All Forum Posts by: Brandon M.

@Roshely Parker- I have a few depending on which side of the bay you are on

Looking for some opinions, I have a house I am in the process of basically building (was ripped down to just the exterior walls) and wondering if I should spend the money to install gas piping to allow the new buyer to have a gas range, dryer, and tankless hot water heater. This is a higher class area in North St Pete ($350k sale price) and currently has no drywall, which is the only reason I am considering it. I was quoted $1800 for the install and I am sure gas appliances will cost a little more as well.  

Would you spend the extra money to add these extra features that should appeal to more people? This isn't my first rehab or anything, I currently have 7 rehabs at some stage of the rehab process, just don't really deal a lot with gas appliances so not sure the appeal to a new buyer is worth the extra costs it will cost me. 

@Jake Alger- yes they mentioned everything under the sun, including stuff that wasn’t touched other than being painted. They mentioned an old shed that was there, the fence which was there but only stained, but also the kitchen which was obviously done.

Anyone ever had a property receive a stop work order because the municipality read something in the description of the MLS listing that gave them reason to believe unpermitted work has been done? I went live at 8am yesterday morning with a listing for a fellow investor and found a stop work order on the door at 3pm the same day when I showed up. The letter states “An inspection of your property listing advertisement revealed a violation of city code ordinances”. Now this municipality (Dunedin, FL, just outside of Clearwater) is notorious for being strict on rehabs and permits but I have never seen them find violations from MLS listings, only from passing by or being tipped off by someone. Anyone else ever experience this?

@Michael D'Alessandro- not sure what I can say without violating the posting rules, but I might know someone who could help...

@Ryan Saldanha- I am with one of those brokers and wouldn’t have it any other way. Send me a message and we can talk in more detail

@Brian Varmuza- sent you a PM

@Stephen Aki - Larry hosts a weekly Monday meeting in Pinellas Park at the Hibachi Buffet (NW corner of 49th St and Park Blvd). There are typically 50+ people at that meeting)

@Tim Little- @Dave Foster is the QI everyone recommends on here, and he is local to us as well. He is quite active on here so send him a PM

@Nick Harvey - the plan is to flip it. The tenant is the biggest B#$#% in the world and is completely irrational so that is pointless. 

@Pat L. - that would be the greatest move in the world, if only I could get the owner of the house to answer my call again. I would actually be tempted to make her an all cash offer and then immediately file for eviction. Highly unlikely I could make that work though. 

@Charlie MacPherson - Let me clarify my story above. Initially the owner gave me permission verbally before I actually bought the house, but upon talking to her again after the first run-in with the tenant she completely did a 180 on me. She never gave a real justification for the change of heart, just said she couldn't give me permission at this time. It seems as if she doesn't want to make her tenants mad since they are buying the house. Which is ridiculous. 

@Brian Pulaski - I took the survey down to the city building department before buying the house to make sure I was okay. I was told that I could not do any additions to this part of the property that was that close to the property line, but I would not have to do anything with the existing structure as it stands. As mentioned above I have tried speaking with the owner, and also tried calling the police to come out the one time as a "keep the piece" type option, but neither option has worked so far. 

One option I need to try to pursue further is the other owner on the deed. The owner mentioned she owns it with her ex-husband, I have tried tracking him down but with no luck so far. I am hoping he would love a "stick it to the ex-wife" type situation, even if I have to give him a little bit of money in order to secure his written approval. I am pretty sure that having permission from one of the owners on the deed would suffice. My next step is to go speak with the tenants of another property that the ex-husband owns on his own, hopefully they are willing to give me a phone number I can reach him. 

My only other option right now is to just go do the work and deal with the cops when (not if) they come. The work we can do pretty quickly, even painting the new wood siding before we go over to attach it. Right now the other option I have for tenting the property is to just offer that to the new buyer as part of a deal, but making the new buyer schedule that AFTER the closing. Then the new buyer can deal with the tenants after I have cashed my check. Not sure what other option I have.