All Forum Posts by: Brian Wolf

Hello All,

I am the landlord of a duplex where I also reside and have been looking for information on my rights as a landlord of a owner occupied duplex. It being my primary residence I want to know if I have the rights to more strictly dictate how my house appears and is presented. For instance, I inherited her old lease with the home and it does not say she cant have window coverings that aren't meant for that i.e flags, sheets etc. She recently hung a flag covering her entire upstairs window and to complicate things its a pride flag. I wouldn't want a flag hanging in my tenants windows regardless of the representation as I believe it isn't curb appeal and also just tacky. I especially do not want to infringe on her rights of expression however. Does anyone either have information on a situation like this specifically or just general guides for owner occupied residences? Thank you!

Hey BP Crew,

Quick question here for you. I've tried to do as much research on this but haven't found anything super clear or solid. I currently own a duplex and am about to split the HVAC and add a separate unit to the upstairs that is currently occupied. Is there anything more than a letter or notice telling my tenant of these upgrades, dates, and any disruptions or outage periods with utilities (Electric for a few hours i'm assuming) that I need to do. I don't anticipate this taking more than a few days but with her working from home with the current COVID-19 issue I don't want to infringe on her space to much or rights. There's the chance that in a month (when im looking to have it done) we'll all be back to work but im not sure if that extra fold of complexity changes anything or my rights to do this upgrade. PS i'm in New Jersey if that changes anything. Thank you!

After reviewing it further, I believe it benefits me to just cover the heat until a the lease renews. My plan was if she would assume the cost of heat I would work with her come lease renewal and not look to raise rent. However the short term loss of $500-700 doesn't make sense to lose out on the multiple future years of increased rent. It also appears as a good faith measure to honor the spirit of her original lease even if the verbiage could allow me to have her pay. Learning as I go, thanks for the hep!

Hello All,

I recently inherited a tenant with a duplex I purchased. I am about to convert the one old oil furnace, used for both units, into 2 split traditional HVAC systems. Her old lease reads "The tenant will pay all utilities, except for the following which will be paid by the landlord: Oil heat, water & sewer." With this verbiage in place until January 2021 can I have her pickup this utility for the fall/winter as it is no longer oil hear but natural gas and also her own unit? 

Also, I was going to give her the option for me to add central air as well for an increase in rent, thoughts? How much is reasonable being that it would cost me an extra $3,000?

Thank you!

BP Gang I need your help!

I bought my first property 4 or so months ago and I would love to BRRRR it. I'll give some financials on the place at the bottom. The downstairs unit needed a new bath (done) and I plan on also redoing the kitchen as well as splitting the HVAC (One oil unit currently). The top unit currently doesn't have access to laundry so Id also like to make a communal laundry area for added value. The bare minimum I'd need it to appraise for is 240,000ish to get my .75 Loan to Value and payoff the original loan (I understand I'll leave plenty of the rehab $ in this deal, still learning). So in my head I have a few plans of attack and I want to bounce them off you all. Granted, I could be so far off and none of this matter because the appraisal just isn't there and I just need to sit on an, albeit cash flowing property, without being able to refi for a while. Did I mention there's all but zero comps in the area. So here's my thoughts...

1. I continue saving money via my 9-5 until I can do all the upgrades I mentioned, prob 1 year. I'm doing most of the work myself to hopefully make up my equity gap. Then appraise it and hope it comes out where I need it. If not I still have a nice cash flowing property.

2. Call in an appraiser now and walk them through what I want to do. If it sounds like the numbers are there then take a hard money loan that's been offered to me to complete renos sooner. If I went this route I would want the appraisal to come in at 240,000 + Hard Money Loan Amount to then be able to repay my investor right away. I only want to take a loan if I know im good for it right after refi so hence my hesitation to do this without a good grasp on ARV.

Is there a better way to go about this route? Would an appraiser let me poke their brain on what I want to do and how that'll affect value? Any South Jersey recommendations for an appraiser?

