All Forum Posts by: Andrew S.

If you're that interested in being an active landlord, then I'd sell it. Sounds like a fairly nice house.  If you select good tenants, manage them, and get good luck then you could make money. Otherwise the stock market is another good option

I use Cozy for my rentals and it's very easy to use for renters and landlords. For house hacking I am probably less of an "official landlord" to my roommate. He's my friend too so he Venmo's me money. On a lease but I don't try to treat our relationship as pure business. He was my roommate before I purchased additional rental units. Could set him up with Cozy too but Venmo is easy and works well.

I buy stoves with the glass top and self cleaning feature. Glass tops are so easy to clean (so the tenant will keep them clean and easy for you to clean on turnover). The drip pans get gross and they're harder to clean so less often cleaned.

I'd guess applicants A may stay longer. Applicant B might use your place as a stepping stone to get back on her feet (which is totally understandable). But may move out for more space or to buy her own place in a year.

I'd use an LVP with an underlayment. They have sound proof underlayments. If there's big bumps between hardwood boards then install luan (thin subfloor) over top of the hardwood. Put deck screws in the hardwood into the floor joists to eliminate squeaks.

I'd recommend not doing business that has a conflict of interest. I don't see a major downside to using a third party painter. 

I've shown units that were lived in and they rarely were well received.  Real estate investors often capitalize off ability to create a vision for what a property can look like after TLC, cleaning, etc. Most folks don't have that ability.  Let them move out, spend the time and money you need to so it's a nice place. Then show it. Vacancies in my area have been very low in COVID.  If it's a decent place, you'll get it filled soon. 

Be kind to the person you're asking to move out (without them wanting to).  They can squat, leave it trashed, anything in between.  If you treat them with respect, they're more likely to return it.  Don't be shocked if you treat someone poorly and they treat you poorly. 

I used Lowe's Shaw Matrix with an incorrect underlayment. I used a hardwood/ laminate underlayment that was a little too thick/ too soft.  The floor has unclipped from not wanting to float properly in front of my fridge. Everywhere else in my house - bedrooms, bathroom, living room, dining room is fine.  I'd probably buy it again and just use a LVP underlayment.  Or use HD's lifeproof that has the built in underlayment. 

$1000+ for a new set of cabinets. $100 for new handles, hinges, and paint.

Do you care about "bothering" the tenants or does the seller/ current owner? You might want to put in a clause that the current "easily bothered" tenants are on a month-month lease. So that you can remove them once you own the place and they're challenging to work with. The seller is probably trying to hide the bad condition of the place but as long as you include worst case scenario (whatever that actually means) in your numbers then whatever.