Ben Edsall

Landlord Licensing AGAIN!

We've seen it all before, the same old song and dance! "We just want to make sure that the rental housing in our town is safe"! BS! Every time I hear that tripe I just want to gag, what nincompoops do they think we are.

Now granted there are some sheeple dumb enough to believe that crap, but like everything else government does it is about the MONEY!

They always toss around pejoratives like "absentee landlord" a term designed to make you think of some rich fat cigar smoking guy living in a penthouse in New York who just picks up hovels and runs them like a tenement. When in reality anyone who owns stock or mutual funds is an absentee investor, as most people invest in stocks from companies other than where they live.

If I own stock in PepsiCo and it is based in New York, does that mean that I don't give a rats a$$ what happens to my investment because I don't live there. No; and real estate is no different, If Joe from Seattle invests in real property in the Midwest, he cares just as much about that investment as you do your stock!

In this current climate of punishing success and penalizing achievers Raytown is jumping on the band wagon looking to fill the tax void left by the fact that the Chevy dealer, the Dodge dealer and the Jeep Dealer are all folding.

Some times I really think that anyone who is elected to office should be required to play Sim City before they open their big mouths and let the stupid ideas come out!

If you penalize investment in your city then investors will go elsewhere!

So Joe Creamer a Raytown, MO Alderman has proposed yet again a landlord tax, as a way to "separate ourselves from Kansas City and make Raytown a more desirable place to live,"
Quote: www.theraytownpost.com

Here are the problems with that uninformed statement:

1. Kansas City already has a landlord registry program, it is a dismal failure and was only a scheme to extract money from investors. It is underfunded, undermanned and it led to the city deciding to enact a new system of attacking home-owners with fines instead of working with them to correct deficiencies.

2. Raytown has a GREAT school system, that is well respected and highly acclaimed. Kansas City has a miserable failure of a school system that is rife with crime and even rape.

3. Kansas City is one of the most crime infested, rat holes in the Nation. Raytown has very little violent crime and whats more Raytown has a much better track record of solving crime and punishing the criminals.

4. Kansas City is a blighted mess of corruption, crime, ram-shackled houses, declining property values and thousands of vacant, dilapidated houses. Raytown has a strong codes enforcement department that has done much to clean up the city and make it much more attractive and desirable.

So what is the answer if it is not punishing real estate investors for investing in your city.

1. How about enforcing the building codes uniformly, not focusing on owner or non-owner occupied property but focusing on making all the homes in your city clean, maintained and attractive.

2. How about going after homes where there are repeated calls for service from the police department, or residents who are posing problems for their neighbors. Not targeting property based on whether it is owner occupied or not.

3. How about imposing fines on people who tax the system, and cause repeat calls to the police department or other government services, instead of trying to discourage investment in your city.

PUNISH THE PERPETRATORS NOT THE INVESTORS!

I read a post on the newspapers website from a concerned citizen of Raytown who was upset about a rental property down the street from her home. I can relate, my neighborhood has recently had several homes picked up by real estate investors. But like most sheeple in the obamanation she wanted to punish the achievers, she wanted to attack the investors instead of addressing the problem tenants.

Her post stated that the renters urinated outside, and they drove too fast on the street. Well, my dear, those things are already illegal, there are laws in place to address urinating in public and speeding. Taxing the guy who owns the house will not solve those problems, being a good neighbor might! she also lamented that the house needed paint, well, my dear there are already codes on the books to address that too, whether it is your owner occupied house or the rental down the street, we already have laws about that!

So stop looking to government to solve all your little whiny, sniveling complaints and do something about your neighborhood yourself. When the house up the street from me went vacant in foreclosure, I mowed the lawn. When my disabled neighbor can't clean up the tree limbs that fall, I help her out, when the snow covers the street and the city hasn't gotten to it, I plow the snow. Remember what the world was like when people had porch swings and knew their neighbors, remember what the world was like when you actually helped one another instead of waiting on the all powerful big government to come and bail you out.

What the hell has happened to America that we all sit shaking in our houses waiting for some government entity to come and solve our problems? Get off you couch and take back your neighborhood, start by meeting your neighbors and maybe helping them a little!

D. Ben Edsall
Broker - Accredited Residential Manager
Turn-Key Properties LLC
www.turnkeyproperties.org
www.batescountyrealestate.com

When do you turn down a commission on a million dollar deal?

When it is the right thing to do!

I have been working with some charitable organizations to close a deal that will help hundreds of needy people. There was an opportunity here to try to be compensated, but this is for the greater good.

America has many people in need, now more so than in any time in my life. So when do you turn down a commission on a million dollar deal? When it helps others.

Won't you help too? We need to raise $60,000 in 60 Days to fulfill this mission, this calling, to reach out to those in need. If you are familiar with the Dream Center www.dreamcenter.org than you will understand the need for this kind of ministry in the Midwest.

Join us in fighting poverty and helping others.

