All Forum Posts by: Diane Dutt

Here it is in black and white as stated by Aa county zoning. 

“An Accessory Dwelling Unit (in-law suite) is allowed in all residential districts with the exception of the R22 District and is defined as a second dwelling unit in an owner-occupied, single-family detached dwelling that occupies the lesser of a maximum of 1,000 square feet of floor area or one-third of the floor area of the dwelling. An accessory dwelling unit shall be located in a principal dwelling unit that is located on a lot of at least 14,000 square feet. No more than one accessory dwelling unit is allowed. The accessory dwelling unit may not be separated from the principal dwelling by an attached garage or by a breezeway, open or enclosed.”

zoning code is typically not flexible when it comes to matters of density or minimum lot requirements. 

I have a 4 bedroom home in Bowie and rent 3 of the furnished rooms to medium term rental tenants. 1100, 1200 & 1300… and do plan to rent my room when I move on to the next property. 

I was able to acquire it at less than half of fmv. I do my research, then based on all of that, I calculate my max bid. I then Imbid by proxy. I simply never go above my max bid. Therefore, if I win the property, I already know I'm at 50-60% of fmv. I'm always dumbfounded when I see a property go for its market value. Those bidders are obviously playing a different game than me.

Hi, I'm new to investing. I acquired a lot at a tax Deed Auction. I was planning to clear title and put it on the market at FMV. Then Ian hit Thursday. Now I'm considering because of timing, it might be better to build a house (through modular construction), then put that on the market. My thinking is that the market for a new construction house would be far greater than a vacant lot. After all, there are now too many vacant lots. I've done a little research on the real estate market post hurricane, I figured someone in the Bigger Pockets community may have experience in a situation such as this and am hoping to get feedback to gain clarity.

Also, I'm acquiring property by way of tax deed auctions from the floriuda coastal counties. Currently I've been targeting Lee, Sarasota and Charlotte. Does anyone have a thought about whether I should shift my focus to 3 other counties that weren't in Ian's path or continue bidding in those 3? I buy vacant land , clear title and sell; or clear title, build then sell; or clear title, build and hold as a short term rental. 

Iappreciate any feedback at all... thanks for stopping to read.

Hi Dameka, 

Welcome to bigger pockets and also to Maryland. I live in Old Town Bowie . You can get a pHd with the wealth of content bigger pockets puts out here, podcasts, you tube and all the books they've published. There's a REIA meeting in Tyson's corner tomorrow night if you want to go yo it let me know, I will get all the info to you.

The below average rents can be a big positive. It’s an opportunity to add value and increase income. Depending on how many units you have and how it will be owned will determine how it is valued. If it’s valued by the cap rate the increase in income will increase the value of the properties. When you say it’s priced average for the area, are you looking at real estate comps sold?   also… you cannot go by rent rolls. Those are purely the numbers on the lease documents. What you need are bank statements or financials showing the actual income. Its not what the tenants are supposed to pay, it’s what the tenants actually are paying that is the important #. Personally I’d also be evaluating it with consideration to a crime heat map. (Google) if a property is inexpensive and located in a high crime area, tenants typically will either be slow to pay or not pay. You’ll need to turn over more often and will have bought a lot of headaches. Best of luck!!

Darn… I wish I saw this before it happened. I wasn’t keeping an eye out for it because we gave our emails. I will set up an alert on here to catch the next one. 

Hi Matt, Thanks so much for your reply. I find it super helpful. These are great questions I will follow up with her. We use Title Companies in Maryland... and yes I have one I work with and also a contract drafted, without terms specified so I can use it in other deals as well.

I'm hopefully about to be from the southeast in the next year, just haven't yet decided exactly where. LOL... I doubt there's much exciting in Millen. It is a historic house. I live in a historic house which I rent 3 of the rooms to traveling health care people. Since I'm in real estate, my brother came across it and sent to me. A % of its population are healthcare workers, but they only have 1 hospital within a good distance and its in Millen, not far from the house. I think I will check with the hospital to see how often and many traveling workers they hire out for before I make an assumption.

Thanks or the great feedback! 

Hey Bigger Pockets friends. How should I structure a seller finance offer?   I need to call the property owner back today. Thanks for any input!!

Also, I'm looking at a property that I believe would do well as a str. in Georgia. I'm from Maryland. Is anyone familiar with Millen Georgia?

I’m thinking the buyer puts up  the 10,000 in escrow as sort of a deposit… then proceed in a legal manner, have the chips fall where they may… pay the fine with it or eventually it goes back to them or remain s with you, I think the buyer has incentive to pay the 10k. 

Welcome Olavi! I'm in Bowie. I'm a member of REIA Traction Dc/MD/Va ran by Tom Zeeb.
https://tractionreia.com/

Hope to meet you at the next meeting! I love meeting like  minded people  …. #Passionate about learning and #passionate about real estate. 
https://tractionreia.com/

Diana