All Forum Posts by: Chris Holden

I would base it on the location.  I recently purchased my first property that sounds exactly like this.  The reason I moved forward with it though is the block it sits on is full of new development and new jobs are moving into the area.  I've been managing it myself and dealing with a ton of headaches, but I think it will be worth it since I can force some appreciation and eventually raise rents when development is complete.

Shot in the dark, but after some bad luck nailing down a good handyman, I figured i'd test the waters here.  Anyone in the New York Capital (Schenectady) region have a decent handyman?  I'm an out of town investor (2 hours from property) looking for someone to oversee minor repairs.

Thanks in advance for the help!

@Matt K. There was so much other stuff thrown on the ground (clothes, toys, etc) it went unnoticed.

@Steve Vaughan excellent! Thanks for the tip. I will pick some up today!

@Steve Vaughan it’s the whole kitchen except for one outlet, the entire bedroom and the bathroom. All 3 are in the back of the apartment next to each other. I’m planning on getting an electrician in there this week, I’m not to worried about seller responsibility since it is an older house and I am expecting these types of things. I was at the inspection and watched him test what I thought was all of the electrical outlets, hence why this is a bit more of a surprise.

@Darrell Bratton appreciate that! I’m sure this won’t be the only thing as I bought the house because there is a ton of opportunity to fix it up. Looking forward to learning more on this journey!

@Daniel Bork I still have a copy of the report. One of the units had the electric shut off where it was mentioned that he could not test. This unit however was occupied at the time of inspection and supposed to have electricity. I will be reviewing the report today.

@Caleb Heimsoth I received all leases after they were reviewed by my attorney. Rent states $600 and there is no addendum.

After a year of obsessively learning as much as I could about Real Estate investing, I finally closed my first deal this past Tuesday! I picked up a 4-family home with 3 of the units occupied.  It currently has a lower class of tenants (one being Section 8), but cash flow is amazing once the 4th unit is rented.  In addition, the house is surrounded by new development in an upstate New York that is receiving a ton of attention in the way of revitalization.  The house needs quite a bit of work, but has the ability for some fairly easy forced appreciation earned through some consistent sweat equity!

Now the fun starts... Being a landlord.  I went to meet the tenants today.  Only 1 of the 3 were home (unfortunately I wasn't provided any contact information for the tenants so I wasn't able to schedule).  The one that was home has been in the apartment since May of 2017, and when the discussion of rent came up I asked how he preferred to pay his $600 a month rent.  His answer, "Actually, since I've moved in I've only been paying $500 since the electric doesnt work in the kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom".  I proceeded to look and noticed a tangled web of extension cords.  He said the discount was a deal that him and the former property manager had worked out, and that the former property manager had promised to fix it, but in the meantime to just pay $500.

Since this is obviously not the tenants fault, I made probably my first mistake and acknowledging he could pay $500 until it was fixed (which I am making a priority as I fear the extension cords are fire hazard).  So now with my first ever maintenance cost on the horizon 4 days into home ownership/landlording, I have 2 newbie question about this:

1.  I paid for an inspection where I would have expected this issue to come up.  Do I have any rights to challenge the inspection (this is New York State, I'm assuming no but figure I'd ask).

2. The rent rolls provided at closing from the sellers attorney clearly state the rent collected each month have been $600.  Assuming (I know, I hate that word) the tenant is telling me the truth, is there anyway that I can have the seller (post closing) held liable for not being truthful on a signed  rent roll?

Both answers for lawyers most likely, but figured I'd see what BP had to say.

Thanks, everyone! It looks like Vinyl Allure will be the first thing we look into.

@Jason Chen I had the same reaction to carpets....