As we build the Kansas City Dream Center we will reach out to hundreds, even thousands of people in need. You can be a part of this ministry. Help us, help them, so many people are hurting, so many people are without jobs and without homes. We seek not to give them a fish, but to teach them to fish and provide for themselves; and to be fishers of men.

Read about it here: http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1198372.html

See the rest of the story here: Dream Center Kansas City

Donate here

Mathew 25:40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

My friends and fellow Realtors, these are hard times for all, many of us are facing dificult times ourselves. But I have found that nothing takes your mind off your troubles like helpings others in need.

I have been blessed to be a part of one of the most amazing opportunities that has come my way.

If you have heard of the Dream Center and all the good they do then you will know what a great help it will be to have a Midwest based Dream Center right here in Kansas City, MO!.

"This is not a shelter for homeless, it is not a drug rehab facility," said Wiley. "It is a facility to assist the working poor who are dealing with the problem of being just one pay check away from being homeless." (from the Raytown Post)

What does a Dream Center do? A dream center is a place for homeless, poor and lost souls to get back on their feet and help others while helping themselves.

Please read these articles and see how we can help those in need.

You can see more information here.

http://www.rivercentral.org/Groups/1000043823/River_Christian_Fellowship/Things_To_Do/Impact_Community/River_of_Refuge/River_of_Refuge.aspx

Here is the article from the Kansas City Star.

Here is the article from the Raytown Post.

Here is how you can help DONATE

I just built and launched a new web site for less than $10.00 a year. I am working on some others now too. Bates County Real Estate

The trick is to get them up in the search engine rankings, but I'm pretty good at that. So why do I need yet another web site?

Links, referrals, and traffic. As I grow the popularity of this site I gain position on the Internet. As that sight gets more active it boosts the rating of the sites it links to.

One site can't do it all! My first site Turn-Key Properties LLC was supposed to be a one stop shop. Property Management, Investment Property, Commercial Property, Heck even information for consumers.

While my ranking is high, I was loosing too many visitors because what they first saw may not have been what they had Googled that brought them there.

So now I can focus on specific websites for specific property types and services. I twill take a lot of work, but I am accustom to that.

So how did I get a great looking website for less than $10.00 a year? www.weebly.com build your site for free, it will help to know a little HTML and have a basic understanding of SEO. Once it is built go to www.godaddy.com, (you know the one with the girls) and buy your domain for $9.95, then figure out how to change the domain registry to your new www.weebly.com site.

There you go, I've got about four hours in building a kick butt site that will act as a traffic generator and give me leads for other property types.

There are some limitations to the Weebly site, but for what it costs, I can live with it!

D. Ben Edsall
Broker - Accredited Residential Manager
Turn-Key Properties LLC

816-313-8876

Bates County Real Estate

Welcome to my personal HELL! Yet another complaint by yet another whiner seeking to get something for nothing! The scam that is Fair Housing raises its ugly head again.

You must rent to this CONVICTED, REPEAT FELON!

I wrote on this subject before (Fair housing truths and myths). The reality of it is my family looks like a picnic at the United Nations! I've got Asian grandchildren, black-Canadian cousins, black great-nephews, heck I'm not even completely sure what my heritage is.

I explained in the linked post how this whole system works. It is all predicated on the notion that if accused you will pay them to leave you alone. Where I come from we call that EXTORTION!

Most of us are accustomed to the notion that anything from government is some form of extortion, but this one is particularly heinous. Since not admitting you are a racist, sexist bigoted, homophobic, ass will cost you tens of thousands. It is much easier to just agree to apologize and take some sensitivity training, or in our case be forced to allow the repeat felon to move into one of our rental units.

So which one of my clients gets the prize? Which one of my clients investment property will I move this career criminal into? In over thirty years since his criminal record started the only time he was not getting arrested was when he was incarcerated. And once I do rent to him under threat of extortion, does that mean that I now have to rent to all convicted felons?

Our friend, "the investigator" understood why we may not have wanted to put him in a building with several older single females and some disabled people, but perhaps we should have offered him a house instead!

So let me get this straight! You the "investigator" want me to STEER applicants to specific properties because they may pose a threat to people in another property????

Steering Defined: It shall be unlawful, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, to restrict or attempt to restrict the choices of a person by word or conduct in connection with seeking, negotiating for, buying or renting a dwelling so as to perpetuate, or tend to perpetuate, segregated housing patterns, or to discourage or obstruct choices in a community, neighborhood or development. (24 CFR Part 14, Section 100.70(a))

CATCH 22: If I tell the criminal that he can't live in that building, but he can live in this other one; then I am breaking the law! If I tell him he can't rent from me because he is a criminal, then he files a lawsuit claiming discrimination. If I move him in with his 30+ year criminal history and he attacks, robs and murders his neighbors, than I will be in court for that!

The Good News! The "investigator" told us that Kansas City, MO is considering making it illegal to discriminate against criminals! Stay tuned I just learned about that. I will ask my friend Darla to take a look at that plan.

Here is my beautiful great nephew!