All Forum Posts by: Andrea Townsley

As to the question of whether to flip or hold, it depends on your market. The one in my area would probably have been better to flip, as it’s in a class A section of town but a class B neighborhood with older homes and lower than average rents. Your market might be different.

If you can flip it and pull that much out, you could put a nice chunk of money down on a multi family to hold.

I apologize if this double posts, the app seems to be glitching.

A deal recently came across the MLS here (rare) that was very similar and it was snapped up in a day. We estimated the foundation work at $20k and other rehab items at $10k, asking price was $65k. ARV would have been high $100k. Like I said, it was pending in 24 hours! They haven't closed yet, though, so I've been keeping an eye on it.

I agree with Dennis.

Domestic abuse could be any range of things, and women often get off without charges while the man takes the hit. Considering it was probation only, and he’s been approved for a medical license, and it was only a misdemeanor, I really wouldn’t give it a second thought. I don’t agree with holding past criminal offenses against people forever.

A lot of people here assuming there will be no marriage without a fancy ring first. It doesn’t have to be that way. Likewise a pricey wedding doesn’t need to take place. What matters is the relationship itself. If you spend $5k on a ring and $30k on a wedding, imagine how far that will set you back in your investment goals. Part of adulting is making choices like this that include sacrifices that lead us ultimately to a better life.

For me, I got married at age 22 and I picked out a $100 ring and we got married at the courthouse. My parents had BBQ catered for a family-only reception in their backyard. We wanted to buy a house within a year of getting married so we were very conservative in our spending. I hate to see when people think all these expenditures need to happen to even get married in the first place. The amount of money spent on engagement and wedding could pay for a car...or it could finance a flip.

You can always spring for a nice ring later or renew your vows with a big reception for your anniversary down the line.

Do not buy an engagement ring. Or buy a cheap one (like no more than $500). That stuff is overrated and simply a status symbol. She should understand that this is a matter of your future financial stability versus having a thing that is expensive and looks nice.

@Olga Merino

Those sites like Zillow and similar are unreliable as they are not updated like the MLS. The properties likely ARE no longer available for one reason or another. I personally run into this all the time. People say they saw it online and I check the MLS and it's been off market for YEARS.

Also, your agent will know what homes will qualify for what type of loans and if you don't believe her, talk to your lender to verify. FHA loans are strict about what condition they are in to qualify but they also offer a rehab loan if the place is in bad shape.

It’s hit or miss. It depends what you’re going to use that number for.

I use several resources when I need to get a quick roundabout estimate of ARV. Problem with any of these tactics, really, is that it does not account for upgrades or the reverse. My own house, for example, has pics on Zillow from when we bought it in 2007. That entire house has been redone by us in the time since. This is the same problem with getting a BPO...that broker likely hasn't been inside the house, either.

What I do for best estimating ARV takes longer but involves pulling comps and looking at pictures of the interior and exterior of potential comps, and comparing that with what I estimate the flip in question will turn out like based on previous experience. Obviously building a full CMA takes longer but it's worth it to me bc we can better gauge what the investor is getting into.

Zillow is okay for getting a very rough estimate to see if a property is worth considering in the first place, I guess.

Another thing we have encountered is that gas or water might be included in a MF. Side by side townhouses and larger multis often have only one meter so the landlord will average the bills over time and tie it into the rent.

I’ve seen water bills passed on to the homeowner if unpaid by the tenant and actually had a landlord try to take it out of my deposit before I ever received the final bill. So if that’s the case in your area, you’ll need a process in place for verifying if it’s paid before returning their deposit, but still fitting into the law regarding the deposit return timeline.

Due to an experience with our very first tenant (massive roach infestation), we started including quarterly pest control and weekly garbage pickup and upped the rent amount. This is more to protect our investment versus being a benefit to the tenant. We do advertise it because they see it as a benefit, though. We are in the south where we have more pests. If we were back up in Wisconsin, I might feel differently.

We have rented places (on the tenant side) in Wisconsin and mostly we have been responsible for snow removal and lawn maintenance. The last place we lived, the landlord lived right down the street so when the snow was heavy, he would drive his 4-wheeler plow to at least get the sidewalk (ultimately that liability is theirs if someone was to fall) but he would often help with the driveway and we REALLY appreciated it. Our rent there was higher than in places where we were responsible for it ourselves, not by a lot, though. Personally, if a landlord could provide snow removal and charge us via increased rent, I would be all about it (husband’s day job had him working 80 hours a week and we have very young kids so I wasn’t able to help in this area very much and he was always exhausted from work). Just my two cents on the snow issue. If it is not something that is affordable for the landlord to provide as a pass through expense, then we would just deal with it like we did in other places.

To add, a couple places provided an old snow blower and a giant bag of salt. That was good, too.

I have lived most of my life in Florida where we have no basements, so it’s just normal for me. Most are slab and due to our soil, we can get settling from clay expansion/contraction and also we get sinkholes in this area so when there are structural issues, it’s a must to get an engineering report to determine if they are caused by the clay or sinkhole activity. The latter is a huge black mark on the property and sometimes they just get demo’ed.

I also lived in Wisconsin for about 5 years and basements are pretty much everywhere. I have seen scary gross ones and some that are pretty much watertight. I loved having one for storage purposes and the laundry chute to just toss the dirties into (although bringing laundry back up two flights to the second floor bedrooms wasn’t fun.

This is just from a tenant/homebuyer’s perspective but in that area, it would be weird to not have one and I think it would actually make the property less desirable. Nevermind that they are less $/sf - if the person doesn’t want to rent it or buy it, that’s a bigger problem.