I am looking to buy my first rental. I need to know if I but a tri-plex & have one tenant who has not paid the owner for 5 months & the owner says he gave a notice to the tenant do I inherit the problem? How long can it take for me to get the renter out?The home is not up to par, I need to do a total renovation. I can't do that with the renter there. What can I do to still buy my first investment? How can I move forward without the head ache.:confused:

Yes, you inherit the problem. You'd need to follow through on the eviction on your own. In my state evictions are 30-45 days before the bailiff comes out to set them out.

If I were you I'd make a term of the contract that the current owner have that unit vacant before closing.

Got caught with the spread limit. But I wanted to reinforce what Rick said. I would be concerned that the current owner has not been able to evict this person in 5 months. That raises alarms with me. I think you need to get more facts about this situation. But I would definitely make it a provision of the sale that all tenants be gone before closing. I doubt that this is a headache you want to inherit.

I am looking to buy my first rental. I need to know if I but a tri-plex & have one tenant who has not paid the owner for 5 months & the owner says he gave a notice to the tenant do I inherit the problem? How long can it take for me to get the renter out?The home is not up to par, I need to do a total renovation. I can't do that with the renter there. What can I do to still buy my first investment? How can I move forward without the head ache.:confused:
Join your local landlord association * be a member and go to meetings for 6 months before you even start to look for a property to purchase. Get a GOOD Realtor - preferably one who owns investment property themselves. Get educated on what it takes to BE a landlord... getting your first property is EASY compared to keeping it and making it into a good investment.

Hello java:

Do you play gin? Do you know the rules? How could you play if you don't know the rules? Oh, I know how you could play. You could just sit down and say deal - just like you could when you buy a rental. But could you win? I highly doubt it. Somebody could cheat you, and cheat you, and cheat you again, and you'd never know it.

So, you're about ready to play landlord. Do you know the rules? Doesn't sound like it. How could you possibly win at the landlord business if you don't know the rules? Why would you even consider being a landlord, if you didn't know the rules?

Don't worry. I'm not beating up on you specifically. I don't know. MOST landlords rent WITHOUT knowing the rules. At least you asked BEFORE you bought something.

excon

PS> By the way, the rules for your state are available at the top of this forum, and they're not too difficult to understand.