Court Ordered Possession

Sometimes property gets turned over to an asset manager one house at a time and other times entire complexes come in at once.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day as we need to go seize a 72 unit apartment complex in Grove City, Ohio which is a suburb of Columbus.  When taking on this task, it is a little more complicated that just one home.

If you are ever in this situation, here are some steps to consider:

1. You need to get control of the leases
2. You need to get control of the key box
3. With any luck, the income and expense records are on a computer.  Life is easier if you can get the passwords.
4. If taking over the property under Court Order, you may need to seize the bank accounts of the title holder.  Banks will usually comply IF you bring the Order in with you.
5. For complexes, there may be standing contracts to contend with
1. Lawn care
2. Snow removal
3. Outstanding maintenance agreements
4. Third party managers
6. If there are employees at the site then there are loyalty concerns.  Is this person loyal to their job or to the title holder?  You may need to fire.
7. Municipality issues
1. Contact the building or code departments to negotiate repair of violations and timelines
2. Contact the police department concerning the title holders access rights.  Amazing as it may seem, some of them will continue to attempt rent collections even though they lost that right.  Sometimes they need to be physically removed from the location under police supervision.

........and that is just the first day....................