All Forum Posts by: Cory Mccarthy

Can anyone in the Lansing MI, East Lansing, Grand Ledge, Okemos, Holt areas recommend a good HVAC guy that is reliable, reasonably priced and trustworthy?  I need to have an Air Conditioning Compressor looked at as it is not cooling the house.  Needs good diagnostic skills and be responsive as I would like this addressed quickly.  Any recommendations anyone can make would be most appreciated.  Thanks in advance for any help.

Can anyone provide me the name of a qualified Septic Drain Field Inspector in or around the Livingston, MI, Hartland, Brighton, Fenton, Ann Arbor, Howell, Commerce Township, Clarkston or Detroit areas that would be able to inspect a field for me within just a couple of days?  Any leads you can provide would be much appreciated.

Awesome post.  Thanks for the financials and pictures,  Really helps to make sense of everything and put it all in perspective.  Very inspiring story.  Thanks.

@Adam Shindler, there really are a ton of groups out there.  You may want to look on Meetup.com and just type in real estate investing as an interest and you will get quite a few listings of local groups having regular meetings.  There is also a group meeting this Wednesday Night April 13th at 6:30 PM at the SteelHouse Tavern 1129 E. Long Lake Road in Troy.  I am going to try to go, but am not certain yet if I can make it.

I think it depends a little on your strategy and specific markets.  if you are flipping, I think the basement has value both from a resale value perspective as well as ease of rehabbing.  Basements provide easier access to most plumbing and  perhaps some electrical so relocating, adding, or improving is a little easier.  Also in my neck of the woods, folks seem to appreciate, value and expect a basement if they are purchasing, but if simply renting, they either seem less willing to pay extra for it or simply don't place any value on it.  Basements can add significantly to useable living space as well, particularly if they are walk outs and can be easily finished.  But spending significant money on basement finishing largely will not pay off, so let the new buyer spend that money and just provide them the canvas of nice clean dry basement that they can use if desired.  Basements as you rightly point out can also be problematic, particularly in older homes that may not be as water tight, so if just renting, I see the benefit of avoiding them as well.

I own an upscale house in Lansing and target MED School and PHD Students.  We have had luck with both Craigslist as well as Facebook.  My daughter has tapped into a couple of Facebook Groups and just simply posts to the site and we get leads regularly.  No luck on either Zillow or Trulia as I rent out by the room and everyone on those sites thought they were getting the whole house for the price I charge for a single room.  Hadn't heard about the Facebook ads, so I might look into that, so thanks for that tip @Liam Cardenas.  With post graduate students, most are getting big loans which include living expenses, so I also give discounts to have them pay either quarterly or semi-annually and most seem eager to take advantage of that offer.  Significantly reduces risk and changes the leverage issue in your favor.  Also these grad level students are pretty serious students so are not partying like most undergrads, so damage to house has been minimal, but cleaning regularly is not really a strong suit of theirs.  May be looking into the cleaning service mentioned earlier in the post as another way to differentiate and add value.  Good luck to you!

I also am doing the HELOC option and should close sometime in the next week or two. Paperwork is processing now. Plan to use as down, improve, sell then payoff just as @Joshua D. suggested.  Still searching for the right house, but have some options in the pipeline.  Also agree with others on the rate.  You should be able to do much better at this time than 5.25%.  I have seen in my area 3.25% advertised regularly.  Good luck to you.

@Maureen Wilkerson  Seems like there is some curiosity as to how things are going on this project and I am surely one of the curious.  Any updates to share?

No expert and just my opinion, nothing more, but it seems to me that this would be fine until one of you moves and sells to someone else.  At that point in time, there is nothing that obligates the future homeowner to adhere to the agreement.  That would be my concern and as a result, I would likely consult an attorney to determine if there is a way to bind it to future homeowners as well, but as you stated, that is just adding costs and may not be worth it in the long run.  As you pointed out, worst case scenario is that one of you owns it and the other just has rights, but this could get messy later on.  What if it turns out that she is the one that ends up owning it, sells 5 years from now to someone else that you don't particularly get along with and that new owner determines that he/she doesn't want to give you rights anymore.  Then what?  I am sure she is nice enough, but someone else might not be and I would want to some protection for the future.  As it is already a shared driveway, is there anything on file already that establishes rights/access?  Perhaps on Title or Deeds?

Might want to list the property here on the Marketplace?  maybe you can sell it here without a Realtor even being involved and save yourself a bunch of money.  Just a thought...

What kind of property is it and why are you looking to sell it?