All Forum Posts by: Didier Bizimungu

Hey Stewart! 

The owner might be able to switch to a master lease under a business entity like an LLC, which the roommates will then update their individual leases to.

That would give you one lease to present to commercial lenders as proof of income. I've only done this for smaller properties, so I'm unsure how well it would work for your scale. 

Perhaps some of the lenders in here can chime in. Thanks!

Separate payments make sense. Otherwise, you're setting up a 'house manager' role that collects the payment from others. This is usually the most responsible tenant. 

For multiple reasons, this represents another complication. The house manager now acts as the landlord, leading to potential issues when someone's late with their part of the rent or has any issues with said manager.

Just something to consider. I would keep it as is if I were in your place. 

You're living for free with a net profit of $500 & an estimated pay-off time of around 15 years if you go with a typical 30-year mortgage. 

From there, all income will be a plus - I would say pull the trigger yesterday.

 These are the only two options that I'm aware of. 

That's what I did. Just refinance into a standard loan after a year or force equity and you're free to turn it into a rental after you move out. 

I use Apartments.com as well. I break up each tenat as Unit 1, Unit 2 etc. 

For electronically signed leases, I use Zillow Rentals (free) and Tenant Cloud for listing/background checks. 

Besides using the built-in free listing to Zillow, Realtor.com, I also post the listing on Facebook Marketplace. 

All of these tools are free to the landlord as of now (Tenant Cloud is changing in November so I'll have to find another free alternative).

Let me know if you have any other questions on the background mechanics. 

Thanks for the recommendation, Scott!

Hi Joe! I highly recommend you read The House Hacking Strategy by Craig Curlop. It should help answer your questions more thoroughly than a couple of forum posts. 

Hi Aaron! 

Do you want to start us off with the lift of who you have thus far? 

Thank you! 

Hi Phillip, 

If you mean a flood zone changing from being high risk, otherwise known as Special Flood Hazard Areas (A or V) to Non-Special Flood Hazard Areas (X, B, or C) I've never heard of that happening. 

You can certainly try to submit a Letter of Map Change with FEMA if you believe the area was misdesigned or if you fill your lot before building a home on it.

To answer your first question, at this time, unless you live way out in a rural area, most flood areas have been identified and categorized by FEMA.

For my investing decisions in St. Pete, I avoid flood areas. From what I can tell, flood insurance will only worsen with the increased incidences of flooding from rain, storms, etc.