All Forum Posts by: Austin Bauer

Looking at a single family home I could by for an awesome price but it is on a lot which is over an acre, located in the city.  I have one rental currently with a small yard and tenant mows it and supplies mower.  

 Probably get $1000 in rent for new property.  Wondering how to handle mowing situation.  Would require a rider.  Seems like options would be.                                                           
                                                                              Sell tenant rider cheap and have them mow it.  I don’t want to own mower for liability.                                
                                                                       Have them supply push mower and just mow perimeter of back yard.

Your thoughts?  Thanks!

We live on a property in Eastern Iowa in a 1000sq ft home. When we purchased the property our intention was to add on at some point. We are now ready to act. When we look at the cost to make the additions, we approach the cost of a new home.

Our plans have changed and we intend to split the property in half and build a new home on the new property, and rent out our existing home. To do this we need an agricultural easement from an adjacent land owner with at least 40 acres. Once they would sign the agricultural easement paperwork allowing us to build, it would restrict them in the future from splitting their 40 acres in any way. We are surrounded by farmland. If it is to be farmland, there is not much consequence for the land owner to grant us this easement. But at the same time I can understand that land owners reluctance to grant us this easement.

We have approached one land owner already. They initially said yes, but later backed out when we asked them to sign the paperwork.

I am asking the BP group for some guidance on how to approach the next land owner. What are some ways that I could ease the land owners mind on this issue? I realize that $$ always helps, and it may just come down to that. But looking for other suggestions and viewpoints as well.

Thanks!

@Jack B.

I’m curious of this as well. Seems like a lot of people do it with the house hacking.

I’m thinking of doing something similar. I’d like to build a new home on my property and rent out my existing home.

Sounds like if you have good tenants it works great, but a bad one and it could make your life hell.

@Daniel B. Taking it down to the studs is something to consider. A more intense home renovation would give us more options to customize but meanwhile raising the cost. But as time moves on we will need to act in some way since it is going to need a new roof in the next 2 years. I don’t want to pay to replace it then remove it 2 years later to add on an addition or a 2nd story. Other than the roof we could live in it for a while as is.

Thanks for your reply!

@Aaron Gordy hopefully my post made sense to you, but just to be clear I am not necessarily looking at this from a revenue/equity producing stance, since I plan to live in this home for the foreseeable future and most likely beyond. It’s in my hometown. But a nice big instant equity % would definitely be icing on the cake, but is not a requirement for me. Are you saying it would be for you? Or did you maybe misread? The instant equity would give me a safe net if I would ever need to exit. But I feel I am currently in a comfortable financial position to weather a financial storm down the road.

@Sue K. I would not need the rental income for a new build but sure would be nice. I figure about 2-3 hundred per month cash flow after all expenses paid. Mortgage, repairs, cap ex and insurance. So really, a pretty good rental.

Thanks for the replies everyone! Keep them coming!

@Cody Kauzlarich I’m not a big stock guy either, but it’s private stock and really a great opportunity for me, so I can’t pass it up. You can only buy once a year and it’s in the fall sometime.

We have lived on a 7.6 acre lot in rural Eastern Iowa for 5 and half years now. We bought the property with the intention of adding on to the existing home. My wife took a few years off to raise our children to school age and is now back to work part time. So our plans have been delayed a few years.

The home was built in 1957, 1040 sq ft, 2 bedroom, single car garage. There are 3 other out buildings on the property. It was a farm in the past. We love the property, and location but the home leaves much to be desired.

I have been a member of bigger pockets for around 10 months with intentions of buying a single family home in the spring of 2020. However, I was recently given the opportunity to buy stock in the company that I work for and will now use my down payment that I just finally saved up to purchase this stock in the fall of 2020. The stock has had excellent returns in the past and is what I believe to be a solid investment. Better than what I could do with my plans for real estate.

Back to our home plans. For about the same amount of money(about 275k) we could add onto our current home or leave it as is and rent it out and build a new home on the same property. We are torn between the two choices and see the pros and cons to both choices. We have been stuck on what to do for several years but are nearing a time when we should act. We are in a good spot financially with the acreage with about 60% equity.

Our main holdup to building the new home is that we would then share the property with tenants. We like having it to ourselves. And our holdup to adding on is that even after spending the price of a new home there would still be things about the home that we would consider inadequate.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Any thoughts please.

I’m looking at a bank foreclosure single family home tomorrow. Before looking at it, seems to be a good deal but it does have a flea infestation that the realtor warned me about. I am willing to deal with this issue, it doesn’t really scare me, but I guess I’m not exactly sure how difficult it will be to take care of this problem. I guess I see why this property is not selling! This property is definitely a fixer up.

It's listed at $56,900, down from $65,900. So a significant price drop indicating motivated seller. Needing approx $30,00 worth of repair with a conservative ARV of $120,000. Would rent for 11-12 hundred.

How much should the fleas affect my decision to buy? How much should this discount the property?

This is also my first investment property.

Thanks!