All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Aaker

Contract for deed seems ideal as you could be making payments to him, which helps him pay the mortgage and extra for his apartment/travel. But, if you could not cover the spread between %3 and 6.5% rates, then you won't have much there to entice the CFD. Your option there would be to increase the duration of the payments or pay him more down if you have the cash.

Single family and small multifamily are still overvalued. Residential buyers have been paying retail prices despite rising interest rates. It's tough to compete with that as an investor. Likely, you will need to find a property in need of significant work. Do you have cash to make repairs? You might also want to start looking off-market for deals. 

Congratulations on getting under contract for the duplex! Since this is your first renovation, I recommend getting a GC to do it. You can watch closely to see if it is something you would like to do on future properties. It seems easy, but is a tough job, and usually worth the 10% premium they ask. 
I don't know anyone in the area, but I would recommend calling the local REIA's president. 

Yes, I have. What you are trying to cover with the umbrella policy is the 'slip and falls', which can easily be a million dollars or more if you are found liable. It also covers your legal fees simply to defend a bogus lawsuit. 1 million is standard for each of my properties. Also, they are relatively inexpensive.

Congrats on your 11th property. I'm glad you have an umbrella policy for the first 10, but when you own them in your own name, a loss in one property can spill over to the others, and personally. If you are concerned about a 1M umbrella that, makes me think that your current policy is way too low for 10 houses. As big as you are, you should consider moving the properties into multiple LLCs (my personal rule is no more than $1M in single familys in one LLC, but this may need to be higher in your area).

Might be time to look off-market. There are many ways to go about this, but one of the cheapest is to look on Google maps for buildings that look like 4-plexes. They usually will be a big rectangular roof with 1-4 cars parked out front. Make a spreadsheet of addresses, look up the owners on the GIS, and send letters. Sounds easy, but it will take work.

When you say 'legal one family', do you mean that it is zoned for single family residential? It's not worth it if the local ordinances don't support your plan. If it only needs some upgrades to make it 'legal', that's another story. Even if it was a short term rental before, it'll only take one neighbor to complain to cause you trouble.

Quote from @Grace Tapfuma:

@Benjamin Aaker what sort of a person would I have to speak to, to get more information on this? 

For business valuation there are a number of websites in Australia that can help. For a better estimation, find a business broker in your area.

For the loan options, speak with your banker and try to get involved in local real estate groups. They will have a lot of information for you. 

You really need to talk to a tax advisor in this situation. The cost will be much smaller than the taxes you could have to pay. With this amount of money there is probably going to be a gift tax that your friend would have to pay. Also, if you haven't lived there but are a co-owner, you or your friend may not be able to avoid capital gains tax. Bottom line is - pay for the expert advice on this one.

Hi Martin and welcome to the forums. Not to put too much stock in hindsight, but wasn't the noise there when you toured the place? Was something mitigating the noise at that time that you could use now?

Are you certain you would have to sell at a loss? Lots of areas have been appreciating. You might want to talk to a banker and real estate agent before deciding.

People in my area live right next to train tracks and there are loud trains shaking the place at all hours. Somehow they manage to live with it. Could you do so if it meant saving 60 to 100k as you estimate? Also, a tenant might be willing to live with it where you are not and you might just become a landlord.

I don't see a reason to remove the new supports in the crawl space in the future and based on your picture, I don't think you would need to remove them to put in new floors. Have you checked the subflooring for the kitchen floor in the lower level to make sure it is level and flat? There is clearly some movement or the tiles would not have cracks in the grout. Simply regrouting will have another crack show up in a year. All the water issues could have caused this as well. Make sure your new drainage system is working. Then level the floor - really shouldn't need more supports after the first if they were installed correctly. Then do the floor.