All Forum Posts by: Chris John

I was curious to know what goes into turning a SFR into a duplex in terms of zoning, etc? Can you just put up drywall and add a kitchen? Do you need to get the city involved, etc.? Does the house have to be zoned R2 already or does it even matter? I'd love to know some strategies, feedback, stories, etc. if you're willing to share them. Sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Thank you!

@Irina C.

Awesome.  Makes a LOT of sense and I appreciate you sharing.

@Irina C.

It's great to hear that you got this on MLS. I assumed that you got it from a turnkey provider which is probably what made me more suspicious (just that they'd leave so much meat on the bone for you. Having said that, I don't have a lot of experience with turnkey providers, but the deals I've seen from them aren't that lucrative). I definitely believe the story (and love the numbers!), but am nervous to branch out into other areas without my trusted "network".

I will ask how you went about negotiating though.  I'm not afraid to negotiate, but the price drop from asking seems savage!  I'll definitely be holding my wallet if I'm ever negotiating a sale with you or @Elenis Camargo.  Seriously though, I'd love to hear that part of the story if you're willing to share it.

Thanks

@Adah N.

I can't disagree with you.  I love where I work and I stay because of the people, not the building.  haha.  The school is old.  The town passed a bond and now it's a weird old/new mix.  It honestly looked better before.  Anyway, the "big" town 20 minutes away has a couple of new schools that look like colleges.  More sports, more AP classes, more clubs, etc. BUT it doesn't have that small town feel.  Our kids can stand out for doing almost anything and almost always make the team.  Those kids have gotta be special to stand out and get cut if they haven't been playing AAU their entire life.

I feel like choosing between those schools is almost a rorschach test.

Thanks for the conversation and good night!

@Adah N.

I hear what you're saying.  I agree with some and disagree with some.

School funding is complicated enough that I'm not interested in trying to become an expert on the subject, but I know schools are funded from a lot of different sources and "poorer" schools often end up getting more money than just local sources.  Like anything else, I'm sure you can argue both sides of this argument, but it's my opinion that there's enough evidence to suggest there's more going on that money doesn't seem to be able to fix.

Please understand that I'm not suggesting that the conversation should end for that reason or that I think school funding is unimportant.  I'm a public school teacher, but I'm all for school vouchers.  I think there needs to be pressure on teachers and schools to perform.  I could not teach my classes for a week and nobody would notice, but let me get to lunch without taking attendance (a large part of funding is based on attendance) and I'm getting a call from the office...

I'm not trying to compare being from a single parent family to being black in America, but I can at least sympathize with @Danny Grey.  I got so SICK of hearing how I was going to be unsuccessful, divorced, poor, etc. as a kid because my parents didn't stay married.  This thread has reminded me of that.  I'm not one to be patronized and obviously neither is Danny Grey.  I can't respect that enough and I hope I didn't make it worse!  

I do think this conversation is worth having though (even on BiggerPockets).  I've learned a lot because of it.  I will say that I find this topic very frustrating because as a rural, white guy I don't have a lot of first-hand experience with the inner workings of a big city (and it seems like that's where a lot of these problems reside).  I don't need urban people telling me how to fix my rural city and I definitely think that urbanites deserve the same respect.  It's hard to watch on tv though...

@Enkhmanlai Enkhbaatar

I don't know a lot about gold, but I do know that it doesn't provide passive cash flow.  You're basically locked into paying interest on a credit card, but earning 0% (unless it appreciates in value - I have no idea of gold's prospects).

If I were you, I'd definitely sell the gold (which probably means it's going to quintuple in value as I've been very wrong lately) and either:

-Pay off the credit cards

-Invest in something with a cash flow that is higher than the credit card payments.

Basically, I'll borrow as much money as the world will let me as long as I can invest it at a higher rate.  The problem as I see it is that you're investing it at 0%.

Having said all that, this advice is worth the $0 that you paid for it as I'm sure your situation is more complex than the paragraph description.

Best wishes

@Jose Guzman Congratulations on the incoming special delivery!  haha.  I miss the days of having a young family. 

It's really tough to say with any certainty, but I'd strongly consider buying the cheapest house that would work for my family that my wife would let me get away with.  The idea that I'd have is to save as quickly as possible for a down payment on a more permanent home later.  Then I'd rent the current house and move up.  That way I ended up with a permanent home and a rental.  I don't know the rules, but can you fha every 2 years?  

Honestly, if prices stayed high, I might move up once or twice in the meantime until my "forever" home and collect rentals along the way.  I'd just be super careful not to borrow as much as a lender would let me, so I could sock some away.

Best wishes and congrats again.

Hmmm....  Those numbers look suspiciously good!  haha. 

@Elenis Camargo I'm sending a pm.

@Irina C. Congrats.  Looks awesome.

I've never done a seller financing deal, but I always thought a lot of it was for the down payment part.  To make the numbers easy:

100k house and bank demands 80% LTV, but will do 90% CLTV. Borrow 80k from the bank, 10k from the homeowner (who still gets 80K) and you only need 10k down instead of 20k (which allows you to buy 2 houses instead of one).

Honestly, I've been out of the "game" so long, that I don't even know if CLTV is a thing anymore...