3. An alternate route I haven't considered.

----Financials----

Purchase Price: 190,000 ( I know not an ideal BRRRR discount price)

% Down: 3.5% (Again, yikes and I know not ideal)

Pre-Reno Rents Appraisal: Top 1B1B - $900 (Assumed tenant paying $800) Bottom 2B1B - 1200

Thanks guys!

- Brian

BP Gang I need your help!

I bought my first property 4 or so months ago and I would love to BRRRR it. I'll give some financials on the place at the bottom. The downstairs unit needed a new bath (done) and I plan on also redoing the kitchen as well as splitting the HVAC (One oil unit currently). The top unit currently doesn't have access to laundry so Id also like to make a communal laundry area for added value. The bare minimum I'd need it to appraise for is 240,000ish to get my .75 Loan to Value and payoff the original loan (I understand I'll leave plenty of the rehab $ in this deal, still learning). So in my head I have a few plans of attack and I want to bounce them off you all. Granted, I could be so far off and none of this matter because the appraisal just isn't there and I just need to sit on an, albeit cash flowing property, without being able to refi for a while. Did I mention there's all but zero comps in the area. So here's my thoughts...

1. I continue saving money via my 9-5 until I can do all the upgrades I mentioned, prob 1 year. I'm doing most of the work myself to hopefully make up my equity gap. Then appraise it and hope it comes out where I need it. If not I still have a nice cash flowing property.

2. Call in an appraiser now and walk them through what I want to do. If it sounds like the numbers are there then take a hard money loan that's been offered to me to complete renos sooner. If I went this route I would want the appraisal to come in at 240,000 + Hard Money Loan Amount to then be able to repay my investor right away. I only want to take a loan if I know im good for it right after refi so hence my hesitation to do this without a good grasp on ARV.

Is there a better way to go about this route? Would an appraiser let me poke their brain on what I want to do and how that'll affect value? Any South Jersey recommendations for an appraiser?

3. An alternate route I haven't considered. 

----Financials----

Purchase Price: 190,000 ( I know not an ideal BRRRR discount price)

% Down: 3.5% (Again, yikes and I know not ideal)

Pre-Reno Rents Appraisal: Top 1B1B - $900 (Assumed tenant paying $800) Bottom 2B1B - 1200

Thanks guys!

- Brian

Hey guys,

Just became a landlord in NJ and had a question about storing of security deposits. I currently just have one tenant so I opened a savings and checking account for the property in my name. I placed my tenants security deposit in the savings account and intend to only use that account for that. The account is an online banking account so I don’t know if that satisfies the “in NJ institution” I’ve been reading about. Also does the account need to be in the tenants name? Lastly, and least importantly, looking forward when I have multiple tenants...will I need to store each deposit in a separate account? Thanks guys!

-Brian

Hello BP crew! I just got my first offer accepted on a nice little duplex that I'll be house hacking here in south Jersey. I will potentially be inheriting a renter, who signed a lease through Jan2021, who is currently paying $800. I believe this to already be below comps at about $900. Additionally, I would like to make some upgrades (Converting oil to gas heat & adding central air in the spring & switching to a more renter friendly experience via Cozy or some other portal are first primary upgrades) and believe that would also warrant a bump in rent. The current renter, a nurse, seems to be a very neat and organized renter, ideal! However, I need/want to make what the apartment deserves to bring in.

A couple thoughts I had, is raising rates right off the bat a bad idea for a newbie and is having a renter just more important to start? If raising rents is warranted, whats your thoughts on bumping to $850 initially for a 6 month lease, then raising to maybe $925 after A/C Cozy is implemented in the spring? Better to leave it $800 until after value is added? Would that larger eventual bump be more damaging? Last question is, will I be drawing up a new lease with the tenant either way or will I just inherit the lease they had setup?

Thank you all!

This was great stuff. You guys are the best, thank you all! 

I'm getting very close getting my first rental property (house hacking a multi) and I wanted to see what was the one thing on your first deal/first time landlord you wish you knew, would tell a first timer, or even better, a tough lesson you had to learn? I'm in South Jersey so if its Jersey specific even better! Thanks guys!