All Forum Posts by: Andres Blandon

I wanted to submit my latest update on this post:

I spent 6 weeks in a hotel looking for a rental that would accommodate my family and I in the $2000 range and there was nothing to be found. Half way through January I opted to find a decent property that was somewhat outdated and could have upside potential. I found a house 3/2 for 342k and my mortgage was approximately $1900 a month.

I did some light renovations, like new bathroom vanities and some kitchen updates. After 6 months, I had to move again and decided to post the house on Zillow as a sale by owner. Within 1 week I had the house under contract to sell without a realtor. (It really saved me not having to use a realtor this time, other wise I would have had to pay between $10k-18k in commission). 

I could have also made a nicer profit, but when the appraiser came through, the appraisal came in 10k below the sale price. I had to move fast, so I agreed and we closed in July. Now I am in a temporary rental and looking for my next deal. 

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to take a minute and close out this post by stating that the tenant and her attorney decided to drop the matter if I agreed to return her deposit. They really had no basis to stand on and I agreed so that things could get resolved promptly. Due to the amount of time it consumed to try to fight it was best if we were able to move on from that point. I ended up losing $2500 in attorney's fee and 2 months of rent, but it was mainly due to putting the property for sale. It eventually did sell and I am now looking to purchase my next investment property.

Hello to all the amazing members of BP!

I just had a quick question for Realtors or other professionals that have sold properties in California. I currently have a property for sale in Paso Robles, CA. I received an offer but am having some trouble figuring out what are the Disclosures that are required by the state of California.

Does any one know which Disclosures I would need or a place I can get a copy of the Disclosures?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

-Regards,

Andres Blandon

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the comments and the advice. So the update is that I had my PM put together all the documentation and send it to a local attorney that is focused on this type of cases.

  He did mention that most landlords would simply pay the tenant, which its the reason there was nothing showing up in her background check.

We have a good case and hopefully will be resolved promptly. I have yet to check with the insurance company but will reachout t hem this week. 

Thanks again for the comments and the reassurance that come from learning the lessons that will prevent this from happening again in the future.

Hi everyone!

I'm just looking for some advice or a few legal contacts that can point me in the right direction.

I have a tenant that signed a contract for 12 months at the end of December. Now in the beginning of March gave a 1 week notice stating the house was uninhabitable and that she wanted all her rent money for the past 2 months, plus security deposit and last month's rent. She also went on to include other expenses, that all together comes to about 10k. I think it's a ridiculous claim and that she's just looking for some way to get paid from all this.

The house is not new, and she knew this when she went to do the walk through of the property. She started making complaints 2 weeks into her lease. she requests to do things to improve the condition of the property which she had seen and agreed upon when initially signing the lease. First it was the washer and dryer which she claimed were not working properly. I replaced them within 48 hours of her notice. then it was in regards to some bees outside of the house, which I paid to get taken care of promptly and i reasonably understood this could be a issue.

After that she made a claim about the patio screen not being up completely and my property manager went by and took care of it personally. A few weeks later she made a claim hat there were mice it in the house, but there was no proof and did not allow my property manager to enter the property to get it inspected.

By this time the property manager hinted that most of these things were minor and that in her lease it stated she was responsible for any pests inside the house. 

We let her know the pest issues would be her responsibility. She didn't like that response and decided to continue bringing up things that were not true about the condition of the property. Such as stating that the roof had leaks all around the house. This was inspected and no leaks were found. I had personally lived in this house a few months before and did not have issues with the property.

Long story short, she finally paid some inspector which found some minor mildew coming from the AC unit and had him put in the report that it was hazardous for someone to live there. 

By this time she had already moved out and hinted that she would move forward taking legal action against me. I quickly had another professional go in, which did see the same mildew but once tested reported that in no way would this issue make the house uninhabitable.

I have 7 days to respond to her attorney and in no way plan to simply settle outside of court. Unfortunately I had to travel out of state of Florida for work, and need some advice or possibly an attorney that is familiar with this type of situations.

I have heard recently that this lawsuit issue is becoming more common, so would like to hear from anyone that has gone through or is going through something similar.

Thank you!

Hi Leticia and welcome to BP!

I just wanted to share with you my experience with the VA. I initially got pre-qualified to know exactly what my monthly payment and max loan amount to be. Then I focused in an area that I knew had great schools.

I tried putting an offer on a Duplex, but the owner knew it would not pass the inspection so we both agreed it would not work for my VA financing.

I started reaching out to local realtors and giving them my criteria for properties. Until a few days later driving through the smaller Neighborhoods found a For Sale by Owner single family property. I did a walk through and after a short conversation we agreed on a price well below market and he agreed to pay all the closing costs. All I paid for was the $1000 earnest money deposit.

I lived in the home for 6 months and had to move due a job change. While I could have sold the house and made a good profit, but instead opted to rent out the home. Had a tenant move in and the home is cash flowing about $400 per month.

I also spoke to my lender which confirmed that I could use the remainder of my benefits and I am currently looking for a another property.

Hope this helps and good luck with your benefits!

 Hey Greg,

Good point to focus on the cash flow... I know that the 2 mayor aspects of investing in real estate are cash flow and equity. So i will definitely keep that as my focus.

I was able to see some foreclosures on auction.com that start bid around 100k to 200k, but they required cash. Those 2 properties have an ARV of about 345k.

I need to start making some connections here on bigger pockets that might be able to fund some of those.

Until then, I might just stick with a rental.

Thanks for the comment!

It's a bit too late to negotiate a higher salary since I already accepted the position and will be there next week.

One thing I did notice is that some properties that are below market value (possible good flips) require a new water well to be put in. I'm not familiar with this process in regards of how long it would take to get permits and have work completed.

Does anyone know of have experience with water wells?

Hey everyone!

I know there is some information contrasting the difference between rental and purchase as primary residence but I want some advice about my particular circumstance.

I am in the process of relocating to Paso Robles, CA for work and am having a very hard time finding a place to rent for my family of 4 (Plus small dog). I was hoping to find an affordable apartment about $1200 to $1500 a month, but nothing is coming up within that range. The handful of rentals available that would accommodate us are between $1900 to $2400 per month.

I am not familiar with the current market trend (UP or Down) in Paso Robles and there seems to be a very limited number of homes for sale (Which might be the reason the cost of homes is high).

Either way, I have seen a few properties in the 330k-350k range that might end up being nearly the same monthly payment for a mortgage as the rent or $1900 to $2400. The benefits would be the tax and interest that can be itemized on the tax return. Also, Paying down the mortgage will help to build some equity. If I do move back to Florida, I do not think I would have an issue renting out the property and covering the mortgage. It would just be about having a reliable management company to handle the rest.

Any thoughts and ideas will be greatly appreciated!

Hey Eric,

Its great to have the kind of heart to want to give back to others. I have personally donated to 'Hope World Wide' which does various projects that focus on what the needs are in that particular area in the world. They also respond to humanitarian efforts in case of emergencies.

I have known of people who have volunteered with them to help children that live in orphanages in India, Haiti and Philippines. Also some other projects for the sick.

Also there is another called the Brite Initiative that helps children in Haiti that do not have access to education. This way they can have a better chance for a future.

Hope this helps!