All Forum Posts by: CJ Witmer

Hi Kate Hall please add [email protected] as well. Question, do your calculations take in CapEx percentages? Or maybe a better question would be, what all do you include in your expenses list? Thanks!

Thanks Rachel

A trusted friend is selling his mobile home. They’re building their forever home and the borough is saying there is a limit on dwellings on the lot. They currently have their residence, and two mobiles, so that’s why it’s for sale. It’s a very nice double wide (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7549-Talhelm-Rd-Chambersburg-PA-17202/78619029_zpid/?fromHomePage=true) My question is, has anyone moved a mobile to their own land and turned it into a rental? He called a local mover and they charge $7k-$9k for local moves and that includes complete tear down, split the home, pack it, ship it, set it back up, do all trim work inside, siding work outside, and ridge vent. Is be looking for a lot with water and sewer existing. What things should I be considering? We’d plan to rent for $900/month. I’m thinking if we could be “all-in” for $75k or less, this may be worth considering, but wanted some feedback. Thanks

@Scott L., what did you do on this?  My thoughts were similar.  We have 1 natural gas furnace heating an O/U duplex.  We have locked the heat at 69 and covered the thermostat so they can't jack with the heat and we pay the whole bill.  Our thoughts were to eventually remove the radiators in the 2nd floor, upgrade it's electric to 200 amp and install electric baseboard, or more likely, the mini-split system so that we can have downstairs pay their heat for the furnace and the upstairs will just get an increased elec. bill to cover the added elec. used on the mini-split.  And with the mini-split doing heat and AC, we can up-charge the 2nd floor for having the benefit of AC.  I'm curious if you went through with this and how it went.

I was looking for the actual cost to split 1 water meter into two and came across this thread, so here are my ideas.  The below examples were my thoughts on units where there is only 1 heat source in a multi-unit.  Yes, I know I was talking about water and then jumped to heat, but I think it could apply to most utilities.  I'm also listening to a conf. call, so hopefully I'm making sense.

1.  Landlord pays for Jan. tenant(s) pay Feb.  Landlord pays March, tenant(s) pay April, etc.

2.  Go back to the previous year and get the total bill for the year.  Divide that by 12 to get a monthly average and then split that between all tenants evenly.

These would be options where physically splitting utilities would be cost prohibitive.

All of them will...at some point. :D. Not trying to downplay anything here, but I think the asbestos/mold thing is a bit overblown. We bought our primary home as a foreclosure in 2013 using a 203k loan, so we had to have mold remediation. We got 3 quotes. They ranged from $25,000 to $13,000 to $1,800. When we shared this with the highest guy, sight unseen, he brought his quote down to $16,000. That experience told me that it seems to prey on homeowner fears. Even the contractor friend we took last night said if you're careful it's not dangerous, but his comment was something like "but now-days, people hear mold or asbestos and the contractors doing the remediation know people will just open their bank accounts to have it taken care of."

Matthew Paul - That makes sense. Maybe we'll put a contingency in the offer where we'll purchase if asbestos siding can be ensured. That sound like a good idea? Below is the response from my insurance guy: Your contractor was smart to at least warn you. Company underwriter’s position is that if an ‘expert’ inspects it and says it’s safe then they will write it so if it’s in excellent condition (no broken or missing tile) I think we could probably make that happen. Here are the problems: 1. When you go to re-sell the property you are always going to have buyers with negative opinions of asbestos. 2. In the event of a partial insurance loss – you can’t match the existing siding as it hasn’t been manufactured since the 1950’s so you would have the extra expenditure of replacing the rest of the house to make it look nice. My personal feeling is that it was a great product, inexpensive, great longevity and fire resistant. Unfortunately, they had to deal with loose fibers during the manufacturing process and removing it also brings up that hazard so it now has a lot of red flags. I think I would negotiate the price to a point where you could cover or replace the siding and not have any insurance or re-sale issues.

You Maryland guys, Matthew Paul Russell Brazil , are you certain there are no MD laws saying that exposed (but painted or covered) asbestos is OK? Know where I could call to confirm? Obviously, I'm nervous about what some have mentioned. Don't wanna put money into painting or covering with vinyl and then having to rip it up cuz some nosy neighbor turned me in or some inspector happened to drive by. Thanks guys! CJ

Tonight, we looked at a recently reduced house in MD with asbestos siding. It obviously needs painted at the very least, but we took along a contractor friend who seemed pretty certain Maryland would make us completely remove it, but he wasn't sure. I reached out to someone else who manages properties in MD and he said there is no concern with asbestos during inspections, but the insurance company might not insure it. I did email my insurance guy as soon as this came up, so I am waiting to hear from him. Our other rental (in PA) is asbestos siding and insurance guy and inspectors never said it would be a problem as I specifically asked. I guess my question is, does anyone know for certain if asbestos siding is ok to leave exposed (we would paint it) in Maryland for a rental property or a fix and flip? We haven't decided which we'd do yet. Hopefully I'm in the right forum category here! Thanks, CJ

I will be up front off the bat, I'd be pretty hesitant to get into a partnership, but not completely opposed to it.

@Michael A Rytina - We've only done an over/under duplex in Waynesboro, PA at the moment, but we're definitely looking at anything that's a good opportunity.  Regarding Hanover, I never looked (until this afternoon).  I saw 108 E Middle St. Hanover for $129,900 and that really piqued my interest.  That price AND the surrounding houses when looking at the street view.  Very clean looking area!!  I did see it needs some finish work, but it looks like it could be a great 3-unit...maybe a three way partnership?

So I'll tell you guys a bit about us. We started TCW Holdings, LLC as a way to get to financial freedom more quickly so that we can travel with our kids (6 and 4) and my wife and I can work together instead of making someone else rich! I work in the IT field and outsourcing scares me as it comes and goes. We started our LLC in Dec. of 2016 and settled on our first property (mentioned earlier) in Feb. of 2017. Mortgage is $375/mo and income is $1350 a month. Even with CapEx, I feel it was a decent investment, so we're looking to keep going.

I deal with Orrstown Bank in my area, but would love suggestions on other local banks.  A friend of mine, who doesn't want me to call him my mentor, but that's kinda how I see him, said his realtor mentioned "Adams County Bank" as they only ask for 15% down for commerical loans.  Anyone have experience with them?

Looking forward to talking to you guys and wish you all the best.  Stay cool and enjoy the holiday weekend!