All Forum Posts by: Britt Abbey

@Matthew Edmond Clarkson University? - home of the 2014 NCAA national Champion Women's Hockey Team

Welcome Eric! I'm located just a little south of you in Lowville. I'm sure you'll find that there's a wealth of knowledge here in the BP community.

I believe you'll have to serve them with a 3 Day Notice to Perform or Quit... basically it says they have 3 business days to get rid of the pet or move out. If they do neither, you can start the eviction process.

In NY, the report is the property of the client...in this case the buyer. The buyer can choose to disclose if they wish, but it's not necessary.

The seller can choose to not allow an inspection outside of being in contract (red flags raise here). If the buyer is in contract and something "significant" was discovered during the inspection, the buyer would naturally disclose this to the seller either look to negotiate, remedy, or back out of the deal.

Back to your scenario... Under what aspect of fiduciary responsibility would a buyer's agent have any mandate to provide a copy of the report to the seller's agent? Written or verbal should have no impact here. As outlined, I'd be looking for a new buyer's agent. My gut says they are trying to entice the buyer to enter contract and not acting in the client's best interest.

20% overage for me would be conservative. Without the economies of scale and process creation by doing 100's of rehabs or cookie cutter builds, it's very hard to stick to "on paper" budgets for both time and money. Life happens, so I traditionally add 25% to cost and 50% to time. If everything according to plan it's a nice bonus, but I'd rather plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I vote for Discover Card - You get 5% back in cash back bonus from HomeDepot.com. I place my order online and its waiting when I get there. This saves me from impulse buying as well.

Quarterly they offer different 5% cash back specials. This quarter April-June, they're offering 5% cash back on home improvement purchases, which include all big box home improvement stores, paint stores etc.

Every other purchase is 1% cash back, which is par for the course.

In addition, you can use the cash back bonus to purchase gift cards from their partners (Lowes $45 for $50 gift card, $90 for $100 gift card). Other partners offer better exchanges (cruises offer $100 for $200 gift cards or clothing stores offer 25% return). These make great gifts for the wife who tolerates my real estate habit.

@Michael Stroup: I've had satin finish paints touch up small marks 5-6 years after the paint was originally applied, and you could never tell the difference (Sherwin Williams Duration in my own home). for my economy rentals, I'm more likely to paint the entire wall to a breaking point (corner) using my go-to eggshell (Kilz Pro-x 330). All of my walls are the same color, and I'm likely going to paint more than one wall. With a 2.5" angle brush for cut-ins and an 18" roller, I can easily put a single coat on 4 walls in an hour.

The biggest issue I've seen with white cabinets is that the covering (thermofoil) can peel in a few years. I have used them in two rentals and had good success so far (8 years). That said, having seen them in other units I probably wouldn't go that route again and would stick with a traditional stained wood if I thought that I'd be holding the property long term.

I also use Kilz Pro-X 330 eggshell for Interior walls and their flat for ceilings in lower income rentals. Turnover tends to be higher, and it's just not cost effective to use SW if I'm having to touch up or repaint often. I've found the Kilz to go on very smoothly without drips. As others have indicated, it's $17.50/gallon at HD without any discounts.

For flips or in my own house, I like the Duration line from SW, but I'll only buy it during their 35-40% off sales, as around me it can run up to $70/gallon.

Wow... differences in location I guess. In New York State property taxes are much higher. FHA requires 1.75% up front PMI (they call it UPMIP) and additional annual PMI of 1.35% PMI (MIP) for loans under $625,000 with LTV's over 95%. Under 90% LTV, I believe it's lowered to 1.30% In my opinion, FHA loans have become much less favorable recently.

USDA is an option pending income guidelines and VA is another alternative if you qualify.

There are still banks that do Jumbo Mortgages too, but obviously the terms get worse and worse for the buyer.