All Forum Posts by: Damien L.

Progress Report for two bedroom unit:

Installed 300 sqft of laminate flooring on the third floor that can be a bedroom/media room/office.  It looks really good and really changed the way the room looks for about $350.

Hey BP!

Do you have any recommendations for protecting a set of wooden stairs?  Is carpeting the way to go?  If so, any idea on avg cost?

Progress Report for two bedroom unit:

Removed vanity in Bathroom. 

Ripped bathroom tile and subfloor

Installed cement boards and self leveling compound to straighten out the bathroom floor as much as possible.

Installed new floor tile on bathroom floor.

Removed kitchen cabinets.

Removed carpet in bedroom

Thanks!

it’s a large detached garage that’s big enough that it could be made into a third unit. I would definitely need to get the zoning permitted for it. And it would require a lot of money to make it livable. 

Got back into the duplex this weekend and put down the cement boards in the bathroom to level out the floors and get them ready for tile.  Also ripped out the old carpet in one of the bedrooms and will replace it with laminate.  Making progress!

@Anthony Bertolino and @Jason D.

That's a very interesting thought and something I am still exploring.  One of the reasons I was attracted to this property was for the oversized detached garage which is a little over 700 sqft.  Let's say I am trying to get a total of $1300 in rents.  The options I was exploring were:

1. Rent units for $600+$700 (including a garage space for each unit)

2. Rent units for $500+$600, garage for $200.

3. Advertise for the units at $600 and $700 and if they don't want the garage I can still rent it separately and go over my $1300 goal which would be amazing.

The goal being to get the $1300 total that I would be seeking.  There is also the grey zoning area of renting the garage for storage or business.  And to add to the discussion you can clearly tell that the garage was used in the past for business.

I financed this through a conventional loan which can be painful since it requires 25% down when it's not your primary residence. I would love to go back in time and do a house hack when we bought our primary residence. That way you can qualify for an FHA loan. When we decide to move, I will definitely look into a nicer house with a separate apartment but that type of property isn't easy to find in my area. Good luck with your search!

@Account Closed thanks for the input. You are correct at a minimum i will paint lines to define zones for storage. I will also add language to the lease that not storage is permitted outside the defined zones or storage lockers. And I will perform inspections from time to time. It worries me because we have lots of room in the garage and basement as well. 

@Joshua May Thank you for the feedback.  I really like the idea of the storage locker.  Because the garage on the property is very large and I would like to define boundaries for storage.  I don't want tenants to start filling it up with crap.  If you or anyone else has a good solution for storage lockers, I am very interested.  Thanks!

@Brad L. You are correct that it is a risk.  I haven't made up my mind yet.  I hope that one of the first renters will take the whole garage and that's something I won't even have to worry about.