All Forum Posts by: Danielle Ratto

Hi Colin, welcome to BP! Finding deals in the Seacoast area has definitely gotten harder. You are correct, in the towns you named the 2% and even 1% rule are hard to come by. I currently househack a duplex in Somersworth. For our next property, I like @Al Bigonia, am looking to the towns bordering the "hot towns" that you mentioned, because there are still some cash flowing deals (although it is getting harder even in those towns). I am very surprised every time I see the the price of the recently sold multi-families in the area, as there is very little room, if any at all, for cash flow at these prices!

Good luck! 

Welcome to BP! There are amazing resources here, especially on house-hacking. My husband and I are currently househacking our first duplex in NH. We also have ties to FL (Naples), as we lived down there for a year out of college and then my parents moved down there after visiting us and falling in love with the area! Best of both worlds! ;)

@Raymond McGill Do you have more info on date/time/location for the next meeting?

Before I go purchase new books I always like to check to see if I can find them used first. Anyone have any collecting dust they would like to sell? I scoured my local stores for any good real estate books to no avail so figured I'd check here (moderator if this is not allowed feel free to let me know and I will take it down!!). 

I've read and own a handful of good books over the past few years, but one of my goals for 2017 is to read one Real Estate book per month. We hope to get our second multifamily and 1 flip under our belt this year!

@Nicole A. Our tenants unit did test positive for lead in several areas, BUT we had 9 lead removal contractors come through for quotes and all were shocked that the child had elevated levels because the house was in such great condition. The report did state that the exterior windowsills would probably need to be replaced rather soon, but were safe as is. We decided to go ahead and address all areas on the report which meant removing lead where necessary and sealing off in other areas to avoid issues in the future. We ended up having to replace the windowsills on 24 windows, sheet rock the side entryway, refinish the 3 level staircase, and we framed in and put new sheet rock in the basement where there was lead. Not an easy job or cheap job, but we felt morally we needed to do it. The child was below state levels, so TECHNICALLY we only needed to disclose it to future tenants and weren't legally required to take any action yet. 

Removing our tenants was no easy task and they threatened legal action over the lead levels and we did have to get our own lawyer involved. The father works as a sider, with lead siding every day, so for all we know he could have been ingesting it from dust off of his fathers clothes and shoes, especially since all of the areas with lead were not part of the main living area or any areas of the house that they actually used (with the exception of the windows). Their house was FILTHY with thick layers of dust on every windowsill, under every piece of furniture, light fixtures, dust bunnies the size of tennis balls under their bed! We cleaned the place top to bottom for them before they were supposed to move back in, and it took us HOURS. They had flip flopped several times whether they wanted to stay or go at the end of their lease and we ultimately let them know we would not be re-newing the lease. They had proven to us several times that they were unstable (in their own relationships and had the cops there MANY times for domestic issues) and then them threatening us and our lives during the lead issues we did not feel comfortable living there with them. They also tried to milk us for money for hotel stays until renovations were complete (which were going to take several months, paying their security deposit on their next apartment, all new furniture, professional cleaners, movers, storage, etc. 

In the end they finally left at the end of their lease never to be heard from again and we have GREAT new tenants! It was a tough and expensive experience and set us back on our plans for our next property, but we learned a lot and met some great contractors along the way! 

@Jennifer Riccardi Our ideal location was Dover, but we ran into similar things where prices just couldn't support the rent. Our goal for our first property was cash flow, and in Dover the inventory when we were looking 2 years ago had really cash flow margins. We were a little picky with our first as well, as we live here (we wanted a big backyard, not right in downtown, etc.). 

We just ended our lease with our first tenants of 2 years. They overall were good tenants, but things ended sour with them (lead paint issues). We re-listed the unit  at the very high end of the market and had about 25 applications/calls within two weeks. We definitely had to weed out about 60% right off the bat as they did not fit our criteria (and again we are definitely more picky as we need to live with them). I would say you just need to spend a little more time vetting them in Somersworth, but honestly we were able to weed most out just with the first phone call. We run background checks, credit checks, and verify income, and do a landlord reference check. Our new tenants move in June 1st, so I can't speak about our experience with them yet. 

Once we get our finances under control (had to put a whole new heating system last fall, frozen pipes, and lead removal has set us back about $35K in the last year so always plan for the unexpected!!) we will look again in Somersworth, Dover, Newmarket, Berwick, South Berwick areas (but the market is hot and things are going VERY fast these days). People are being priced out of Portsmouth, and then Dover and are now turning to Somersworth to rent, so HOPEFULLY we will continue to see the town turn around. Most of the families (hardworking, middle class) that we showed the apartment to were people who simply couldn't afford Dover prices anymore. 

Feel free to message me if you want more info about our experiences so far! 

Welcome! My husband and I own a duplex just across the Maine border in Somersworth, NH. My husband works in York and hopefully when we purchase our long term home it will be there. 

I agree with @Jennifer Riccardi inventory is low, and expensive in Seacoast NH/Southern Maine, but there are still some deals to be found in the outskirts or up and coming towns.

Bigger Pockets is a great resource, so keep listening to podcasts and reading the forums/blogs! 

@Derreck Wells There is a BIG concern because this is the third time they have said they are not coming back to the property then changed their mind and stated they wanted to stay and weren't going to break their lease. They are refusing to come back to the property due to Lead Paint (I think you remember my post), but the child is under state levels, the state health lead coordinator stated that they are safe to live there, the town health office said they are safe to live here and we have no legal obligation to pay for them to live elsewhere, as well as the child's pediatrician saying it is safe to live there as long as they continue to keep the house clean (which they want us to pay for cleaning services to keep the house clean and free of dust). We are in the process of removing the lead right now (even though we don't legally need to, we don't want to deal with this problem in the future and are good people with a baby as well so understand the health risks), but they said they still feel "unsafe" living there. We have gone above and beyond the last two months for them, have allowed them to not pay rent while not staying here, but now they need to either return to the property and pay rent or terminate their lease and move on.  We have always known they are loose canons for lack of better words, but they have truly shown their colors this past week and have said some terrible things, so we want everything in writing and legal. We let them know yesterday so that way they could make a final decision to return to the property for a month or terminate their lease with no repercussions and things got ugly because they had changed their mind again. We need to get it in writing so that this can be legal and we can move on from this mess. 

@Ann Bellamy Thank you. I will PM you for that. We are located in Seacoast, NH (I need to update my profile now that we aren't in Maine anymore, although we are less than a mile from the border so I still consider myself a partial Mainer).  Luckily, my husband and I have just cleaned their apartment from top to bottom using lead safe protocols (walls, ceilings, baseboards, floors, windows, etc) last weekend when we were dealing with our lead dust issue so we know the condition of the unit (carpet in one room needs to be steam-cleaned or more than likely replaced and they punched through a door, which they replaced with a door that doesn't even fit the doorway so that will need to be replaced, the rest is just normal wear and tear).  

@Jim Lee I sure wish I would have seen this post a few weeks ago to attend the Dover meetup, as we have been in a sticky legal situation with our tenants over the last month. Quite a learning experience, but hopefully will make us wiser going forward.

Is there another meetup scheduled yet?

@Thomas S. Thank you, I did check the NH website for tenant/landlord regulations, but could not find any details on the process of breaking a lease.