All Forum Posts by: Ben S.

How big are the cracks? Hairline? I would leave them as is if it's alright with the tenants and take pictures and watch to see if there is any change. I would also walk around outside and see if there is any cracking in the foundation and make sure water is running away from the foundation. I wouldn't be immediately concerned about it, just monitor it very closely for any sudden change. 

I have 8 units with tenants in a property I just purchased. The property needs significant rehab, so I need everyone to move out (both to start work asap, and so someone in the county doesn't decide to get upset that people are living there with probable health violations and such). I legally only need to give 30 days notice, but as some of them have lived there a long time, the sargent and eviction officer I spoke with recommended I give 60 days notice to ensure any eviction process goes smoothly. I was okay with that since I can't really start the rehab that soon anyway. 60 days notice means 90 days total if I need to evict.

Now I just had one of the tenants call me and ask if I could give them 90 days so their kids can finish school before they have to move. 7 of the 8 units have kids (some have a lot). I was expecting 90 days anyway, but if I have to evict after 90 days I may have a total of 120 days, which I'd rather not have. Is there any way I can help guarentee everyone will move out by day 90?

I though about requiring that they show me a lease or proof that they have a place to move to on day 90 (requiring it by day 60 or I start eviction then), or some kind of fine if they don't move out by day 90 (though I don't think any of them have money so suing if they don't pay wouldn't get me anything). No one has a lease (I assume they all did at some point with the previous owner, but some could be squatters for all I know). 

And yes, Zestimate isn't dependable. It may be accurate in one case, and then 20% off in the next, so you can't trust it. They do have a sidebar with comperable recent sales that is helpful to get a quick idea, but you will need to read the details of each and find more comperables than that to get an accurate price.

Do you own it? If so call a couple real estate agents and tell them you are thinking about selling and they can give a BPO (Broker Price Opinion). That's not exactly what the bank will use though, and I've heard banks have been giving lower appraisals than the buyer/seller/realtor value the property (at least in Maryland). 

All this is is looking at similar homes sold in the past 90 days. The closer the other homes are and more recently sold they are and mvoe similar they are the better your estimate is. Try to get about 4-6 comps this way. If it's in a cookie cutter neighborhood with lots of sales you can get a really accurate price this way. If it's rural or unique (waterfront) it can be a lot harder. If you can only find homes that are a little better or a little worse, you then add or subtract a bit. 

The key thing is to pretend you are selling the house for someone else. Don't be optomistic or rosy about it. Think like you have to sell this house asap and you need to price it as such. Also looking at what else is currently for sale and like you have to beat them out for a buyer. You are better off having a low estimate than too high.

This will be a long term hold definitely. My dad has low income rentals and he is very picky about not putting anything in them that could break (he doesn't have any ceiling fans for example), and uses vinyl and carpet squares so he can just replace certains squares when ruined. Problem is they don't really look very nice, and arent' very appealing to anyone aside from being really cheap. I'm thinking a bit nicer stuff will bring in higher rent and better tenants, even if it requires more to repair/replace. I'll check out the price difference for granite, but I think you are supposed to seal it every year or something. I do like tile for floors for the reasons mentioned, though I'm in Virginia so it isn't common to have tile in the whole house.

I'll be rehabbing several homes soon as rentals. They are small rural 2/1 homes and will be fairly mid grade. The rehab will be pretty extensive, so I can pick everything such as flooring (carpet? vinyl? laminate?), countertop (laminate? granite? butcher block?), fixtures (ceiling fans), patio vs deck?, roofing (asphalt? metal?), etc. If you had your chance to pick everything from scratch for your rental, what materials would be most cost effective? 

I don't mind spending more on something that will be more durable and have a longer life before needing replacement. Also anything to lower insurance would be helpful. Thanks.

I met the extremely helpful sargent at the property yesterday and we knocked on doors and spoke to everyone and passed out 60 day notices. It went very well, and everyone was very nice. Of course I don't expect they would be very nice if the sargent weren't there with me (they weren't very friendly when I first looked at the property, and the county inspector said they were hostile last time he went out there). I think i'm going to get a dumpster out there to encourage people to throw stuff in it rather than in the street or leave junk in the houses when they leave, but otherwise don't intent to go back to the property. 

The sargent also gave me the contact info for the eviction officer and said to call him asap to get the eviction process prepped, as he doesn't think there is any chance everyone will be gone in 60 days. He had also spoken to the judge previously and says they can probably streamline the eviction process for me since the tenants were actually told to leave about 3 months ago, and now I have given them 60 days notice rather than 30 (the minimum required in Maryland). 

The assistance I'm getting from the county in this is more than making up for extending the time before I can begin rehab on the property.

You might want to figure out how much you would have had to pay someone to make the repairs that each tenant has made over the years. If you raise rents much they may be less inclined to do that work themselves, and it may end up costing you more. Also figure what vacancy would be in more normal circumstances. It's an interesting situation, and it's great you have solid long term tenants in place. Just run all the numbers and see how much below market rates you really are, as it's probably better than your the base rent suggests.

I've used a couple personal (unsecured) lines of credit for years and love the flexibility they provide. The higher interest and payment doesn't usually matter much for flips. I guess if you are doing one flip the loan would be best, but if you want easy access to cash and repeatedly flip you would just sign up once and use it over and over, which would be a lot less headache. Even for a hold it's fast and easy to get the cash and the cash out later if you decide. 

Thanks for all the replies! @Richard Carlton I used to attend the SOMDREIG meetings regularly, and plan to start coming every month again starting with the next meeting, I'll track yo down at the next meeting. For any southern marylanders who don't know, there is an awesome real estate investors meeting at the kitchen and bath place in La Plata. Search SOMDREIG in google or meetup to find them. 

I'm in talks with a few folks (including from the group here) to get a commercial loan on some combination of this 10 home property and my 2 home property in Virginia (they are manufactured on the same parcel, so cannot get a residential loan it either). If you can help with this or know someone who you would recommend, PM me. 

I'm also looking for a real estate attorney in Maryland to help my update my LLC and transfer this property to it, as well as to start a relationship for future needs.