All Forum Posts by: Tyler Haanen

That's awesome. My wife and I are about to close on our first duplex too, so we know how hard taking the leap can be. Let's come back to this post in a year and see how far we've come. Good luck!

I came across a property on the MLS that seemed like an interesting deal but it happens to be two homes on one single lot. I come across these once in a while but this is the first one that I have been interested in learning more about. For rehab and ARV calculation purposes, could any appraisers or those with experience on this explain how comparables are used to value these types of listings?

Follow up to that, does insurance also "double" seeing as there are two roofs, foundations, etc. to insure?

Thanks for your thoughts.

In my humble opinion, (studying to be a CPA myself), a CPA would be very pricey to hire to do your books for you. You're better off paying them to save you money on your taxes and other real estate transactions. A good bookkeeper can handle tracking your expenses easily. I also believe you could learn it on your own fairly quickly using Quickbooks Online.

If going that route, monthly expenses that you would normally pay would be there. Track everything. In the end, Quickbooks would be able to print you a multitude of financial statement reports, including ones telling you how profitable your property is. So you definitely should include all expenses attributable to that property and related activities.

Hybrid approach: Maybe ask a bookkeeper to show you how to track one month for a fee and after that you might get the hang of it to do it yourself.

Hopefully that helped!

@Luka Milicevic
Thanks for sharing your experience. These are all great tips. I am planning on implementing something similar to your suggestions of post occupancy, defining move out date, and have a month-to-month lease in place that would go in effect for paying rent beyond that. If the scenario is that she does just need the month and a week extra, it should be fine. I am going to ask for seller credits at closing for that fair market value of rent for that time. But if things change again then atleast I have that lease in place and everyone knows what would start happening. 

In a way, its a great scenario for me since I can renovate the other unit, while still getting "rent"(through reduced money due at closing) for the other one. Small in scale of course, but its even better than getting rent since I am saving my after tax dollars instead of making more to be taxed on!

I appreciate all the contingencies you all have suggested for this situation. I feel a lot more positive about it than when the news hit!

Yeah like I said I don't think there is anything shady going on with needing another month, I've learned she was trying to get into assisted living but just needs more time. 

@Adam Martin Ah great point on mentioning the final walkthrough, I hadn't considered that factor. That is half the house that I won't be able to see as closely until a month after its mine.
@Caleb Brown Thank you for the reminder to seek my lender's thoughts on this and your other advice as well.
@Matt Devincenzo Yeah I am most likely thinking of doing a seller credit at closing for the FMV of the rent over that period of time, but the inclusion of holding back some of the price back is not something I would have considered. That was my main concern, do they actually need only one more month or are they not planning on leaving?

In my scenario, this is a long time owner who is very old, she doesn't move around well and she is staying in the upper unit (she should definitely not).  The property has been very well maintained though and her unit doesn't *appear* to have any major concerns (besides the obvious outdated cosmetics). I think I would like to know more about why only one more month? Is there a plan for moving or not? The plans have actually changed since the start, since before I had heard she was moving with her son to Las Vegas.

Hello Everyone,

I need some advice. I am closing on a duplex in a few weeks and have just learned that the owner would like to occupy their current unit until the end of September (a week and month after closing).

I am getting an owner-occupied loan and the other unit is vacant, so no issues on that end. I am just not sure how to approach this issue because it opens up to an awkward time. The owner is older and has owned the home for many years. 

My wife and I were planning to start some modest renovations to both units and get one ready to rent as soon as possible. 

Has anyone else experienced something like this? What did you do or would of done differently?

Should I charge her rent for the month on a month-to-month basis? Or would I be better off negotiating some seller concessions at closing?

I would not feel good about putting out an elderly woman even if it was my right to after becoming the owner. So that is not an option for me.

Any advice that can be offered for this situation is greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Although I’m late to replying to you, I appreciate the response. That’s some sound advice. 
I thought about it more and there really is no amount of research I can do more at this point. I just need the experience of running  numbers on a real project and seeing how accurate my estimates come to be.

Again thanks for the reply.

And if there are any rehabbers in the Milwaukee area reading this that want a free lunch, just message me! :)

Location(s): Milwaukee, WI. Wauwatosa, WI. West Allis, WI.

Target strategy: House Hacking into BRRRR

I want to buy multifamily units that have the potential for forced appreciation, in solid neighborhoods. (B+ to C+ areas)

Secondary strategy: House Hacking into Flip (selling a turnkey rental property, after 1 year living requirement is met)

While I am not completely ready to invest (I am a full time student in my final semester), I am sharpening the toolbox so to speak by actively analyzing deals in my area (Milwaukee). The biggest roadblock for me personally, is trying to evaluate properties and their potential rehab costs. 

Calculating an ARV seems to be an easier task, because I can evaluate the sale prices of similar properties in the area, with respect to size, quality and location.

However, estimating rehab costs is difficult. I wonder how others decide whether they should spend any more time analyzing a property without ever going to the property and getting an accurate estimate of the rehab costs?

Or is it that you really have to come up with a rough estimate, see the property yourself, come up with a new estimate and potentially waste your time doing so, seeing that this property cannot make the numbers work? Are there some strategies here that I am missing in filtering through potential properties? 

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions are greatly appreciated!