard earned equity because of capital gains taxes. A 1031 exchange appeals to only one kind of investor: The investor who wants a better investment without getting socked [...]

Back in November, I came across an article that talked about how this writer saw an ad on Craig’s list for a property that was 50% below the market price for the neighborhood. It had him intrigued. He proceeded to check out the upcoming open house only to find out that it appeared to be [...]

The Minnesota Supreme court overturned a lower court ruling this week that could hurt the many cities that are now requiring rental inspections.  The case involves a Red Wing city ordinance that requires that all rental properties have on-site inspections performed by the city.  Any landlord that was unwilling to allow the inspection was issued [...]

I am not sure where this came from or who starting teaching it.  I have heard many old-school landlords say that they use a PO Box for their rent checks.  I guess the theory was that you don’t want your tenants to know where you live.  I suppose in case of a zombie apocalypse that would be [...]

For as long as I have owned properties in Minneapolis, I have always been confused by the occupancy limits per unit.  The official language of the housing rules and standards for occupancy is:
The maximum occupancy for a dwelling unit located in in these zoning districts [R1, R1A, R2, R2B, R3] is one (1) family plus [...]

If you were a landlord and lived through the mid-2000′s, you saw market rents fall as many better tenants were buying houses and vacancy rates were climbing. I had to make major upgrades to many of my rental units AND take 10-20% drops in monthly rental amounts to get or keep some places rented. This [...]

Our guest blogger is Eric Drenckhahn, edrenckh@gmail.com, 651-283-7651.
This is a rental situation that is run across many more times than you think.  If you think it is your tenant scenario, it may be, but it happens so often it isn’t funny.
So you have found a tenant.  They are solid people, from a criminal standpoint.  Not [...]

Matt Engel is our guest writer for today.  Matt is an attorney and a Minnesota Real Estate Show radio partner.
Q: “I have a new tenant who will pay the first and last months rent in advance due to bad credit.  If they are late on a month can you still evict or do you wait [...]