Comments by dmontanosr
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Posted on March 28 at 11:09 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted on August 29 at 8:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To anyone that cares about truth.
My name is David Montano, Sr and my wife and I own these houses that are pictured above. I just bought them this year. The first house you see, we just put on a new roof and new decks. The other two houses are placard by the city and we are intending on fixing them up as well. Unfortunately for us, the city is demanding new basements in the two placard buildings. This cost is somewhere around $20,000 a piece. This is not mentioning the other dozen items or so that have to be repaired. This is a lot of money to come with at once.
We are not allowed to have renters there, not that we disagree with this due to the condition of the homes, but they are not generating any income to offset the repairs, higher taxes that landlords (pay then the owner occupied properties), and the mortgage payments that are required just to keep the properties.
The city has always had the means to take care of these properties which would be to condemn them and knock them down. Me, being a landlord, or the rental ordinance are not a hinderance to the city doing their job. But on the other hand, there are no grants or low interest loans available to the landlords who want to fix up their properties.
If you have any questions about this issue or the rental ordinance feel free to email me at solidrockinvestments@yahoo.com
Posted on July 29 at 10:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Another city that have treated the water with this chemical for along time are now discovering that they have problems with the Eco system. You can't just throw chemicals into a place where they don't belong and not expect to have serious issues. I know the water is an ugly green color, but first of all the city can not afford to pay the 12,000 dollars and we can not be fiscally sound by throwing away $12,000 every year. And second, we need to leave nature alone. It knows how to take care of itself. God designed it that way.
Posted on July 23 at 7:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lionesa
Your are right, I do buy older properties and fix them up. Albert Lea has a lot of older buildings that need rehabing. The issues that you have cited have come with the purchase of the properties. We have replaced a lot of those issues with new stuff. Some of it still has to wait. It does take time and lots of money to fix up these buildings. But when we speak about money, many times my tenants don't pay their rent on time and in several cases, they just plain skip out in the middle of the night leaving behind trashed apartments and unpaid rent and utilities. I don't mind you criticising me, but at least get your facts right.
I spend my days putting out fires and fixing issues that are generally caused by tenants. I have spent many of my weekends doing repair jobs instead of spending time with my family. As far as things costing more on the weekend, unless you been sleeping for the last few centuries, most repair men do charge time and a half or double time to repair issues on the weekends. That cost ends up being the landlords, not the tenants.
I spent over $40,000 last year in remodeling my buildings which caused me to break even last year. I have put on new siding on one house and we replaced the rotten wood before the siding when on which drove the cost even higher. We have replaced 3 roofs this year which included a complete tear off and new decking and shingles on all 3.
You obviously don't know me. I only own 30 buildings not 50! The buildings that are in bad condition are not occupied by tenants. If you really knew me, you would know that I do care about my tenants very much. I am not perfect, but I give it my best. I believe that the majority of my tenants would attest to this. We got into this business because of the people, not just the money.
Maybe the reason that you can't believe that I am running for Ward 5 council seat is that either you have never taken the time to know me, or maybe your one of "those" tenants that I mentioned earlier. I am running for Ward 5 because I just want to make a difference in the town that I love.
Sincerely
David Montano, Sr
You can call me anytime to further discuss at 507-402-7092 or email me at solidrockinvestments@yahoo.com
Posted on July 18 at 11:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hipocryt
You should take a vow of permenent silence. You are very insensitive to other peoples trials. These people's loss is very great and all you can do is joke about it.
Posted on July 18 at 10:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Here are a few thoughts. Frustration doesn't begin to describe where landlords are sitting on this issue.
The task force meeting showed that the city is not willing to compromise to get a good ordinance, instead they want a big stick to be able to beat you into submission (nice attitude).
We asked them to remove the requirement of having a manager hired that lives within 30 miles of Albert Lea and replace it with a response time requirement - their response:
NO COMPROMISE
Al Brooks said that it doesn't affect anybody in this room, and since nobody came to the meeting who it does effect, it is a "non-issue - let's move on".
We asked the city for a grace period so that our license would not be refused if taxes, interest, assessments, a city utility bill is not over 6 months delinquent. - their response
NO COMPROMISE
They will not give any grace period. If you are delinquent - too bad for you
We asked them to change the wording in the area of suspending or revoking the license for the entire building to only the unit(s) that do not comply - their response:
NO COMPROMISE
They will add wording to point in the direction of "involved" units but will keep the ability to shut down the entire building at will.
We asked them before to remove the ability to shut off the utility services - they initially agreed - but now their response:
NO COMPROMISE
"trust us" - we won't do that to you - this is only for certain vacant homes
And to make you feel better, you have the right to pay money to get an "appeal" if you don't agree with something - I asked about the cost and it was not known - the cost of a variance appeal was given at $200 for an example.
Please do whatever you are going to do NOW!
The council members of Albert Lea believe this is a GOOD thing that they are doing!!!
With sincerity and a heavy heart,
Mike Carstens and Dave Montano, Sr
Posted on July 16 at 12:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This was truly one of the most beautiful ladies that I have ever had the privilege to know. She was beautiful inside and out. I will miss her, but I know that Heaven shines even brighter now that she is with her LORD. My condolences go to all the family members. She will be missed.
Posted on July 11 at 12:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
To all of our finest
Thanks so much for all you do. For the risking of your lives that we can be free. To the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. We love you and welcome home.
With Love and Admiration
The Montano's; Dave, Sharon, Laura, Jenny, David, Jr, and Selah (our dog)
Posted on July 10 at 11:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To all Officers
Thanks to all of your efforts for a job well done. Thanks for all you do to keep us safe. Keep up the good work.
Dave Montano
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Posted on March 29 at 8:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tomoson
Are you really that biased in your claims. First of all, you have never been in my house or you wouldn't have said something so stupid. I have lived in my house for over a year without a kitchen, because we put all of our funds into fixing up our properties. Several of our properties have new kitchens, bathrooms, new flooring/carpets, etc.
We would have continued to do these projects, but unfortunately like most of us landlords, everyone else wants to take the only piece of pie we have left. As landlords, we pay higher taxes (non-homestead), we pay higher water bill rates, we have to pay rental inspection fees, etc, etc. Now we can't even get loans to move our properties forward. So some of us just have to let the house go because nobody is going to bail us out.
Then when tenants don't pay their rent, we have the luxury of having to pay $300.00 just to kick them out of our property. Usually at this point, they destroy and trash all the work that we labored to make something nice for your tenants to live in. Then we get to spend more money to fix up the property again.
Now we have Albert Lea trying to play big brother and tell us just how much more money we have to spend because they don't like the way we keep our properties. Maybe this is why the population has declined 5% or more since 2000. But isn't it amazing that homeowners can crap up their properties as much as they want and they don't have to put up with all the crap us landlords have to go through. The reality is that Albert Lea is going broke and they have to create new money streams. I think it is called a "LICENSE TO TAX". Albert Lea knows that they can't get anymore from the homeowners, so they have to go after the small business people.
They can waste OUR money foolishly and then when it runs out, guess what, they can just raise our taxes as they have or create new money streams. We as the citizens of this town, don't have that luxury. We are the ones that have to pay!
And Virginian,
you should be ashamed of yourself. How dare you make racist remarks. This country was founded by foreigners. If you look back into your ancestry, I am sure you will find that your not pure American.
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