All Forum Posts by: Aaron J Latal

Need an electrician in south Saint louis city to install 6 new outlets and splice a wire I accidentally clipped. Recommendations?

Question: Does anyone have experience refinancing from FHA to conventional in less than 12 months?

Background: I am BRRRRing a duplex and got an FHA loan with the intention to refinance to conventional mortgage after reappraisal. Mortgage officer told me I could when I got the FHA loan and now his colleague that I am working with says I need a 12 month seasoning period after purchase before I can refi out to conventional. I am 6 months in and almost finished with rehab... Confused and concerned.

Thanks for any experience or advice!

My question is - Do tenants care about windows? that they look nice and are energy efficient? Or is it best to save money there and only replace a few broken ones?

Background - I have a duplex that I am house hacking. I am rehabbing the vacant unit and am putting in tile floors in the bathroom and kitchen with stainless steel appliances and trying to achieve a mid to upper range quality.  I have heard that the best money is spent in the kitchen and bathroom and new paint. I have done those things and the place looks great, its almost finished.  There are a few windows that are cracked, not broken, and quite a few that have broken latches.  My options as i see them are, 1) All new windows 2) some new windows and fix broken latches or 3) just fix latches.  I am leaning towards option 1 so that I dont have to worry about people not liking the quality of the old windows and not renting it and then problems arising from the old windows, prone to break. My concern is that its pretty expensive to have them replaced. Any guidance or experiences are welcome!!

@Gerry Bolden Gerry, these folks have the right tips! Theres a bunch of events around town and I hope to see you at one of them!

@Aurus J. Sanchez I would recommend taking with some banks to get a better idea of which loans you qualify for and which ones make the most sense for what you're trying to accomplish. And don't be afraid to ask some "dumb" questions, when I spoke to the first loan officer I met they sounded like they were speaking a different language. This is a relatively easy, free step and it will let you know if conventional financing will work for you right now. Plus it will get some momentum going in the right direction! Good luck!

At one point in this podcasts they mentioned the multiple benefits of seller financing. I think I sort of "get" how seller financing works and I would like to learn more about the benefits of seller financing in terms of the tax benefits for the seller so that I can add this tool to my toolbox! Does anyone have a sugesstion for a good resource to read or listen to on the specific benefits of seller financing?

Update: Probably not going to pursue the property that needed this work for multiple reasons.  If I do I will update everyone. Thanks for all the input!

Hello all! I am looking into buying an old 2 family unit and turning it into a 3 bedroom single family unit.  The property needs a lot of work done which is perfect, I can make it look exactly how I want it.  There is one part of this project that has me stumped on rehab estimates though, the basement. The basement needs to be finished... there is no concrete floor, just dirt.  The house is in St. Louis city and as many old houses in the city it has limestone blocks for a foundation which seems to be in good shape but no concrete floor.  The square foot area of the basement is about 900 and about 1/3 of it has concrete but I am wondering if anyone has an idea of what it would cost to put concrete into this basement as the first step towards finishing it? Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

My dog had diarrhea all over the floor in my basement. I have mopped and remopped it and it still stinks.  I am hoping someone here has a suggestion on how to clean this floor and get the stink out.  I am looking for a solution stronger than regular mopping but short of pressure washing it. Any help is appreciated.