All Forum Posts by: Christopher Howard

@Tim Richter what is that 4K quote for? I had rodents in my duplex…exterminator came for $100 sealed some holes inside and pointed out entry points outside for me to seal. Rodents are seasonal and you probably have field mice sneaking in from the outside from holes in your foundation considering your in MA and house is likely 100 years old. Seal any holes you can find and at worst pay a company to come monthly and set traps for 50-80 bucks. 4K is a scam. Regarding the tenants do they have a lease? If you don’t already you can put language in the lease that makes them liable for pests if their place isn’t kept to a certain standard.

Curious what options people recommend.....I have a house hack 2 family I am going to sell this spring. I owe 270k and will likely sell in the 450-500 range. Large range I know, but duplexes here (Massachusetts) list for 475 then sell for 550 so I'm being conservative with my sales price. My neighbor (friend) wants to buy the house and rent out both units but he wouldn't qualify for the higher end of the sale price and I intend to get as much as I can. I'm wondering if people have ever sold and retained a percentage ownership. My thought was to have him take over the mortgage (270k) and pay me 100k (all in 370k) and then I retain a percentage ownership say 25%. The mortgage is 1900 and rents over 3k but its more beneficial for me to sell right now. Its a great house so if I'm able to keep partial ownership I'd like to. Wondering if people have experience with something like this or have other ideas that may benefit both of us.

@Jeremy Beland, do you have the house number or any pictures?

Is this vacant?

Hi All,

I have a few mobile offices (metal roof) with leaks and am looking for a decent handyman to investigate/repair. Anyone have any good experiences? First one is in Eagle Mountain.

Thanks.

@Matthew Roberts

I'm in the same boat. I closed in September with the intention of fixing fast and refinancing. I've been fixing slow. House has good bones so that's ideal but cosmetically was stuck in 1960. I've been taking down wallpaper, repainting, doing some landscaping, refinished all the floors after taking up the rugs and have the plan to update both kitchens and my bath. Hopefully at that point I'm able to cash out refi and buy another. I've been using the rental income to update the property so I'm also not banking anything at this time so a good refi will be very important for my potential next deal.

Thanks @Alan Rohrer,

All seems to make sense, going to start by opening a separate account. Appreciate the feedback.

Thanks @Cathie Kovacs,

Is that good for tracking improvements as well? Ex. I'm living in one unit while redoing it so trying to track everything from appliance purchases, paint, new floors, to gas for mowing the lawn. Just trying to have everything in one place. I'm not super familiar with Quickbooks.

Hi @Sean Doherty,

I didn't go through all the responses so this may be covered but I'm pretty sure the taxes for out of state investors in RI are terrible so I think you would need to house hack to get a decent return 

Hi all,

I had a pretty general question, I'm wondering what people use to track their expenses for rental properties. I only have one property now that I'm fixing up so there is always and expense. For now I'm just using excel but I'm wondering if people have good websites or apps/programs that they use. I'd like to get a good system going as I grow. Ideally something free since there isn't much of a reason to pay when I only have the one property, although I'd be curious to hear those either way.

Thanks.