All Forum Posts by: Deanna O.

Same issue on 2 both the Costco and Lifeproof products. I've put down several houses worth of laminate & engineered floor before without having this problem -NOT happy. Tapped Costco vinyl plank flooring back together from end last month, but has spread again. I love the IDEA of the products, but they are far to expensive to be needing to be reset constantly. The Costco floor was put down in April - problems in less than 6 months. Will be experimenting with glue in ends before tapping back this time (no matter which mechanical means I find). IMHO this isn't an acceptable trait in a flooring material.

 I've come across several products online that are basically a block with double-stick tape, but I like the tread idea on the block you have.  Not really cool to be handing new tenants a block to fix the flooring with however. Currently the manufacturers "solution" is to "not allow the temperature inside the house to vary". Who are they kidding????

I think this stuff needs to be redesigned or pulled from the market if this is how it is (not) performing. As good as it looked when it was first put in, if this isn't something that can be fixed I can't really recommend it at $3/sq ft. Will update after testing Super Glue in the end groove.

Get a new lender - really, "seasoning" makes no sense in an all-cash deal, except maybe if you need the rent to be included as part of the income/debt ratio (getting something rented and keeping it rented are kind of two different things). I'm in he same position with my 2nd rental, though the numbers are all small that the fixed costs on a conventional loan are a disproportionate percentage of the loan, so I'm planning on a HELOC initially, so I'm not paying for $$$ I'm not using (can convert to fixed or conventional once I've purchased). I'm still shopping for my next property.

Since I'm buying for the long term it only makes sense to buy a good deal/something that I can bring value to, not the first thing that crosses my path. There have been several properties that I have NOT purchased that might have turned out OK, but still better to lose good deal than win a bad one!

I think I'll stick with my money, my properties, my decisions, my mistakes, my successes. 

People who want me to follow them or give them money give me the heebie jeebies. 

In CA even late fees can be a problem (courts don't acknowledge them in evictions). There is also a mandatory grace period.

My guess is that the person had a problem enforcing the discount also didn't file an "insufficient rent" notice to the first person, he or she told everyone else & the rest just took advantage.  As far as they "why not pay until the end of the month" the answer needs to be that because at 8am on the 6th day there is a 3 day pay or quit notice handed to the tenant in person or posted prominently on the front door.

Waiting too long to get rid of problem tenants. 

Hm. I would do some research on the estate laws in Texas, just so you know what you are dealing with. Is there a known will leaving everything to be divided among the 3 (which is good) or was nothing ever put on paper(bad)? 

Purchasing the "shares" of the property does have it's downside if someone later produces a legitimate will that leaves the house to someone other than the 3 siblings, but if you are getting control of the property for a steep enough discount it could be worth the risk. 

It seems to me that in this day and age tracking down the 2 missing siblings shouldn't be THAT hard. The 3 siblings know the missing siblings legal names, and SHOULD know birthdates and old addresses. Maybe get legal contract from the 3 sibings agreeing to sell their shares for $XX within a certain time frame, then use an heir locating service to at least show a good faith attempt to find the other 2. 

BTW, it is quite possible that these 3 know more than they are telling you. Inexplicably, people have been known to lie when $$$ are on the line. Shocking!

Use caution renting if neither you nor the heir actully have title. That said, I DID rent out to tenants before I owned, but it was a unique situation. I first rented FROM the sole heir, fixed the place to habitability, then rented TO tenants while I proceeded with the foreclosure to clear the title. This was done with full disclosure to the tenants, along with a full discussion of timelines, likelyhood of it being purchased at auction (very slight) and what their legal rights would be if it DID get purchased at auction (new owner would have to give 120 days notice to vacate). They were trustworthy tenants , well-known and well-liked in the community, so they were pretty low risk, and the timeline was very short (2 months). In a probate scenario the rental could very easily drag on for 2 years. Tenants willing to move into fixer are a lot riskier. You could easily end up with deadbeat tenants who see your lack of legal standing as their chance to make a grab for the property, or at least get free rent for a few years. In a case like that, lawyer fees could easily exceed the value of the property.

