All Forum Posts by: Caroline Hedin

@Kevin C. I was just asking around about this. Hopefully I can make it and meet some of the South Sounders (Go Sounders!). Thank you for putting this together.

Hi Wendy and welcome to Biggerpockets!  I'm sure you're going to find yourself very useful around here along with learning from others.  I made the move back home just before the bust (was working on MF in NY and saw it coming).  It was a strange transition but worked out better than I could have ever hoped/prayed for!

Have a wonderful day!

@Jean Bolger, he made mention of "talking to his architect" :-).  But really, the comment is for future readers.  I doubt the OP would head any advice given by anyone based on his dismissal of the quality information given by heavily experience and knowledgeable people throughout this thread. 

I would like to add something for any future readers that may stumble across this post and read through. Architect's drawings are copyrighted and may only be used for a single site/location/client/project unless your contract states otherwise.

I agree with Karin DiMauro ! This post has been highly entertaining! We were up for quite awhile last night because we couldn't stop reading. It's so fascinating. Yet at the same time, I, as an architect who has been practicing for 10 years, have learned something. I had no idea the jurisdictional fees associated with residential construction could go so high - granted, I don't practice there, but still! That's insane! Having worked in three states, and multiple jurisdictions within each state, I know from experience there is no blanket answer to code, land use, or building requirements. I worked for a company that did stock plans for mini drive through coffee shops and standard drive-through car washes. Each location had to be modified to work appropriately. Perhaps learning through experience is what the OP requires. I honestly WOULD love to see him try this and post a diary for us to watch his progress and lessons learned.

@Valinda Horstman We used these guys to help us understand our options when we purchased an occupied property at auction.  They seemed knowledgeable and were a pleasure to work with and only charged us for the 45 minutes we were there rather than a full hour.  I can't tell you much beyond that, but at least it's a place to start!

http://www.rjh-legal.com/

@Allen Motakef try aia.org for architects in your area. 

@Jon Mbu here is our first experience as investors and as auction.com purchasers which was an occupied property. http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/522/topics/177...

Their website will answer your questions but to make it a bit quicker (you should verify this on their site just in case it's different for the property your interested in or your state), the $2,500 is a hold placed on your card. If you win the auction, it comes out of the total you bid. If you do not win the auction, the hold is released. 

As for removing occupants, it's the same process you would go through for other properties. Do some searching here on BP for "cash for keys", eviction processes, and for "auction.com." You'll find a ton of information. 

Good luck and let us know what you decided to do!

Well, it's May 1st. I was at the house this morning with the locksmith and window guy. He still has items in the house but told my husband last weekend that anything left we could do with as we please - and there is a lot left :-/. I changed all of the locks and sent the now former tenant a text message asking if he really was not in need of any of the items there, that we had changed the locks, and that if he needed anything, let us know and we would let him in. I feel like we've actually been pretty blessed with this process. It could have been so much worse than it has.

On another note. We should have had the new windows installed before we re-sided the end of the house. Lesson learned for the future. As the window guy said - "roof first, windows second, siding third." I use the excuse of my experience being in larger commercial projects, for not having thought about that. On ANOTHER note, also do not miter the corners of the trim around windows. Think about how that directs water in (yup, IN not on) to your wall. Another "touché" moment. "Luckily" we'll get the opportunity to reinstall that trim since the window guy is going to have to reframe the openings since, well, the former owner who is supposedly a master craftsman, basically chipped away so much of the header, cripple studs, and sill, that there is truly not much left of them.

Interior clean up and yard work begins tomorrow!

So we've finished running the numbers to give us a harder budget for renovations.  Because we had to replace the furnace, it's led to requiring some "hard" choices.  We are trying to keep the renovation work to $10,000 or less.  Since it's a rental and likely our tenants will be students, we've decided to refinish the old kitchen cabinet doors and replace the hardware rather than purchase and install new cabinet doors.  While the cost wasn't too high at $1,200, it is a significant chunk of the remainder of the budget.  Particularly since we have decided to replace the dishwasher, range, range hood, and refrigerator.  (If anyone has good recommendations for appliances, we would love to hear them!)

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? 

We would like to do some landscaping at the front yard to give the home a bit of "curb appeal."  We probably won't be doing much of anything with the back yard.  Does landscaping matter to tenants?  Any recommendations on yard service in the area?  I don't trust the tenants to mow the lawn and weed and really don't want to spend my spare time over there doing this myself.