All Forum Posts by: Greg Morris

I'm not sure how some of you are getting away with not taking care of the maintanace of your rental? A clogged sink is ultimately the landlord problem if the renter is not able to unclog  the drain. In fact if you do not address the maint issue  they can legally hold back paying rent until you do. On the other side of the coin if you keep good maintenance records and you can show a pattern of plugging up the sink you can bill them if you had educated before hand. After two or time l would send them a letter indicating a pattern of maintanace calls for plugged drains and that they would be billed if it's the same problem over and over.

Sir. If you do have mold where she is staying make sure you have completely remove the mold and monitor it. Whereas you did not know of the mold this is the corrective measure. Have a mold inspector come out to verify the mold is removed. Next time make sure you cover yourself in the contract. Give her a notice she has to move within 30 days. That you are no longer renting the room. Secondly give her money back to her and never rent a room in your house out again. If you have to go to court she has prove the mold had an effect on her health. Whereas it was short term l would not think so. I suggest you have a renter contract written up in the future. You want to charge 1st months rent, a deposit,  and monthly administrative fee (paper work, Billing fee) of $10. You want a contract stating that if you hire a lawyer for breach of contract they are responsible for the fee. Require a 60 day notice before the lease runs out as a requirement to move out after the lease expires. If they do not give you a notice before the lease runs and moves  out indicate in the contract they are liable for the rent until it is rented..If it takes you two months to rent the place they owe you two months rents. Any early move out requires a 60 day notice and a 60 day payout. Plus the regular months rent. If you offer any incentive such as 1st months rent free indicate in the contract all incentives have to be paid back for breaking the contract early as well. If your going to have rentals hire a lawyer to enforce you rental contracts. Do not carry on conversations with your renter about the rentals, take the info and correct it. Document  everything. Let your lawyer handle the issues. It is all written off. Do a credit check's on all renters and requires a monthly income of three times the rent to qualify for the rental. Verify  employment and require 3 references and previous landlord . Have each section of the contract broke down so they can see it plainly and have them initial each section to prove they read it. Stay firm to your contract let your lawyer handle them. Make sure you include rent must be paid even if they die while living in your rental. This will give you a claim on any money's left behind.  Hopefully this will put you back in control. Just as a note l am not advising you but rather sharing with you what l would do. Please seek out a lawyer to advise you. Best wishes.

Thanks Eric. Just for information to others. I spoke with VA loan guy and he said it is true you can buy two home with your preapproved amount divided. Which is based on your income.

Concerning 4 unit duplex you can us 75 percent of the rent income towards qualification for a VA loan if you can show you have a history of renting on your tax forms.

While a VA Home Loan cannot be used to purchase property solely forinvestment purposes, such as a rental home, the Department of VeteransAffairs does allow a homebuyer to use the VA Loan on a residence that hasone to four units – as long as the homebuyer certifies that they intend to occupy the home.

Jeremy check out Eric old posting. l found more info under "using a helco on VA loan". I going to call a lender and see what they say..l wil let you know.

Eric you brought up an interesting question concerning the use of VA. You said:

"I own two homes right now using the VA loan (maxed out)". How did you get two places with a VA loan and How did you manage to rent one out when VA states you have to live in your house for a VA loan? thank for the info.

Amy is it a full rehab or a painting?

What is the monthly / yearly occupancy rental rate? Is it in good condition? What is the annual  gross / net income? 

Not so fast. It sound like your not sure what you are doing yet. No offense. Let me ask you ...who will be doing the home remodeling. If it you, are you a carpenter? If yes that is good. That will save you money, if you know what your doing. My next question... do you plan to get a home loan? How much are you planning to spend on remodeling the house? What is your budget? What is your time frame? Do you have experience in home inspections? Flipping a house is hard work, are you ready mentally?  Take your time, make sure you have no large personal bills, study the rental market in your area. Make sure you are ready mentally and you know the numbers be realistic what. I suggest you take some of that money and invest in property liens. Study to show yourself approved. Best wishes. Stay in touch.

This is the correct way. You want to put down 1/4-inch BC plywood as an underlayment. 1/4-inch BC plywood makes a good underlayment. 

1. Allow 1/4-inch gap along the walls and between the joints for expansion. Secure the plywood to the subfloor at 6-inch intervals with 1-inch deck screws placed along the edges. Set all screw heads slightly below the surface.
2. Apply floor patching compound to the joints and over the screw heads. Smooth it in place and allow it to dry. Sand any rough edges with medium-grit sandpaper.
3. Clean the floor with a wet-dry vacuum to remove any dust or debris that remains. This will give you a nice smooth floor. If you dont do this your vinyl will show the floor  defects in time.