All Forum Posts by: Damien L.

@Brad L. I have thought the same thing.  To me it's not different than parking in the street next to your neighbor or in a secured parking garage, except it narrows down the number of people that have access to your vehicle..  If somethings goes missing then they can call the police and file a report.

@Joe Ferguson That's our goal for this year.  We wanted to get our first deal done and start learning.  At a minimum this is an education for us.  I have done tons of research and still nervous about getting the rent rates right.  Learning a lot about materials and remodeling cost right now.  In just a few weeks I have made a ton of mental notes on what to look for in older homes for the next one.

I'm getting into the place today to start removing the few kitchen cabinets, tile, and a vanity.

I think I will advertise with a garage space included and the first tenant can have the option of renting the whole space as a value add.  If the tenants don’t want them, then I can fall back on renting the space for storage. I may need to read if that’s an issue with zoning.  Thanks for the ideas @David Rose and @Joe Scaparra

Thanks @John Bryson and @Rob Chiang!

Hey biggerpockets community!

It's a done deal we have closed on our first duplex and first investment property.  We are very excited and a little (or a lot) nervous at the same time.

We bought our duplex for roughly $80k.  It's a 1/1 and 2/1.

Rents:

Targeting $650 for one bedroom and $750 for two bedroom

Utilities:

Heat and Electric - Tenant pays

Water - Will work on RUBS

Renovation/Updates:

Kitchen - update cabinets with something clean and simple.  Buy range and fridge.

Bathroom - update one vanity and redo tile

Outside - basic landscaping, some trees need to be dealt with but that's not an emergency.

There is also a large detached garage on the property.  We were thinking of offering the tenants one spot per unit.  The garage bays are not separated.  I don't see an issue with that, is there something I am not thinking off?

PS Thanks to Biggerpockets for guiding us and helping us make it to our first deal!

I think I will use the simplisafe system.  I have had them for years at my house and never had an issue.

Thanks Russel and Nathan!

Hey guys!  Need a little bit of wisdom from the community.  Finally pulled the trigger on our first duplex and we are excited about that.  We are currently in the inspection phase.  We did a radon test during home inspection and got a result of 3.9 right under the 4.0 recommended limit at which you should act.  I did read the EPA guideline which says that if your first test comes close to four there is a 50% chance that your yearly limit is under 4.0.  I was thinking about asking the seller to put in a mitigation system but I feel like he may not feel obligated to do so.  Being under the recommended limit technically and after reading the guideline I feel like we don't have to put one in right away and I will probably retest next year to see where we are at.  What are your thoughts and recommendations?

Thanks!

Very cool thread to read over today.  Not really fair to read this in 30 minutes when it was 11 months of your life.  Great progress reports were put together.  Glad everything worked out in the end and good luck on the next one.