All Forum Posts by: Alex K.

I'm driving my dream car... a 1994 Geo Metro xfi with 240k miles. I'm a mpg nerd I guess but I also like how I can fix anything that can go wrong with that car. I installed A/C and rebuilt both the engine and transmission after I got it for $900. It's actually been extremely reliable though, never a problem in 3 years, 40k miles.

I also have a F250 long bed for when I need to haul something.

People make assumptions about you when you drive a cheap car. Women avoid eye contact (I'm married anyway). RE agents are surprised I'm making cash offers.

For years I was contributing only the 4% match to my 401k and buying properties with cash, but these days the ROI on rentals in my area is less than historic stock market returns. So I've been maxing the 401k lately.

I still love RE and I've got cash ready when/if the prices here drop but if they don't the stock market isn't bad either.

BTW there is a way to get the money out of your 401k without ever playing taxes on it. Google Roth conversion ladder. That is my plan. It is not for those with high expenses.

I did close on it and flipped it for a nice profit, so it turned out well for me. The property closed on time and I can't really complain about auction.com too much. FHA did make me sign an agreement that I could not resell the property for more than 20% profit within 90 days. So I rented the property to the new owners for 3 months and then sold it to them.

The building next door to the one that fell over looks identical. I bet it's cheap right now.

I have a 4 plex of 3 2bd and 1 1bd units. The 1bd unit has high turnover but doesn't stay vacant as long as the 2bd units. The PM really does a lot of work for their money on that 4-plex but it's very profitable for me. The funny thing is the PM charges 10% for a SFR but only 8% for a multi-family. I say buy it if the price really is good and you will be using a PM.

I didn't expect them to do that work, but I hope to get a discount since they didn't finish and it didn't take as long as they had planned for. I didn't schedule another appointment because I wanted to get the unit livable ASAP and I know how to use concrete.

I like Joel's idea, let them suggest the fair price and go from there.

So I had a leak under the slab foundation of my 4-plex in the hot water line. I paid a plumbing company to find the location of the leak with a listening device. The guy gave me a bid of $1525 to fix the problem the same day. It included concreting over the hole after the repair was made. Keep in mind I have 4 units without hot water and he was the only plumber that would do it before the weekend (It's Friday morning). So I agreed.

4 hours later his guys show up and they jackhammer the foundation to find a 18 ft long tunnel big enough to crawl in, and a leaking PEX pipe in there, obviously done after it was built. Someone had tunneled in from the edge of the foundation to fix a prior leak and had only bothered the fill in the opening. I went to Lowes and bought the PEX parts and the plumbers fixed the leak, restoring the hot water. They left without filling the hole. It was 2 guys there for 3.5 hours.

So the job of filling in the hole was much more than the estimator had expected. I did it today with a friend and it took 3 yards of DG and a lot of dirty work.

The question is, how much should I pay the plumber? They didn't charge me that night, saying I could talk it over with the boss on Monday. They did come out the same day with the jackhammer and restore the hot water. But I had to do the rest myself and it was a big job. I'm thinking no more than $1000. Opinions?

Curt,
I'm the type of guy who doesn't mind doing the work myself and saving the money. I plan on retiring within a year and I will have lots of time on my hands. I appreciate all the suggestions.

I made 2 offers today on single family houses I found on the MLS. One of them is has an extra kitchen in the daylight basement and a separate entrance, so I could rent out the basement and live in the top floor. I am going to see if I can get owner occupant financing on it.

What is the way to get the best possible deal for a buy and hold rental property? SFH or MFH is OK.

I am considering the following:
MLS bank owned
MLS short sale
find my own short sale
aution.com style fake auction
courthouse steps auction
county tax auction

I have about $90k cash and I want to buy a property with the best cash flow possible for retirement income. I can do rehab. My market has lots of properties in this price range but I want to get a great deal and I'm willing to wait and do the work for it.

Sorry Marc I was being sarcastic. My point was that anyone could say they are doing such a service and charge an up front fee, then claim it was unsuccessful.

I didn't write down the name of the speaker or his company because I figured it was a scam from the start. I will find out and post it here.