All Forum Posts by: John Banaski

@Todd Morris, considering your own experience, how would YOU like to learn about a rent increase? Personally, I'd take the opportunity to meet with all of them, visit the property, leave a personal note on their door (maybe) a week before you do this, and take the time to get to know them and renew a lease and tell them the situation and bring rent comps for the area and their rental history to show the difference in what they pay. Explain that to make improvements to the property requires a little increase and take into consideration their income, time in residence, and try to make improvements that can reduce the overhead. Maybe low flow toilets and new low flow shower heads, LED lights, rainwater capture system and cistern to use that for landscape watering. There are ways to do that without having to go $400/mo immediately. Incremental increase every year or two, but lock them in with that understanding that if they want a nice place to live, it needs CAPEX to do so.

@Orly Howard, actually, HOAs and developments can and do have deed restrictions like this. The first house I ever bought had an HOA restriction for rental properties, NOT just STR which is a relatively new popular/concept.

Remember, every region, city, state can have different restrictions AND allowances, so there’s no need to get ugly with one another. I’ve studied real estate law in several states from the broker/agent AND developer’s perspective and some things are similar in many places, but just because in YOUR area it says one thing doesn’t make it the same thing everywhere. Terminology in this industry isn’t homogenous, unfortunately…

@Kathryn Schauer, whatever you do, do NOT put any bushes or trees next to the foundation (I.e. within 3-4 feet) as it can negatively affect your foundations’ performance, assuming it’s a slab-on-grade, or pile suspended system if there’s any shrink/swell on expansive soils.

@Christopher Reeder, great advice! Drain to daylight going away from the house with gravity is best too!

@Kathryn Schauer - In the past, when I worked for an engineering firm, our clients would have something like this happen and 99 out of 100 times a French Drain was recommended. You should probably get an civil or geotechnical engineer to come to the property to take a look at it to properly address the issues at hand.

No offense to contractors, but they generally only address construction issues when they have plans to follow and may be able to help with whatever an engineer designs. If you need more info, let me know…

@Caio Ferreira Torres,

You can use BOTH your 401k AND your income to invest and there are many people who leverage their 401k’s to do just that.

I can introduce you to several or send you videos (or you can and should) research that on YouTube as self-directed IRAs are a great investment tool if done right, with minimal risk.

Good luck on your new job and learn as much as you can and get your PE license! Congratulations as being an engineer can be stressful AND even a little boring at the same time, depending upon which route you take in this field. (I worked for engineering firms in TX for almost 14 years altogether…)

Best regards,

John Banaski

@Merritt S. The ones who own the site and paid those who built it are pretty smart too, don't you think?

@Benjamin Williams, I agree with some that say to stay in school as getting a degree can make life easier. However, if school isn't your thing, get a real estate license and get experience on the sales and brokerage side while you learn how to invest in real estate. Learn a trade so you can fix and flip. Truthfully, if I was your age, I would partner with someone and learn as much as possible from an experienced investor and then buy as many small MF units a year I could. Once you get over 300 or 400 units with a solid income coming in and maintenance is covered, I would go back to school and listen to professors talk all about theory as most have never done anything!

@Will Gaston - I used to work for a structural engineer here in Texas who was also an expert witness in court who testified on his clients' behalves for decades. I suggest you hire a/good, experienced structural engineer/with expert witness experience to examine this to determine the following: A.) If the house is/was structurally sound (i.e. not too long a joist to handle the SF/ft load without being supported underneath by a load-bearing wall or pillar); or B.) Weight limits exceeded the "normal" occupancy and expected weight if "only 20-30 people were ONLY standing around" or, C.) If the weight limit surpassed both the fire code for an approved number of people to be there as well as the activity if, let's say, 5-10 knuckleheads, jumping up and down or rough-housing and landed on the joist and broke it or, D.) The house and joist material are both old and any heavier than normal point load over the joist could have lead to it breaking. (Which could be a material failure and not the renter's fault.) Getting an expert opinion, either way would answer questions about the structural integrity of your house as well as the trustworthiness of your renters. Either, in the future, you might ask your attorney to add a limit to the number of guests allowed as well as get a statement from the local Fire Marshall post signs stating limitations to avoid future headaches. This is what I would do to avoid jumping to conclusions AND arming yourself with facts, or at least an educated opinion from a licensed expert. Could help you avoid more headaches down the road to approach this as a fact-finding mission instead of as a "chasing repair damages money" mission. Many good engineers know the building code well enough to tell you if the span was too long and the beam was too short, etc... Best of luck in finding the truth and fixing your problem. This is what I'd do, but it's just a suggestion to avoid chasing the kids for repairs before you really know or have reason to believe what really transpired.

@Alexandra Chaploutskiy - Wow. This guy, "Mike" certainly has a creative mind. Too bad he's using it to scam people instead of work. Sorry, you had to deal with that craziness!