All Forum Posts by: Barbara G.

@Mike Thanks for that information.  So if Rent is due on the 1st of the month can a late charge be imposed on the 9th?   What should the Lease  say in order to do this correctly?

Yes you need to spell out all the costs. The Renovation costs. The Insurance, The Taxes the Principal and Interest and any utilities you will be paying. The Holding costs. You need to know the comp on the rents if you are holding and if you are flipping you need to now the ARV

Spell them out so you can get an opinion on the buy   

Ok  Nothing has worked out as originally planned.  We have spent much more on renovating  our property then we planned.  We planned on a $25,000 renovation on our $72,000 Duplex purchase  but we added and added so many things (that we deceided  were must haves)  So now we have spent approx $40,000 maybe $45,000 on renovation instad of the original planned $25,000.  Now our cost is $72,000 + 40,000 or 45,000 so our cost is either $112,000  or $117,000.  Zillow says our duplex will appraise for $150,000 (that we think is a stretch)  BUT if that happens and we get 70% that will mean we get $105,000 and we are into it for only $7,000 or $12,000.  Now if that happens that would be great but we only wish that could happen.  What ever happens happens.  In the meantime we have to get the 2 apartments rented first bfore the bank will even look at it    

You are right @Kelly and @Niccole most Pit Bulls are mixes anyway.  My partner was very upset about this dog when we first bought the place but I told him that there was no way to actually even know about his being a pit bull.   As far as the insurance company was concerned he could  just be a terrier.  As far as this dog he has just been a perfectly lovable type dog.

This project has run over on renovation costs.  It has also taken too much time.  So far 5 months.  W still have details to mop up.  We are dividing the open garage into 2 seperate garages (there are 2 garage doors) and we have a sub contrctor doing that this week.  We will have one private garage for each tenant.  We had 2 new garage doors installed for $1,800.  Someone talked us into meeting them at the apartment tonight as a prospective renter.  They can not come to see it Saturday when we are there.  They know the area and are interested in the apartment.  We still don't know what the roperty will appraise for.  we are hoping it appraises for $150,000 because that is what Zillow said it would appraise for but I would not be shocked if it only appraises for $130,000 as Waterbury i not a class act.  

We have been only able to show the house on Saturdays so that has limited our renter pool.  We still have no tenants but it seems doable?  Everyone seems to like the apartment although it still needs some finish up details like blinds and touch ups.  It seems like $1,000 is an OK rental price People tell us how much nicer our place is to comprable places. I want to allow dogs but my partner does not want to do that.  As I said we our over Budget on renovation at least $15,000 but maybe $20,000 over and I hope not more.

About Refinancing, I called another bank and they were rather  negative since this is our 5th investment property without 2 years of Income tax returns.  Our last 3 duplexes were purchased in May of this year 2015.  He also said we would have to have 6 months of reserve money in a Bank account.  The reserve would have to cover 6 months of costs for each of the 5 duplexes we own.  That should mean approx $30,000??  He then talked about 6 months seasoning.  He also said there were  additional hoops to jump through.  I will call him back today and try to find out what other requirement this bank demands.    This Bank does not sound too friendly.  At this point when we get this duplex rented and refinanced we are going to take a breathe and not do any more investing until  approx August of 2016.  Our first purchase of 2 Duplexes in Feb 2015 still need approx $18,000 more in Renovation and we want to finish those renovations before we buy anything else.  

We have one tenant at the last 2 Duplexes (that we bought in May 2015)  that is a very late payer.  We charged him a late fee for the first time, this month and will continue to do that.  The previous owner let these 4 Tenants pay on the 10th of the month and that is what they do.    This tenant never pays until the 15th of the month.  When the new leases come due we have to try to put  "Rents are due the 1st and Late by the 5th" language and see if we can improve this problem.  3 tenants at those 2 Duplexes have dogs and only one pays extra for their dog.  That is something else we probably will address when their leases come due.  

I think the court wants you to let a contractor correct what you think is wrong.   It sounds like there might be a problem on your part here.  I don't think the courts look kindly on not paying people for their work.

You say "it still wasn't done properly due to they put up drywall and they didn't even prime walls so paint comes off,the tile is 2 diffrent colors when supposed to be all white,the drain pipe is not to code and looks like cap so I had to fire them"

Are you saying the white tiles do not match some of the white tiles?   Can you show that in a picture?  

"The drain pipe is not up to code."  Let's see what is not up to code here?  Did you ask  the contractor to bring it up to code/
Th court will want to see  that you gave the contractor a chance  to correct these problems and gave  the contractor a chance to make it right.  

I would ask the contractor to correct these problems now and or negotiate a price with him and pay him for the work he has done before you end up at the wrong end of this in court or in arbitration.

Is there anyway you can reconfigure this rooming house so it will be a triplex?