All Forum Posts by: Dale K.

make some estimates of the expenses and how it would work out.     The calculator here would help.    http://www.biggerpockets.com/buy-and-hold-calculat...

plugging in 200k purchase price, 3.5% down,  and 1650 rent income (the three units).  It could work depending on what the expenses are,  but assuming 50% of income as expenses it is negative cash flow.    

does the property have separate meters for each unit?  if not, you'll pay all the utilities and that will probably not work out financially.

May Be difficult to qualify for a typical mortgage from a lender.  They would like to see a job and income on W2 forms typically.

Don't let that stop you though,  Can't hurt to call a place like quicken loans to talk to someone find out.

Maybe convince the current owner to hold the mortgage for you, if you can come up with something for a downpayment.  Convincing might take proof that you can manage the house better than they currently are.

Apartment for sale?, or you mean one apartment in a building for rent maybe, and you want to rent it with several other people, that would be normal.

Go to the campus housing office and ask about any rentals that they may know of for sale, or go find public records of evictions in the neighborhood, to locate landlords who may be fed up and might sell to you. 

Best of luck

Yes, similar experience today.   I should have started rentals a long time ago, this is too entertaining!

I put an ad on Craigslist a week ago,  and also used Rentlinx to get the house listed for rent on other sites.   It has generated good traffic so far (mostly from Zillow I think, and a couple calls from CL).

However,  today I got in touch with someone who found my house posted fraudulently on Point2homes.com, with a much lower rent and amazing features like Ocean Views and on and on.     He contacted the 'landlord' and got a call back with a story about send money since they're in Nicaragua and you can move in.   He thought it was a little sketchy.  

We are just buying the house, and the seller's agent was contacted by this guy, and then I was able to call and talk to him.  We were both amused.  

I emailed rentlinx and point2homes to point out the fraudulent listing.  Not sure what else I can do.   Actually, several good ideas in this thread:   don't post picture of front of house on CL, and don't give address on CL.        BUT, posting it on zillow, etc, gives all that anyway.

So I hope no one falls for it and shows up expecting to move in.....

Thanks Rob.     We're in Michigan,  Livingston county.   

Hello BP'ers

We're moving towards a first house for rental, under contract, and had an inspection done today.  I would have thought I'd find most issues, but no, it was worth having a good inspector look it over.   Overall the house is close to being turnkey ready to rent as expected, with a few more relatively minor repairs to do than I had thought.   

The inspection showed one more significant issue:     some areas of black fuzzy spotty mold in crawlspace on floor joists, and quite a few areas of white dusty mold.  Nothing upstairs in living spaces, beyond mildew on some not often cleaned vinyl window frames.  There are some sources of moisture to the crawlspace that were known and a couple more I didn't realize at first, but all can be taken care of I estimate:    crawlspace vents maybe always left closed,  condensate drains for furnace and tankless water heater not run to proper drains, just running onto crawl dirt, no gutters on house and grading could be improved on one end of house.   Having the mold remediated should be possible, cleaning and spraying in the crawlspace.

My question;   Anyone have experience with disclosures to tenants of building history for rentals?  Should not be required after issues are resolved?  Unless specifically asked?

Thanks for your insights !

Hello all, 

        Have been lurking for a while here, reading and listen to the podcasts.  Great community resources!

        I grew up with my parents owning & operating multi-family buildings and homes in a small town in western NY.

        We are in the Hartland, MI area, and have been looking at single family homes for buy & hold rentals.  Our goal is one or two this year.        

A question or two to start with: I think I want to set up an LLC, should I do through a lawyer or have people have good or bad experience with a more DIY approach.

We have set up a separate bank account and separate credit card (in our personal names), will this work ok with LLC? Goal is to have tenants direct deposit the bank account.

Thanks,   Dale Klein          Hartland, MI