All Forum Posts by: Bryan Williamson

hmmm. Well first the only right answer is nothing and everything. If you buy it at a deep enough discount and you have to replace everything then you have no risk if you buy it at fair market value then everything is a risk if you miss it. With that said. The costly items like a roof or house systems are actually pretty easy to spot if you know what to look for. In the attic if you see discoloration on the underside of the roof it may have a leak. If it raining and nothings coming in your ok. If you smell a damp musty smell there is a moisture issue. Not always alarming but something to remedy. Check the date on the furnace see to see the age. Open the front panel and check filter to see how it's maintained.  

The biggest thing I've ran into was a serious roach infestation. Along with mice termites and bed bugs. Those can be killers because you might think it's ok and overpay. Check the kitchen cabinets. Inside ,above , below !!!

CMS

• why aren't you billing that back to the tenant? 

I offered a seller 7% he came back with 4% but wanted 60% down . Still would have been a good deal but I needed to hold on to cash at least I thought I did, so I balked and someone else got it. 

The numbers

If it slopes south your ok if it slopes east it's a beast ; if it's west that's the best; north well by now you ve probably figured it out. Honestly the only way to really know it to have an engineer examine the foundation to see it there is an ongoing issue of if there it's just the norm for the age of home. Most older homes are going to have similar issues. When I look at the foundation of older homes it's generally a stacked stone foundation and it just lasts forever. So usually if that's the case I don't worry to much about the cracks. But just investigate further until you reach a conclusion. That looks something like see cracks in the ceiling: look closer : turns out they just didn't tape the seams when they put up new drywall.

thank you it was a long time comin! I would listen to bP podcasts and hear what separates those for give up fail or never get started and think there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

So we bought this property off a couple slum lords back in August 14'. We found out there was a terrible roach and mold problem . The carpet smelled like urine and had sailed into the hardwood which had layers on layers of paint. So we ended up having to do a massive renovation on our first investment property. Can anyone say gut check. We bought the place for 60k and poured about 20k per side into it. My wife has been keeping track of our progress on her blog beginninginthemiddle.net and Instagram.  By the grace of God we came into a large sum of cash or we would have seriously that about cutting our loses. I quit my job a few months ago to focus on getting the construction finished. Somewhere along the way we found another duplex and will be moving into it in June. In turn we put up a listing on Craigslist now we have both sides leased. $950 /$925 with great tenants . 

@Toby Bergstrom that is a good one thing. I assume you mean to build a self sufficient business that will provide you with income without you being involved in everyday management. 

@Carrie Giordano

I honestly have listened to the book three times and listened to a few podcasts on the one thing and I honestly don't know what it is yet. I need to ask myself the focusing question. But I wanted to see what others said . It does however help me focus on the task at hand and making the next step.