NEWBIE - Out of State - Duplex

[Tom O.]

So I just got an offer accepted on a duplex about 7 hours away so I'm in it now.  I have 3 questions and would welcome ANY other advice you all have.  

1.  Do you all have any suggestions on how to either budget for or enforce the tenants taking care of the yard?  If it was a single family I can easily place the responsibility on the tenant but with 2 tenants I could see that being a point of contention. 

2.  The duplex has a shared room that is lockable be each tenant that has 2 washer and dryer hook ups.  I've heard shared laundry can become an issue between tenants.  Do you all recommend having one set per tenant and they "agree" not to use the other tenant's set or just let them figure it out themselves?  

3. I see a lot of calculators BEFORE purchasing the property but I don't see much for long term logging of expenses for taxes and to monitor performance.  Do you all have any suggestions for something to document a duplex long term?  

Thank you in advance for any help,

Tom

[Michael Dumler]

@Tom O. congrats on getting under contract. Which market is the property located in? Are both units tenant occupied already? 

1. I would never expect tenants to be responsible for taking care of the yard. Maintenance needs to be budgeted for and run in your analysis. Find a cheap, but reliable service that can run out to the property and handle the lawn. 

2. I would not assign washer/dryer per unit. I lived in a fourplex which had a shared room with only one washer and dryer and we all managed to corporate usage. Come to to think about it though, I have no idea how the electric bill was flipped for that haha, this was in college. 

3. Long term calculations can always be tricky. Will property taxes remain the same or will they creep up over time in your target market? Hard to say. I thought the BP calcs show ten year projections but maybe I'm wrong. Would be interested to hear other BP members and see if they have any resources for this. 

Best of luck!