All Forum Posts by: Charles Giovanniello

Hello all,

I own a property in the city of Binghamton and have noticed a huge increase in my water bills. Normally they are around $200-$300 billed every 4 months but in July i got hit with a huge $1400 bill, which is more than i allotted for my yearly water expenses! I called the company who sent someone to take a look along with my property manager but they did not find any leaks or anything out of the ordinary. My tenants also claim they haven't made any changes in their water usage but they would be more conscious of it... 

This month i was hit again with another $750 bill, and i'm not sure what to do at this point. I found this article stating that there's been an increase in water / sewage due to recent construction at the water treatment plant, but these bills are hundreds of percent more than i've been paying over the years.

Anyone in the Binghamton area having a similar experience? Any advice that someone could give would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you everyone for your advice, this is something i actually had not even considered because this company had high recommendations when i started out in Allentown. I will reset my expectations with them and give them a month or two to improve but if the situation does not improve i will move forward with another PM company. 

Thanks for the advice Joe, and from the other responses on here people seem to agree with this. I'll definitely take a look at the companies you mentioned and reach out. And yes, that was the only Mason my manager was able to find but she said she called about 5 and none of them were available. I did get a police report but unfortunately the driver had no insurance (of course), and my insurance company told me to get a quote but if its less than my deductible i'm still going to have to pay it anyway - and i cant get a mason out there to even get a proper quote. They said if i get it repaired they can then go after the driver to try and reimburse me but only after it's repaired. Pretty disappointing. 

Hello all! I purchased my second investment property (a duplex) almost a year ago (November 2019) in Allentown PA. I'll just get right to the numbers.

Purchase price: $140,000

Cash to Close: $43,000

Initial repairs: $6,800

Monthly PITI: $846

Total Expected Rent: $1,750 (First Floor $675, Garage $75, Second Floor $1,000)

Expected Cashflow After All Expenses: $550

When I bought the house, there were tenants on the first floor and the second floor tenants had just left. First floor was recently renovated, however the second floor needed some work, so that's where most of the initial repair costs went. The repairs were finally complete around February 2020 and the tenant search began. Unfortunately due to COVID, it took longer than expected to get tenants into that unit and my property manager finally got a tenant in there by June 2020. Up until this point, I was making $750 / month from the downstairs unit + garage so i luckily wasn't losing out on all the rent. Once the upstairs tenants moved in, several other repair jobs needed to be done. Hot water heater broke ($1,485) and plumbing issues arose ($2,000). So at this point I'm at about $10,300 on total repairs. On top of that, in the middle of August a drunk driver hit into the front stoop of the property and broke the rail / did some serious damage to the stoop. This has not been repaired yet as finding a mason is almost impossible around there but we've booked one for October 2021. Now almost a year since closing, my property manager texted me last week and said she hasn't received rent from either unit for October (except the garage, which is rented to the pervious owner) and recommended we file for eviction because she hasn't heard from the tenants at all. I fear that it will be another long search to find tenants and I'll have to go months with holding costs until we find someone new. 

I'd hate to let it go because of all the work that's gone into it, and I know it could perform well if there were just good tenants in there. The holding costs wouldn't kill me yet and I'd probably be able to hold out for a couple months before I start to get uncomfortable but I just don't know if it's even a good idea to wait since the performance on it has been lackluster since the start.

@James Wise Thanks for your reply James, you're right. And i felt a lot more comfortable that the new company has a staff in place rather than it being just one guy. Let's hope i can easily get my security deposits back now and we're not dealing with a hostile takeover..

I own a rental home that pulls in ~$400 / month or $4800 / year. I need a new car which is going to cost about $310 / month to lease (including insurance) or $3720 / year. I'm planning on putting this car under my business and list as a business expense, and want to know how much i'd be saving in taxes by paying for it with my business rather than income from my job. I know that the business gets taxed on whatever's left over come tax time, so i'd theoretically be only taxed on (4800 - 3720 = ) $1080. Is this correct? If so, how much would i save in taxes if i had $4800 in the account verses 1080? Im not sure the % that the government takes come tax time.

P.S. I live in New York

I've been working with my property manager since November 2018, and since then i've always felt very out of the loop on information about my property. He would go days without returning calls / texts / emails. And always send rent checks late. He even allowed a new tenant to bypass the last months rent up front because they didnt have the money (and he made this decision without first confronting me). So I found a new company a few weeks ago, gave them a call and was pleased with the knowledge and the responsiveness. I terminated the contract with my old manager (and this was allowed as stated in the contract) but when i called my old manager to tell him he was very very upset, it felt like a breakup, and he was begging for a second chance and also "very concerned" about a situation he was dealing with regarding tenants on one of the floors. Now I feel like I should have given him more notice, or explained that i was unhappy at some point. He was a really nice guy, neighbors seem to like him, am i wrong to terminate without warning? 

@Simcha Davidman That's also a great thing to consider! I will have to inquire about the requirements from a few banks that offer the FHA loan. I work Sunday through Wednesday so it just might work if i stayed there Thursday to Saturday but we'll have to see. My first deal was in Binghamton for student housing!

I will keep the thread posted with updates regarding how the situation plays out. I've got a mentor that i can bounce some of these scenarios off of.

@Anthony Lewis that is a great idea i hadn't thought of that! Would that mean I'd need that person to put their name on the loan though? And we'd have to set up some agreement to a percentage of cashflow? I have a friend in the area who might be interested in that actually. 

Hello all, as the excitement from my first deal is dying down and my cash flow steadily comes in, I'm looking for more ways to buy my next deal.  I have one idea that i think could work very well and i wanted to run it by the community. 

This is a typical "house hack" where I'm looking to buy a place using either an FHA or 203k loan in an area where i could afford a fourplex that will cashflow with 3 units rented while i live in one. I was thinking somewhere in Lehigh Valley PA, because its not too far away from my family, the area is seeing some major infrastructure improvements, and from my initial research it seems to be a great area for turning solid cash flow. I currently work in Information Services on Long Island and i think i could find a job in that area that would allow me to do this. I would love to stay at my current job but i need to be living in the property to get approved for the FHA or 203k and making the commute from PA to Long Island everyday is not practical. Does this seem like a practical way to help me achieve my goal of financial freedom?

I'm 24 and still live with my mother which is great because rent is cheap for me, but its time to start thinking about moving on and I would so prefer to house hack so i can continue to keep the cost of living as low as possible to continue acquiring assets. Thanks for your time in advance.