All Forum Posts by: Kumar Tummalapalli

@blake Anderson

Blake , First of all great job . You followed through and hit your target .

And I see you are a very nice person  , someone asked you to itemize and you posted all those details. Wow

You will do great . I am not handy or have great knowledge about flipping , but I have good knowledge on marketing , technology , finding deals - let me know if you ever need a help on that .

Ofcourse its barter system - you got to tell me about your conversion experience, ha ha- good luck

• Property found from Probate marketing campaign .
• Researching high taxes lead me to find that its zoned Multifamily
• Below my very naive analysis after reading the  zoning ordinance 3 times

Options :

Is this worth spending time on ?

What did I miss ?

@Seth Holmen  

Great advice seth , Regarding "keep asking" , cant agree more :-) Finding the right information itself is half the job.

My zoning allows as much as 7 units ... for the smallest size per unit and 2.5 storeys

But adding a unit in 2nd storey doesnt sound economical as the cost can not be recouped easily in the rents/appraisal

Are there any architects/contractors who I can consult with in your market , just to get more info . I will pay them so some business for your referral :-)

I 

I am trying to acquire a property and have questions about the zoning and how it will help or hinder the value . The property is taxed crazily and I believe thats because its zoned multifamily . 

Existing Design:

1. Lot: 15000 sq ft  2 unit building , 2 story , total 1500 sq ft , Just one room on second story , Detached heated garage 1100 sq ft with an office 

Numbers: 

assessed value: 285 k

Under contract : 180K

Exterior: Average plus

Interior : leave the walls , but change everything

Some basic Ideas I had :

1. Convert detached garage in to a living unit /studio .

2. Add additional units 

I started my research by going through the zoning ordinance , reached out to a land use attorney . He said that its not possible to convert garage as they wont allow two buildings on the lot .

I went to the county website and found there are many lots with multiple buildings . So I dont know why the attorney said that .

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recahed out to the zoning department and their answers vague , ofcourse I cannot pull the trigger basing on these responses

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I reached out to a local architect and he says he is not the right person to help :-)

So who is the right expert in this ? They should look at the zoning and tell - hey the FAR is so and so , the build-able area is so and so , so you can do this ...

Even if you have knowledge on these issues in your local market , please post - and I understand that the rules vary but it will help trigger some thoughts .

If you are an expert and wants to JV - I am open :-)

What auction sells building supplies ?

First things first - 50 K is good money to do lot of things , These "things" might not be just exactly buying a house , but you should try to know what is the best use for that 50k which will give you a reasonable return /break even / slight loss - but the most important thing is , After that project you should gain some practical knowledge abt investing in US 

Another important thing that I learnt - never take anything that anyone say here as an absolute thing. we all have our blind spots and biases . Responses which are touting all the benefits or listing all the negatives should be taken with a grain of salt. Pay attention to people , who mention both the negatives and positives .

And while you save and build money , I would suggest you to build your emotional wealth as well , because  the whole investing is 75% mindset and 25% learning initially , once you do few deals it will become 90% mindset and 10% skills .

Please also note that - while you do your research you will come across many many "gurus" , who are unethical and fraudulent . There are good "gurus" but its tough to find that diamond . 

I was listening to a podcast where the host is talking to a guy who touts that you can make so much money by finding unclaimed money from tax sale overages.  The "guru" says making money from overages is super easy , just call people and make $30k and that he is tired of depositing the checks in his bank . The host didnt ask even one qn which is "real" - the "guru" says its easy to make money but he wants his students to "earn" . if all it takes is cold calling , why wont the "guru" hire a 20 person cold calling team pay them $20/hr ( I have super start cold callers working for me for $8/hr) . Through out the whole interview not even one qn was asked - as to what are the real practical roadblocks are .

Anyway - question everything , keep learning , develop emotional intelligence .

By the forgot to mention the most important take away for me - " Learn how to take advantage of these lazy realtors" . Sometimes I tend to get pissed off by lack of quality in contractors , agents not doing their jobs and so on - But its important to look at these things as "opportunities" , if everything was smooth , everybody would be a great investor

@bruce Runn  - Thanks much for expanding. Its much more clear now .

1. when you said each unit was under rented by 400 - is this from your intimate market knowledge or by talking to property managers in that area

2. On the illegal  3 unit - did you just convert it back in to 2 units , by making the 2nd unit bigger ?

That's great ...Realtor fee is kind of straightforward - but what specifically would you tell on holding csts- like property taxes+mortgage? or something else..aswell

Are there simple things , that you thought anybody can do ? or is it best to always use the best guy

Also - will having a high quality licensed guy manage these low skilled guys - might help? 

I have no practical experience just asking these qns from my experience in my day job ( a diff profession )