All Forum Posts by: Carini Rochester

People are usually in section 8 due to poverty and severe employment/income producing related problems. In my area 99% to 100% are living in the inner city. I doubt that trying to rescue a "A" property by filling it with a section 8 tenant will work. It could work in your "C" property. 

The floor/ceiling separation won't do any good if the walls supporting it burn and crash. Therefore, the walls supporting the floor/ceiling also need to be protected. 1 hr. walls, so 45 minute doors and windows, I think. Your architect should be specifying these requirements and should be able to give you the code sections. R302.3.1 is quite clear on the supporting walls.

HELOC for the down payment.

Cash-out refinance a property for a down payment.

Obviously, these options require you to have a property with some equity.

Borrow from a family member or somebody who REALLY trusts you. What? You don't know anyone who trusts you that much? Hmmm. (Me either.)

Seller financing spreads the gain out over the life of the loans. Staggered balloon payments allows you to plan in advance what years would have the larger gains. Interest on the loans allows you to further gain by charging interest.

I have no info on that.  I sold my one house that had been section 8 last year, and my tenant had improved her income, so she hadn't been sec 8 for about a year before that. I just remember thinking that the Rochester inspectors seemed a little too strict, interpreting every rule as harshly as possible. It was an old house and it was costly to keep it to the standards for Sec. 8. My view was that if I was going to do Sec 8 again the house would really have to be rehabbed with their inspection process in mind to minimize the impact of their inspections. Rochester Housing Authority will give you their inspection checklist, I'm pretty sure.

Peeling paint was always difficult. I had surfaces that just wouldn't hold paint. Porch floor, painted foundation exterior, bathroom ceiling. I would have to paint these locations every inspection on one property. The less paint the better. Don't paint any exterior pressure treated wood.

Work on your credit score. Increase your income. File income tax returns. Make improvements to the house to raise the appraised value. At 21 months go into your bank, or see a mortgage broker and apply for a mortgage. HELOC won't work unless you have enough equity to justify the line. HELOCs generally are not so well suited for long-term debt as a mortgage.

My dad broke up the concrete in just a few locations so water could seep through and drain into the soil, then filled the pool with the cheapest stone and clean soil locally available, then planted grass. This was a 20' x 40' by 8' deep pool. He and my brother did the work. They just paid for the materials and trucking, and rented a dozer that my brother operated to grade the soil. Obviously, not everyone will do a project like this DIY. I would guess he spent 3000-4000 ten years ago. He had no plans to build on the exact location of the decommissioned pool.

 In my area most of these are clogged. Plumbers I've talked to won't even come out and try to clear the clog. I don't think their equipment can clear a tree root. You could put the garden hose in and see if it drains nicely. Also, my city has 'combination sewers.' The sanitary and the storm are combined in one system. During very heavy rainfalls the whole thing gets emptied into Lake Ontario! But usually the pure waters facility can handle the flow and treat it before Lake Ontario gets it. Most places, I believe, have a separate storm sewer and sanitary sewer.

In my experience, tenants will not change. She is not trainable. A landlord, however, can change. You can educate yourself. You can become more comfortable with confrontation and more successful at it. Once you get her out, you will have to select a new tenant. In the meantime, learn about tenant selection. Learn about the laws. Learn about human behavior. If you continue to own and manage this or other properties, you will find that tenant selection is one of the most important skills you must do well in order to succeed.