Help! Advice please!

[Tom Chen]

FINALLY closed on the duplex up in Syracuse. $45k 1st floor rented to a family for way below market rate at $600, should be around $750 - $800 2nd floor needs some minor work and should rent for $750 - $800 So apparently, major work needs to be done. New roof - $9,000 Kitchen floors and cabinets - $6,000 Does this sound about right for the Syracuse market in terms of costs? Lastly, and here's the pickle I'm in...I don't have $15,000 laying around for repairs (had enough for 6 months reserves but not repairs since home inspector didn't point out anything major). Does it make sense to take out a short term personal loan for these repairs? Any suggestions?

[Will Chamberlin]

@Tom Chen, you can probably get a Lowe's business account card to fund some of the hard expenses. The rate is over 20% but you can get some decent discounts there if you use to pro desk. Be sure to talk to someone there and offer to take floor stock, scratch and dent, in stock materials, etc. Just pay it off as fast as you can with your cash flow. For labor expenses I don't have a great answer. I have used personal credit cards a times to get things done asap since you don't want that unit to be empty for long. Maybe see what Prosper.com has as your rate and get a 5 yr loan for the expenses there. I haven't done that personally, though. You can also crowd-source it from friends and family. I have $1000 I can send you ;) 

For the work itself, what needs to be done with the floors? If it is just putting down a new floor, then I might just have some place like Onondaga Flooring quote you a new floor. I put a nice looking linoleum floor in a large kitchen for $1000 (including quarter round and doorway transitions).