For what it's worth, a property that has been unoccupied for 30 years MAY actually be in pretty decent shape. I've known of 2 that were vacant for long periods (20 years for one property, 40+ for the other). Both properties were in CA (so not much rain/humidity). With the 40 year vacant home the AC and (cast iron) sewer line needed to be replaced, and there was minor gutter damage, but other than that the interior was solid. Some preventative t things had been done to preserve it -- the hot water heater had been removed I think, and the toilets had been unseated to prevent squatters from moving in.

Congradultations on doing your research, but proceed with extreme caution. There MAY be a good deal to be had, but don't get greedy (it will make you stupid) and don't take anyone's word for anything (inexplicably, people lie when money is at stake. Imagine!). 

If probate hasn't been filed and closed this lady and the sister have nothing to sell you except their INTEREST in the property. Possibly, if they are hard-up for cash and they ARE the legitimate heirs it could be worth it to both you and them for you to purchase their INTEREST in the property, since it may take years to resolve the probate, but again, use extreme caution, & don't risk more than you can afford to lose.   

I dealt with a similar situation this spring. It ended up working out for everyone (including the heir), but took a lot of careful manuvering to avoid the potential landmines. 

Feel free to IM me about a few things you might look up to reduce the risk of being sold a pig in a poke.  

My personal, gut level reaction to the OP;

"school is hard, expensive, I'm not having fun, so I'm going to quit"

Um, welcome to life, where many times, it will be hard, expensive, and you will have to do things you don't enjoy.

I do agree with previous posters

a) there are cheaper ways to get a degree. Find them. Figure out if any of them are better (long term) than what you are doing now.

b) make sure you have something to bring to the table when you do start RE. 

c) College/RE isn't either/or. 

d) work on decision-making. Either you truly  can't think of more than 2 options (current college/major vs the "grass-is-greener" option of RE), or you want to quit college and are trying to justify it. Be honest with yourself and others.

(BTW, if you genuinely can only think of 2 reasonable options no matter how hard you try, PLEASE stay in college until you can come up with at least 6-8 realistic, do-able options. You'll need both creative thinking and analytics to do well in RE).

I bought my first property in 2010 (an REO that needed a LOT of work). I got my 2nd this past spring (it needed even MORE work). Both are long-term buy/hold rentals. I'm currently 55, and I did the rehabs myself --some solo or working alongside hired labor(cleaning, painting, installing counters, flooring) some tasks I had done by skilled tradesmen (toilet removal, heater installation, drywall). I LOVED bringing houses "back from the dead" and providing good quality low-income housing in the small town where my parents live. It's not been particularly good cash-flow, since I've been plowing everything back into RE, but I've done quite nicely on equity gains & tax deductions. I'm also working with rural, low-income property, which have a high time/income ratio (it's inexpensive, and while the cash-on-cash return is quite good, the numbers are small all the way around, and it's more effort than some other classes of RE).

I would say sit yourself down & think what your strengths/non-strong points are. You are old enough to know who you are, and life is too short to do things you hate.  If you have a real knack for decor & hospitality (not just your opinion, but your friends & family have always commented on how nice your house looks), maybe airbnb or renting rooms out in a house (not necessarily your own home-- there is a real need for single people to have housing, & communal housing is a thing. If you (or your dogs) don't like sharing your space a duplex might be a reasonable idea, or a house with a rental court.  My parents own a house that has 3 tiny, (but nice) rental cottages on the property that were converted camping cabins. People ask about vacancies all the time, but their tenants stay years.  If you LOVE hammers, saws, & plumbing just inherently makes sense to you, by all means dive into a rehab (but make sure to buy at wholesale, not retail).

Also, if you are not a "people person" PLEASE don't try to be a landlord! Buy property and have it managed, invest in notes, do REIT, whatever. You'll only cause misery for yourself AND your tenants if you don't like dealing with people.

Age also does affect your investment choices in ways that 20 year olds don't have to think about; for instance, if you live in a multi-unit it qualifies as your residence, for the purposes of Medicare, and it is NOT a countable asset when assessing your ability to pay for care (though you should look up all the details, and they may change in the future). You may also have to analyse whether prospective properties could reasonably be managed by either your family, or a management company. Exit stratagies become more important as you get older -- though there are worse things than getting your children into RE as long as they have any kind of knack for it!