Inspection Problem Advice

[Brent Van Beusekom]

Hi everyone! I'm looking at buying my first property, and I found a great duplex with really good cashflow (at least $800/month). However, after the inspection came back there were a number of problems. Some of them were more major such as the sewers and problems with draining water away from the house and some window stuff. Many of the problems weren't quite as bad but should probably be dealt with sometime in the future. The property was built in 1880. I would want the seller to pay for some of the major repairs to get done, but even if they agree to that, do you think this is too much for me to take on in my first investment. Any advice will help! Thank you so much!

[Alecia Loveless]

@Brent Van Beusekom Hi Brent, is it a problem with septic system or the sewer line? Either can be expensive but likely a failed septic system would be a no go as that’s in the $20-40,000 range. Probably replacing sewer pipes aren’t that much depending on how far you have to go.

The water draining towards the house can likely be fixed with some sort of a French drain system outside. I have one property like that and the water was coming into the dirt basement at times during the year and making it muddy and damp. Fortunately the dampness wasn’t passing through into the house. We ended up getting a day laborer to come in and dig a small ditch through the perimeter of the basement and a hole for a sump pump. Then we brought in a dump truck load of crushed gravel and the worker brought it down and spread it into the ditch and evenly across the floor on the basement. Now any water trickled through the ditch and occasionally the sump pump kicks on and takes it out of the basement.

Windows can be pricey but if you have someone/handyman who can measure them and go order them from box store or wherever and get them delivered and handyman installs them it’s so much cheaper than having a company come in and do it.

To me this wouldn’t be too much to handle but it’s what you feel comfortable doing. And it depends also on how much sewer work, how much water in the basement, how many windows, 5 windows or 20? If it’s just out of your comfort zone don’t do it because I’d hate for you to get so miserable with your first property that you end up selling and quitting real estate altogether. There will always be other good deals. You just have to keep looking.

Best of luck!