All Forum Posts by: Ivan Burley

I'll say I follow the common theme here and look at the roof, siding, windows, ect.  I also always look at the grade and pitch of the lot.  This natural leads to looking at the condition of the foundation.  Look for stairway cracks and signs of repair.

Right now I am looking for homes on slabs.  There are typically less issues to deal with as opposed to homes with craw spaces.  No floor joists, standing water, pests, ect.  To me the most important thing is no major structural issues.  Anything cosmetic is any as fix.  When you start getting into foundation and structural damage that's when you lose.

@ Bill G.  Thanks for he response.  Yeah, I'm aware of the laws concerning proper notice.  I just wasn't sure how that pertains to changing an acquired lease.  The information I have found doesn't really touch on thus point.

Thanks for you suggestions.  I'm thinking that maybe they opted for the weekly terms because they had intentions to sell but I'm not sure.  I'll offer them the option of month o month or a year long lease.

Would it be fair to charge more for month to month?  Seeing as how there is less guarantee for me and more flexibility for the tenants. 

  If all goes as expected I'll soon be acquiring a lease on a duplex that is week to week.  I was wondering if I could draw up a new lease that is yearly!  There is a clause in the lease that says the agreement is renewed each week unless either party ends the arrangement in writing.  Seems like the best option would be to end the week to week and enter them into a yearly lease.

  I'm a little worried about what the type of tenant would be on a weekly basis.  At the same time I don't want to pre-judge the tenants.  I know each state is different so hopefully someone from TN could chime in.

*I meant,  isn't bringing me to the cream of the crop! 

Firstly let me say that I'm limited in my RIE experience and even less versed on multi family units.  That being said it seems like nearly every property I've seen (duplexes) has had some or of neglect or another.  I mean I just don't understand it.  You neglect your tenants and by default your property and when it's time to sell you've ran your demand value down.  This seem counter productive to me.

Granted my budget range is bringing me to the cream of the crop of duplexes but they are nice modest properties.  I have one under contract now that is in need of the right amount of work to be valuable to me.  Now I know the point is to find homes needing work, that's not what I am talking about.  I just mean everything from the order of paperwork to be responsive when contacted and overall business sense.  Is this a common issue for those of you dealing with smaller residential property?  I would think commercial investments would be more professional. 

Thanks for the response @Steve Olafson.  Always good to get perspective from other investors.

@steveolafson I am curious to know how and why you have come to focus on this certain criteria for your property.  It seems come sense to me for marketability but I'm just wondering if you've had properties outside of these characteristics that have given you trouble!  I'm still searching for my second property which is a duplex and after two duds that didn't pass inspection to my standards I have another under contract. 

During the process I've realized that I'm looking for ranch style properties on a slab.  *** I've been looking I've added more personal requirements to my list.

I am focusing on older properties as these are in my budget range.  Plus I could be wrong but it seems that people oozing for new construction rentals and older rentals would not come from the same renter pool.  I could possibly see the two crossing paths in the middle.  Mean the top end of older rentals, new reno with high amenities,  and lower end of new construction.  Again I could  wrong. 

Thanks for the reply Will.  Yeah I still have some research to do I just found this one today.  

As I've posted a time or two, I'm in the process of buying my first duplex.  I've looked at quite a few and had offers on some as well.  I had a contract on one but after the inspection I decided to pass on the property.  There was too much structural damge as well as cosmetic damage.  Now I've found another that I really like.  I have questions as to the condition. 

The property is in fairly great shape.  The vacant side that I would be moving into was recently updated and has many new components.  The other side, according to the tenant, was rehabed a few years ago.  The numbers seem to work and I will be doing more cruching to confirm this.  My question is whether or not it's a good idea to buy a property that doesn't need much work.  I know a key factor is being able to add value to increase rents and such.

I would imagine that like all other deals it would depend on the numbers being in my favor. I would just like to know if any of you guys have done any deals like this that have nbeen lucrative.  This is my first multi and I really want to do it right.  I hope to do larger multifamilies in the near future and I need to start off one the right foot.

Hello Jill.  Welcome!  There's tons of info here.  You're headed in the right direction.   Soak it up!