All Forum Posts by: Aditya Maini

@Chris Nerio Yeah best to limit it to microwave and fridge.. and the basement has a walkout to outside of the house so should be good there. 

@Cody Benedetto Thank you! My thoughts exactly, can't go wrong with living in and renting the rest the house when I am paying $900/mo away in rent to someone else right now. 

@Rick Sutton Wow, so turns out it was a false alarm. My agent was texting me and the voice commands accidentally wrote "the roof has had leaks" instead of "the roof hasn't had leaks". But now I know a little bit more about leaking roofs haha. Thanks for the detailed explanation. 

@Geoffrey Israel 4 bed/4 bath in Arlington sounds like a money maker. The basement has an exit to the patio, so don't think I'd need to make any special accommodations to rent it as a bedroom (let me know if I am mistaken). And will contact you if I have any GC needs in the future!

@Chris Nerio I will stay in one of the small bedrooms upstairs (used to living in small spaces anyway). And the basement has a room with washer/dryer, and a long countertop where I am consideringn putting an electric stovetop and fridge. Only thing missing here would be a sink (but there is a bathroom sink available to the basement tenant). And yes, I am estimating on the very low end due to 3 people having to share 1 bathroom upstairs. I have been estimating using FB marketplace and craigslist. 

@Bruce Lynn those are important points. I have already confirmed that HOA will not have issue with renters. The county has a limit on 4 unrelated occupants so I am ok there. Additionally, I will have 3 days to review the HOA contract and can void the purchase during that time. There are two assigned parking spots upfront and ample street parking available. And unfortunately SFR in this area are north of $600k nowadays and outside of my purchasing power.

I just found out about a new issue. The roof has a leak, and the owner says it was replaced before he bought it, and estimates it as 18-20 years old (probably should not blindly believe his estimates). From what I have researched so far, if the roof is >20 years old, better to replace than start fixing small leaks. 

How should I approach the seller given this information? My initial thoughts are to get a few roofers to give estimates on the replacement cost and have that amount be given to be in seller concessions (they contribute towards my closing costs) to help me have the funds to replace this day 1. Or is this a deal breaker? I personally like that this could drive away other buyers but not sure if I want to take it on in my first purchase. 

Thank you everyone for your feedback!

@Joaquin Camarasa It's located in Centerville, VA. One thing I am concerned about now is if there is a demand for room sharing tenants in that area (it's pretty suburban) and inaccessible to the metro.

@Sean Ploskina So I have been estimating rent by looking at how much similar bedrooms/house combos are being listed for on Craigslist. I hear FB marketplace is another good place for estimating rent. I filter by zip code of the property. Good point about the Capex and home insurance- and the $100/mo is a bad estimate for maintenance.

So estimating 5% of rent for maintenance brings it to $132/mo for maintenance. Another 3% for Capex would be $80/mo. Home insurance will be $75/mo.

This brings the cash flow down to $150/mo. I am going to be double checking the rents and consider again. 

Hi everyone,

I saw my first 4 properties yesterday and I liked the following townhome the best. I don’t want to jump the gun on a property. Is this property worth it? It’s in the northern Virginia area. It’s a 3 bed/2 bath townhome. There are three bedrooms upstairs with one bath, and there’s a basement which I plan to rent out as a bedroom. There’s a full bath in the basement and counter space for a makeshift kitchen. Here’s the breakdown:

purchase price: $400k

Downpayment: 3%, conventional loan

Closing costs: $8k

Income: $2650. I’m going to rent 3 bedrooms on the top floor, then put a bedroom in the basement and rent that out. Estimating $900 for basement and $550-700 for the 3 beds. 

Monthly costs: $2133 ($68 HOA, $332 property tax, $126 mortgage insurance, principal and interest: $1533)

Vacancy rate: 5%
maintenance cost: $100/mo

Total cash flow: $284/mo

@Chris Nerio Thanks for your reply - it was very informative. I may be overestimating my mortgage costs, meeting with a lender soon to go over my options. The key to making this work seems to be with what you said with converting study rooms or basements into bedrooms and renting them out. I see a few options close to Herndon/Reston. How do you manage the washer/dryer being in the basement tenant's "space"? Or is it in a common enough area that the other tenants don't have to go into the basement tenant's space? Also have you thought about living in basement and renting the rest to a family? I'd assume that'd be less hassle than managing multiple individual tenants, but would also be less $$. 

@Joaquin Camarasa Good luck! Ideally I'd be savvy enough to invest in real estate outside of the area. But I just don't see that being realistic for me given my 9-5 and other responsibilities. 

I am considering buying a townhome with either the goal being to rent it out to a family or renting it room by room. How do you go about figuring out which would be more profitable/in-demand? With renting out the whole home, I would likely be looking out in the suburbs (Springfield, Manasssas, Chantilly, etc). But with a strategy to renting out rooms, I'd want to look for homes closer to DC or the metro lines. What's your take on this? 

I am 26 year old living in NOVA area and will likely stay here for the foreseeable future. I currently pay only $900/mo in rent, but I am considering buying a townhome for $350-400k, living in the basement and renting out the rest of the house for $1800-2100. My total monthly costs will be ~$2600 with mortgage, MIP, taxes, insurances, etc. I would be using a FHA loan as I don't have a large downpayment to put towards the house.

I'd want to stay in this house for a few years, then buy another home with a basement (and live in it), and so on and so forth. My goal is to have several properties first, then prioritize on paying them off in 15 years or so.

Is this a good idea? How can I make this work? 

@Erik Anderson

Good tip thank you.