All Forum Posts by: Chris Lombardi

Awesome, this is great.  I feel much better now, thanks guys.  I try to be as risk averse as possible and I'm still fairly new to real estate investing, so I appreciate the feedback of this community so much.

I'd like to get some advice to see what anyone would do in my situation and if they would be cautious of red flags.

So I'm currently in business with my dad.  50-50 arrangement, we own 1 property  so far and all has been going great.  We've been looking to expand recently and he found a wild deal.

Place is a 1 bedroom condo, in a great area and seller is desperate.  It's listed for 210K, my dad offered 75K and got accepted.  He took a look around and said it needed a bit of work, but nothing more that 10-15 thousand.   I said I still would like to get an inspector in, but he doesn't want to as he's closer to the person selling and fears that adding complexity to the deal would make the seller back out.  I feel like this is unnecessary risk and there's no reason to not get a $300 inspection.  If the seller really did back out because of an inspection, that's seems like a big red flag and they may be hiding something.  On the otherside, if the place is really worth 210K, there's not many problems I could think of that would make 75K a bad deal.

Am I making too big a deal of this?

I own the appliances, so you're saying that I should be responsible for all repairs and replacements?  Do you have any language that you typically use in a lease?

Just for clarification, by appliances I'm talking about fridge and stove rather than microwave and toaster.

I'm still relatively new to being a landlord, so I'm looking for what is customary language in tenant leases.

I've recently purchased a property with a tenant and am developing a new lease for that tenant.  I have most of it worked out and she has reviewed it, but questioned the section that stated the tenant was responsible for the costs of repair and replacement of all appliances.

Is this typical to have the tenant pay for replacement of appliances that naturally burn out?  Does anyone have any language they actually use for this in their leases?

To get to the point, my question is how nit picky do you get when determining how much of the security deposit to return?

So I purchased my first 2 family home back in November and gave the first floor tenant until January 1 to move out so I could move in.  He was very accommodating and all went well.  I've picked up the keys from him and told him to give me a week to inspect the place and assess how much of the security deposit will be returned.

I haven't gone through everything with a fine comb, but it generally looks good.  There's some chips in the paint on the walls and some of the blinds are broken, but nothing major so far.  How do you decipher between:

• Normal wear and tear
• Small things that you ignore
• Items worthy of deducting from security deposit

Hi everyone,

I just closed on my first property (yay!) and have a 3 car garage to rent out.  One unit is included in the rent of one of the tenants living in the house, I'll be using a second one, and the third I will need to find a new tenant.

After putting it online for a day I received a ton of interest, and the first person to call me was a woman who collects and restores antiques.  She said she'll mainly be using this place for storage, but will come by time to time to sand and stain some pieces.  

My concerns/questions are the following:

• I'm sure that staining and finishing liquids are highly flammable and combustible.  
  • Should I allow her to keep a small amount of these in the garage if she keeps them in a non flammable trunk?
  • Should I require she takes those home with her after every trip and not keep them stored in the garage?
• I'm sure the work she will be doing will produce some smells that will carry over into the other units (there are no dividers)
  • Should I require here to do all work with the door open?

On the other hand, I can simply tell her that after further consideration I cannot rent to her.  I have at least 4 other people waiting for the spot to open up, so it can be filled with someone who wants to work on their car or store their ATV.

Please let me know how you guys would handle a situation like this.

My first offer got accepted!!!

I'm really excited, but a bit nervous now that everything is so real.  I would love to hear your experienced opinions on the deal before the attorney review period is over.

It's a 2 family place and I would live in 1 of the units.  Currently, the other unit brings in $1,300 a month, plus there are 2 garage units bringing in an additional $100 each.  The monthly cost breakdown is as follows:

Mortgage - $1,200

Taxes - $700

Flood insurance - $170

Home Insurance - $150

Reserves - $500

I went into this saying I wanted to pay no more than I currently am paying in rent ($900) to live in this place.  So total income is 1300+200+900=2400 and total expenses are 2700.  I'm going into this with my father 50/50 so we will both split the extra 300 per month until we can raise rents.  Looking at comps, we can probably ask 1500 for the other unit and at least 150 for each garage, but I imagine we'll have to be patient to get up to these costs.  Also, if I decide to move somewhere else, I can easily rent the unit I live in for at least $1000.

The concern is that it is in a flood zone.  The numbers seem to make sense to me, but the unknown insurance increases and difficultly I'll have in eventually selling it gives me some nerves.  I might be just over reacting to the excitement, but there is still time to back out lol.  Let me know what you guys think.

@Chris Mason, thanks for the info.  After some more research I think the rules used to be that the MIP goes away after 20%, but that's no longer the case. Looks like I'm stuck with the extra interest cost until I can refinance.

Thanks again!

Yea, I'm only looking at North Jersey.  I work in Secaucus and have family in Long Island, so I'd like to get easy access to those places since I'll be living in one of the units.

I'd like to purchase a multi family place, live in one of the units, and put less than the conventional 25% as a down payment using an FHA mortgage.

I know this would require an extra 0.85% on my interest rate as MIP, but I'm seeing conflicting ideas on how to get rid of it as soon as possible. Some sources say you have to wait 11 years (if the down payment was greater than 10%). Others say you can request it be removed after 20% of the loan is paid off. Another says that the lender is required to remove it once 22% of the loan is paid off.

Which is right? Does it vary by lender? If I put down 15% on a multi family place, is there a way I can get rid of the MIP early on without refinancing?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.  As a total newbie to real estate, this community has been incredibly helpful, so thank you all!