Roaches and Mice in multifamily potential purchase

[Elijah Ochoa]

Hi all,

I'm looking for advice regarding a fourplex property I'm looking into buying. Financially, the purchase makes sense. That is to say it cash flows roughly $800 per month after expenses that I would be able to apply to the principle in order to pay down early.

The issue is that one of the tenants that acts as the manager of the building told me and my realtor that the building is overrun by roaches and mice. She also said that one of the units as a bed bug problem.

I'm thinking of asking the seller to fix these problems, but I know the bed bugs can be a problem. Would it make sense to ask him to give notices to all tenants to move out and have the building tented and thoroughly treated? I would lose out in a month or two of rental income as I find new tenants after the treatment is done. But, this would rid the property of the current borderline hoarder/cluttered (inside their apartments) tenants. The tenants would require 60- and 90- notices to move out, traditional renters and section 8, respectively.

Is this going over board?

I'll have to live in one unit for at least 12 months as the VA loan I'm using has the owner occupancy rule. So, in addition to wanting to have a clean building for my tenants I also want to live in a bug and mice free building. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Elijah