All Forum Posts by: Andrew S.

Curious if anyone has tried the smaller 20 gallon water heaters? It would allow for more shelving in a small bathroom that has zero shelves.  

Rental is a 1 bedroom without laundry.  Think the 20 gallon WH would keep up with 1-2 ppl living there? Or should I go back with a 40 gallon? Thanks!

I'm advertising a 1 bedroom house (450 sq ft - half sheet vinyl / half carpet). Current best prospective tenant has an 18 yr old chihuahua that is dying of cancer. Renter is a seemingly mature 50 year old woman with a 16 year old son, dad works away 2 weeks on/ off. The dog uses the bathroom indoors on those pads.  

Is it likely that the carpet will not get ruined? Can't decide if I want to rent to them. They're fine paying an extra deposit and extra pet fee. I generally don't allow pets.  

TSP is trisodium phosphate. White and red box, sold at Home Depot. It's a heavy duty degreaser. Put it in a mop bucket and get a sponge mop. If you sponge mop the walls with it, it'll pull the nicotine out. I'd recommend wearing tyvex, it's a dirty job. Then paint over that with Kilz original oil based primer. Then paint with your normal latex paint. You won't be able to tell the house was ever smoked in. If you have the subfloor exposed, I'd also recommend scrubbing with TSP water. If I'm spraying paint, sometimes I've kilz'd the subfloor, and another coat of latex to cover the temporary oil smell.

Good morning all,

I'm looking to transfer a 6 plex with a commercial loan from my name to an sole owner LLC. I've confirmed this is acceptable with my mortgage and insurance providers. My intention is to reduce my personal liability. I've owned the property for 5 years and there's been no issues with title, easements, or anything like that.

Is there a real benefit of using a warranty deed versus a quit claim deed for the transfer? My attorney recommends the warranty deed to transfer the title insurance. My title company says it doesn't matter (they don't sound very knowledgeable).  

 Does keeping the title insurance at this point matter? I assume yes. 

Does using a quit claim deed reduce my personal liability? 

My current understanding is a warranty deed is preferred, but it doesn't actually matter for this scenario.

Thanks

First off, congrats for being ahead of your peers. House hacking works great. Look at areas where you'd be comfortable and feel safe living.

Go talk to a Banker and see what you could get pre approved for. Get example mortgages prices for a few home prices that you can qualify for. When house hacking, the other unit(s) rent goes toward the mortgage payment so the bank usually counts it towards what you qualify for. 

Practice running rental numbers on various properties in the cities. Don't forget about maintenance, lawn care, snow, garbage, utilities, water, etc. 

Find a meetup or two in the cities to go to and talk with experienced real estate investors. 

best of luck on your journey

They all seem a touch long and IMO take too long to interpret what they mean. With respect to marketing to people browsing in the airport or book store, who aren't already into investing, it may not grab their attention. 

How to build Generational wealth. Or something that's straight and to the point.

Good evening BP,

I have a move out in one of my units that has a 1998 gas furnace that works great. No visible issues, haven't had any issues during the 5 years I've owned the place. Does anyone proactively replace furnaces or wait until they fail? I was planning to give it an inspection & cleaning.  I can find common parts on Amazon.  I've even thought about purchasing some common spare parts to have on hand.  (igniter, thermostat, ?).  Might hire a local HVAC guy for an inspection as well.

My plan:

-Clean all the dust off the inside (very minimal if any)

-Test amp draw on blower motor vs FLA

-Test capacitor

Furnace info:

Gas furnace, 80% efficiency (the efficiency does not influence my decision)

Manufacturer: International Comfort Products Corp

Model# NTC6100GFA1

Curious if anyone has any other recommendations? Thanks!

As a real estate guy - you are effective at producing results in E-commerce. Do not forget that.

Now that you have "something to lose" - get your bases covered (pay off debt, get a place to live, have an adequate emergency fund, etc) and diversify a little bit. Real estate investing is not for everyone. Dip your toes in before you commit all of your working capital.

I'd highly consider index funds (takes zero mental bandwidth) over real estate (takes mental bandwidth and includes people into the equation) and continuing with E-commerce. Your scalability is probably superior in E-commerce. Don't risk everything for a little bit more. Owning rentals is not the end, it's just a means.

I understand the frustration. But appraisals are subjective in nature. Even on some of my appraisals, there are multiple appraised values based on different calculation methods. If two different appraisers appraise my house with 50% variance during a fluctuating housing market (the past few years), I would almost call that normal.  Ir-regardless of myself (mixed race) being the home owner. I get that's their job, but we all have seen house listings that are jaw droppingly all over the place over the past few years.

Based on your real estate investing experience, how's your accuracy for estimating house listing and selling prices over the past 3 years? Mine is terrible and I'm relatively good at math (which doesn't really matter IMO).

Isn't it very common to settle out of court to reduce legal fees and just move on with life? Does ones ability to last in a long court battle, somewhat depend on how big your pockets are (pun intended) to pay lawyer fees? Regardless of right vs wrong. My understanding is that I would likely get settled or outlasted by suing a large corporate company.

In Montana, you can charge a "reasonable rate" for your time. Check with your state landlord tenant law, specifically the security deposit section.