All Forum Posts by: Becca Summers

I know being flexible with the lease has left a problem. The reason I did it was I don't like that breaking the lease leaves no inventive to leave the property in nice condition. I've have since fixed my lease. 

The just moved out and I've done the walkthrough  I'm still within my 30 days allowed. I'm planning on charging the deposit for the damage and calling the legal hotline on Monday to ask about charging the deposit for the lost rent. Just want to cover my bases. Thanks for your input .

I recently had a tenant break their lease and move. How my lease reads is breaking the lease will result in loss of deposit. I told him if he kept the property clean and I was able to rent it before he moved he could earn his deposit back.

Day after I told him this his daughter kicked in a door causing $300 in damage to be repaired. I told him because this was beyond normal wear and tear he would be responsible to which he responded for me to take it out of his deposit. He also killed parts of the lawn with weed and grass killer. I haven't gotten the bill from my landscape yet on that repair.

Because of the door jam repair I wasn't able to rent the property out immediately after they moved out and had about a week of vacancy and lost rent.

The question is, do I charge the deposit for the door jam and lawn then give the rest back or because there was lost rent keep the full deposit for breaking the lease. I want to be kind but fair.

Because the dulpex is older than 1977 it probably has lead based paint, but that is true for everything that old. If the property has been painted the lead based paint should be encapsulated. The concern for lead based paint is two things, one when doing renovations you'll be exposed and two if there is ever any chipping paint and a tenants child eats it. If you keep your property in good repair and let the tenants know about the lead based paint your fine. There is a little booklet your supposed to give all your tenants if you move forward. I can give it to you if you'd like.

Sump pumps are not ideal because if they fail you get water in the basement, they have to be well maintained. You can look into foundation issues, if it has them there are clear signs like settling, windows that are no longer straight and doors not closing properly. 

Mold, if you move forward as for it to be taken care of fully or ask a price discount.

Some switches for $12,000 is way to high. I just negotiated for the seller to pay for my buyer to have a 1935 house rewired and that cost was $6,000 and it was a lot of extra work, the bid was $4,000.

In sugar house doing the nicer renovations will get you closer to the $400k ARV and it's the type of neighborhood where tenants appreciate the extra nice finishes I don't know if laminate flooring is the right way to go.

The numbers don't work for a flip $400,000 ARV *.75=300,000 which would mean your renovation costs would need to be $40k for both units and I think that is pushing it to do two kitchens and two bathrooms. If your looking for a nice buy and hold that will have some equity once your done that might be the route. From the sound of it there is no way this property will go traditional FHA financing. (The house has to qualify for the loan also) Hard money or private money is the route I would go if I where you.

I don't think I'd walk from this just yet, get better bids and find out if you can get the financing. It has a lot of potential. 

I tracked the supply on the MLS multiple listing service based on what's listed was sold what goes under contract. How I track rental rate is I watch KSL for what's listed every month and then I see what homes are still on the market after 30 days and I double check things on rent o meter and between all of the information. I give more weight to the professionally managed properties than the owner properties to find the owners tend to put their rent amount too high. And a good way to tell a professionally managed property versus owner if they tend to end things in 75 or 25 no even numbers trying to get their clients the most bang for their buck.

Are you local from Utah or have you moved here from somewhere else?

@Aaron Ormiston I was going to clean my bathroom but you brought up my favorite subject Utah County so I'll clean later. I'll let others answer about Ogden and Davis County. 

Utah County Pros: I disagree Orem hasn't been fully bought up, Vineyard is considered Orem and is developing 1,700 acres there which I'm sure one day will break off into it own city. I'm sure your talking about old Orem which I agree there isn't much land left and if it's in the right neighborhood the price for lots is pretty good. I track rental rates in the county and the rates drop each city you move further south in the county you go as the job change from white collar to blue collar. 

Utah Count Cons: For sure south of BYU is very picked over, we are no doubt in a sellers market in Utah County the supply of single family homes is almost 2 months worth of inventory, meaning if nothing else was listed today it would take to months for everything to sell. A balanced market is 6 months worth of inventory and a buyers market is 6 months plus. For the last 3 years we have been closer to 3-4 months supply which is why this year has been so hot! The townhome/ condo market supply is closer to 1 months worth of supply so I'm sure you can understand why it's cut throat. A LOT of them are selling with days of being on the market or before it even hit.

South Utah County: Yes price point is less but so is rent rates. My parents have homes down south and it really surprises me how much less they rent for the same bedroom bathroom count I have in American Fork. Utilities in Springville tend to be higher and the age of most homes in Springville will warrant higher repair costs. Spanish Fork is becoming quite the booming city with a lot newer construction coming in. I could see rental rates going up there the bigger it gets. I moved to Payson when I was 11 and finished high school there and the mindset of people living there is defiantly rural, they don't like to drive to far for work and think people are crazy who drive an hour to work. It is changing for sure the more new construction going on getting more people from "out of town" moving in but the rent rates still don't reflect the change. I have found those willing to pay a premium want to be closer. 

Salt Lake County: Is actually pretty simple everything east of state street has better rental rates. Good access to the freeway is very important as a lot of them commute. Your right surgar house, 9th and 9th and 13th and 13th on the east side all have great little communities where they are willing to pay good money.

My personal preference is owning rentals close to home, that way I can drive by and check on them. I believe your looking into multi family which wouldn't matter as much about driving by if you have a property manager but it's still nice to do.  

@Alex Freelove your in a good position income wise to start investing. The biggest thing you'll need to learn is self discipline to make that income work for you. You'll want to start by getting yourself on a budget and keep track of where all your money goes.  My husband and I do a modified version of Dave Ramsey (look him up), I say mortified because we do most of what he says but we don't buy investments with cash and leverage our down payments to buy more.   

The concern I'd have for doing a 6 month lease then going mtm is 6 months from now I'd December which is just a harder month to get good renters. One vacant month will eat up the additional $100 a month you'd get from raising the rent in 6 months if he moves out then.

Jake that is great welcome to the group. What type of deals are you planning on doing? Buy and hold, flips or something else?

@Grant Hibbert   you have to be careful converting a single family home into student housing. The biggest thing being Provo will only allow two unrelated people per home or 3 if the homeowner lives there in most of the city. There are exceptions in some areas and condo communities. You'll need to do a lot of research to make sure your buying in the right areas or you might have that one nosy neighbor turn you in.  I'm curious why did you choose student housing as the strategy of choice?

@Erin Featherstone I have a student rental that might be coming on the market soon. It's not BYU approved but it's in Prove right in between UVU and BYU it even hits the 1% rule which is almost unheard of in Utah.  However the management of a student housing condo does require more hands on for management  time and fees because turn over is so much higher I was talking about it with @Landon Murie yesterday and his company might be willing to take on the challenge if you go that route where you live so far away.

Just curious why did you decide student housing as you avenue of choice?