All Forum Posts by: Ericka G.

Kole Kingslien have you checked with your local building/inspections department? They can usually advise on what is required for your certificate of occupancy. Don’t share the address just ask the question generally. Asbestos siding is surprisingly common on older homes in the upper Midwest. One of ours in suburban Detroit has asbestos siding that a previous owner covered with vinyl. we were told the safest thing is to leave it alone/not disturb it. Are you looking to cover/remove for safety or cosmetic reasons?

Michael H. If I were you I would hold on to the condo until you can sell it for more and meet your goal of paying off your primary. It sounds like you aren’t in desperate need of the $ now and are basically breaking even - those margins should keep getting better each year as you raise rent and let tenants continue to pay off the loan for you. It’s also probably a nice tax write off? I don’t think you’ll feel good about selling at a loss in the long run unless you absolutely HAVE to sell. I feel like many people regret any sale unless the numbers are a slam dunk (and even then I see a lot of seller remorse, myself included). I think if you sell at a loss on a place that isn’t really hurting your bottom line, odds are strong that you will regret it once you see values and rents continue to shoot up. Good luck with it!

Eliecer Trillos Check out NACA, Brightpath, and ANDP. If you Google “Home buyer’s assistance” and/or “First time home buyer’s assistance programs” you should get a ton of options. If you can take advantage of one of these programs, you absolutely should as you will only be a first time buyer once. I used a Citibank program for my first purchase back in 2005 and it was a nice help - $5,000 to cover closing costs/pay down price of loan. I also had a dedicated loan officer who I could bug with all my newbie questions :) Programs out now are even better as many like NACA will cover your down payment. The downside is they move super slow and often are only applicable if you are buying in a target area or if you have certain income ranges. Lots of red tape...but if it will save you thousands, it’s probably worth the headache.

Dave Charron I vote convert the downstairs den to a bedroom and then convert the 4th bedroom upstairs to an en suite master bath. That way you keep 4 bedrooms but also add a highly desirable en suite. I think 90%+ of buyers want an en suite master these days, even if it is just a 3 piece with sink, toilet, and shower. I’ve done this in one of my properties and the contractor basically “threw in” the bedroom conversion for next to nothing if you are also giving them the bathroom work. In our case we just had to add a closet to turn the den into a 4th bedroom. Good luck with it!

Karen Kasjaniuk great thread. I recently had 2 vacancies on Zillow and also initially struggled with no shows. A lot of the advice here is similar to what I did, but I’ll add my two cents: - pre-screen over phone and email, making criteria clear. Reconfirm before leaving for appt - make a short 30 second video (I used my iphone) of the unit to include with initial screening email to weed out tire kickers. Saw a HUGE increase in serious renters after adding a video link to my appointment emails - no individual appointments. I set what the prospect thought was a personal appointment but actually emailed each person the same time window. So it was an open house but they thought it was a personal appointment. In my market, show rates are higher if people think you are meeting them personally vs. an “open house” -Sunday afternoon yielded the best show rates - weather is huge. We fill within a week when weather is nice. Winter/cold/rain = no shows and sitting empty The biggest game changer for us was having a video. I had several people apply BEFORE a physical showing and then I only met with the person who had the best application. I came with the lease and she was able to confirm in person that she liked it, signed and paid...boom, unit rented. Good luck with it!

@Ram Wagle did you end up building a house or did you buy an existing home?  We're considering doing a new build for our next personal residence and I'm curious how everything worked out for you.

Sarah D. I don’t think this is petty at all. You have a right to enforce the contract that they signed...since they left the place smoke damaged and didn’t provide documentation, I would charge them the 13 days if I were you.

Adrian Smalls got it! Thank you for sharing your list. I will definitely do a walk thru with a list moving forward... You’d think after working with this contractor almost a year across multiple properties I could trust him to do things right, but there’s always something. Time to make a change.

Marc Winter interesting points. We do have quarterly extermination for our GA properties...but you raise a good point about the potential liabilities of furnished rentals. Hadn’t ever considered the bed bug issue. Ironically, I had a qualified tenant come forward ready to pay and move in the next day so I decided to rent unfurnished. If this guy doesn’t work out I’ll bite the bullet and go the furnished route. Our furnished tenants are class A so we definitely have fewer issues with them than the traditional route...it’s just a lot more work handling cleaning, linens, utilities, etc. I’m praying this guy works out and stays for a few years. Scott W. It’s true that sometimes you have to spend money to make money, but I hate spending $ if I don’t have to. I had no idea what a difference a $46 carpet cleaning would make. Now I know :) The new floors look great and the place had a solid applicant (who moved in yesterday) within 24 hrs of first showing, so it worked out fine,but I’m pretty sure this guy would have taken the place with the carpet too. Overall, I agree it is best to have vinyl or laminate when needing to replace tho and will eventually phase out all the carpet as needed. I just try to avoid discarding anything while it is still usable. Feeling much better now that I have a tenant in there though

Adrian Smalls can you PM me your GC’s info as well? I’d like to start exploring some other options. the guy I’ve been using always “forgets” to do something that we agreed upon in the original work order. He’ll go back and fix it after I catch it but I’m ready to start looking at other options...someone who actually does ALL of what we agreed to he first time.