All Forum Posts by: Drew McCluskey

@Rob Massopust thank you for the reply! So would you recommend gutting down to studs and then hiring a mold remediation to come out and take care of the studs if there’s mold on those? Or would you recommend having them come in for the demo too?

Hi everyone, this is my second post. A few months ago I was going to buy a rental property which fell through, but then an opportunity came up today where a house that my dad bid on before seeing it (bad decision to not look first, the house was completely molded on all the walls, ceiling, and floors and has some leaking roof problems.) but he got an offer accepted for a massive low ball bid (was listed for 110K but after he notified them of all the mold they accepted his new offer of 20K, bank is in a different state.) The house is a quadplex (5K per apartment isn’t bad..) and is on a corner lot right by a college, high school, and downtown. The exterior walls are all in great condition, and just had all new siding and windows three years ago.

This house is definitely within my price range as I’m starting out as a college kid investing, so funds are low. The price is an absolute dream of a deal for a quadplex and I’m somewhat starstruck, and my dad offered for me to take the deal instead and I could do all the renovation. My question is will stage 3 mold be such an issue that it would make this deal not a wise investment? The foundation seems to be in an okay state from the report, but all the drywall, carpet, and ceilings have visible mold. My plan would be to remove all sub-flooring, drywall, and ceiling and just redo all of that. I could do all the labor myself, so my question is would the mold be a bigger problem than I’m worrying and make the property unsalvageable?

If it’s not a lost property due to mold then I think I’m sold on the deal and will make it my summer project. Just wanting to make sure I’m not getting into a really bad situation as I’ve never dealt with bad mold.

@Tyler White good luck man! Just working on my first too. Putting in my offer tomorrow evening!

@Will Dixon it was foreclosed on in a bundle of 17 houses. The other ones they’re able to sell for more as they’re duplexes and triplexes, but this one since it needs renovation I believe they just want it off their hand. They could give this property away for free and still make a lot based on how much of a deal they got the other houses for on the courthouse steps with this bundle. Roughly 40K per house, and that’s quadplexes in there as well with renters already in.

Thank you for the encouragement! I’m excited for it, but also definitely a little nervous as I’ve never bought anything near so expensive. Thank you to everyone else as well for the advice and encouragement! I’ll keep researching as much as possible.

@Jake DeAtley thank you! Yes, I just compiled a list of furnishing I will need. The water isn’t turned on so I also don’t know yet if the sink, toilet, and shower all work. I definitely should start listing out what the costs roughly for each furniture item will be. Thankfully there’s a beautiful stove, oven, and fridge already in there in great condition. I appreciate the tip!

@Tanner Barnes just got pre-approved for the loan with my dad as a co-signer. I agree, he’s a great resource! Should be getting an inspection in the next few weeks.

@Zachary Curtis great points, thank you! I do have to register it for tax purposes as far as I can tell, but there are no current stippling restrictions I can find and as I’m outside of the heart of town I don’t see there being enforcements set upon my zoning anytime too soon. Im not sure who I should call exactly to figure that out for sure, I guess I’ll take a trip to the courthouse and ask. If stipulations do get placed that mess me up then I can lean back on college housing like you said. Thank you for the input!

@Theresa Harris

I have run the numbers as well for long term renting and it makes sense. It won’t have as much profit as the BnB, but it could still pull in a net of 170-250 a month, and it is only 3 blocks from a college with around 10,000 students which just expanded their size, so that market is growing. I have a couple friends who live directly across from the house who are very eager to make some extra money, and so the extra time needed for cleaning and resetting the house I plan on shifting over to them for a set fee after the first year or so once I have a more full schedule of BnB renters. For this first year though I want to invest more of my time running it due to the fact that I currently have more time than I have money, so the trade makes more sense To me starting out.

Hi guys,

This is my first post on Bigger Pockets after having been following the site and podcast for two years, including taking classes and learning all the general entrepreneur stuff from my dad all my growing up. I just turned 20 and am in my senior year of college now, with $8,000 saved up for real estate so far. An opportunity just came up on the market right on a corner block directly across from a block where my dad currently owns 3 properties, so it is conveniently placed as well as just dropped by 30% this week from $60,000 down to $40,000. I believe I can pay it off in 3 years minimum to 5 years maximum based on my conservative trajectory income from it as an air BnB (my market is currently just beginning to grow rapidly and air BnB's are maxing their fills). I unfortunately do not have a credit score yet as all my business ventures have been out of my home doing graphics and I unfortunately hadn't invested in a credit card to be building that up. Working on getting one tomorrow as well as talking with the bank to see what they could negotiate in the possibility of having my dad co-sign a loan as they've done a lot of business with him before. I don't think I could qualify for an FHA as I won't be living in this house.

My main questions are first, should I be considering investing in real estate while still in college? I generally have about 40 hours to spend on business or other activities a week.

And second, does it seem like I am jumping the gun on this deal? I was considering the deal back when it was priced at $65,000, so the recent drop I believe excited me and makes me want to act fast. I know that waiting another year to accumulate more income would make for less risk, but I’m not sure that the market is gonna keep this deal around for much more than another month or two, and with the rising city I think the prices are gonna start rising pretty fast. As well as since I have been researching for 2 years I don’t feel that I’m being overly quick. But maybe for my age I am.

Clarifications are I have renovated two buildings for my dad, as well as have a decent idea of renovating this one myself for $6-8,000 provided the inspection comes back clean. The renovations needed are mostly just paint, a few drywall wall holes, and new windows.

Any holes you can shoot into my thoughts are appreciated. I definitely don’t want to make a stupid decision, but if this is a good deal then I would love to act on it.