All Forum Posts by: Amy Stewart

Hey @Deanna McCormick (zombie thread resurection! I haven't logged on in a while).

I ended up upgrading the ancient hot water heater to an on demand gas unit. The problem is solved and will hopefully save me money on my electricity bills (power is crazy expensive in Ontario).

Apparently a permit isn't required for hot water heaters there (I even called the town to double check that the gas guy wasn't feeding me a line).

Thanks for the advice. I'm hoping I can keep under the radar with the duplex. I checked and there are no permits to turn it into multifamily. When the smaller apartment becomes vacant next I am considering getting quotes/investigating the cost of bringing it up to code.

Thanks Sam and Mike! Shower faucets would be an easy fix.

$1500 and lots of work Vs $1225 with less work I'd prolly try to rent the room on a monthly basis and see if I could get a little more for it. If you have a friends place you could crash at you could rent the whole apt for way more. Check your lease, maybe you can change the lock set to a keypad. (I did that on my new rental units and it was pretty straight forward and I am NOT handy). There was a good BP podcast with a lady crushing air bnb. I don't know the episode number off hand but if you haven't heard it I would search for it. :)

Recently bought a multi family in my home town of Port Elgin, Ontario (duplex house and two cottages). The two apts in the house share a water heater. If anyone turns on hot water on either side while you're in the shower you get a cold blast 😓. Is a second water heater the only solution? Or could I get a super bad *** natural gas one that might handle big volume? Do you need a permit to have one installed? I have a plumber coming this week for other issues and I've asked him for a quote. (I would prefer not to do any work that needs a permit as I recently heard that if a permit is taken out the inspector will insist on making it a legal duplex and I doubt it is). Would appreciate your insights!!

Thanks all!

I close tomorrow. Haven't received a single quote from any of the 14 trades I called/emailed haha. A few roofers said they are just too busy (wet summer here so far).

Previous landlord has not provided the leases for the existing tenants (should have made it a condition) and just gave us the statement of adjustments late yesterday and it doesn't include rent deposits. I'm following up of course.

Seller is a widow and is downsizing so I'm also buying most of her stuff. Gonna be weird to go through it all over the next couple weeks (I'm taking two weeks vacay). I'll post if I find anything extraordinary haha.

Hey! I'm a new member and interested in FIRE too. I wish I had learned about it when I was fresh out of school.

Congrats on graduating and good luck on your first condo!! (did you try using the BP calculators? if you expect it to cash flow over 100 maybe it is a good deal) 

Hello everyone!

I found BiggerPockets from Josh's interview on The Financial Independence Podcast. I've barely scratched the surface of the forums but I'm working my way through the podcast. I dig the audio info because I am recovering (slowly) from a concussion and I try to limit screen time and reading which is hard when my 9-5 is almost all on the computer and I'm in the middle of my first 'real deal' which closes next Friday (holy ****!). 

I'm trying to get organized for the improvements that need to be done on the property immediately (roofing and electrical) PLUS inheriting and also searching for tenants outside of my friends/family for the first time. (So if I abandon this post for a week or two just know it's ME, not YOU haha). 

I'm 38 and I hope to 'retire' by 45. Once this deal is done I'll own 6 units (including the one I live in) with above average cash flow -- mostly because of the equity I have in them, not because I picked home run deals haha, I'm just learning about CAP rate now. My vision for retirement includes owning another 2 to 4 units and doing a series of live-in flips with my boyfriend (neither of us is handy, but we can learn and are ok with roughing it!) punctuated by slow travel, hopefully mostly funded with travel hacking/credit card rewards.

Stuff I'm interested in:

Canadian/Ontario specific info

Landlording

Rehab

Connecting with folks also interested in Financial Independence

Connecting with ladies! Hey ladies!

Audio books/pod casts  

Earth ships

OK, now that you know all about me I'll lurk for a while :D

Thanks for reading and look forward to learning from all the amazing investors in this space!

Amy