All Forum Posts by: Dan H.

 James is either dumb as a rock or a troll or both.

RentRedi is included with BP pro.   So if you are a BP pro member or considering becoming a BP pro member, you may want yo look into RentRedi to see if it meets your needs.

Good luck

 I can understand your rationale but if you look at delinquency rates you see similar data (blue cities in general have the lowest delinquency rates of large cities). 

However, your part about stringent criteria explains it which is related to the housing shortage (you can set high tenant requirements because the unit will get rented with those high requirements).

My listings state 1) no evictions ever; no excuses accepted 2) strong LL references.  Paying on time is expected and does not constitute a strong LL recommendation.  Strong implies paying on time, taking care of the unit, and your LL would rent to You again.   If your LL is unwilling to provide a strong recommendation, you do not meet our criteria.  3) no More than 2 other units in the last 5 years (military and students exempt).

 our credit score varies by class of area but Lowest is 660 in class c.   3x income.  

I have down to Class C.  I usually find a tenant in the initial Open house at market rent.  It is because there is a housing shortage and we provide quality units.   We invite potential tenants to talk with our other tenants. 

Our criteria is high, but we typically fill vacancies quickly and easily (last vacancy took 2 open houses but usually we only need to have a single open house).  

We also create our leases so that none expire Oct to march.  Even though we have great weather, less people are looking to move in those months.  

Best wishes

There is a development near my home that the developer promised a butterfly garden, dog park, boutique fitness center, and various trails. Only a couple of the trails has been provided but the owners have been paying into the HOA at a rate that they should have the promised amenities. The city has held up the sale of the final residential unit as (poor) leverage to get the developer to provide the promised amenities. It is likely cheaper for the developer to just not sell the last property.

The home owners must pay the HOA fees even though they have not received the promised amenities. If they fail to pay, fines are added. If the home owners must does not pay for a long enough time, the home owner can lose their property.

If the reward justifies the cost, risk, and effort I would purchase it.  However I think the current bids are way higher than I would desire.

So I would be a hard pass at $75k. I think at $20k it could be worth pursuing.

> anecdotal observations suggest that tenants who lean left make up the overwhelming majority of those who are evicted.

I question this anecdotal evidence.  What is its source!

Want real evidence (but slightly dated): https://evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20Stat...  I challenge you to find one reputable source that depicts your “anecdotal evidence”.

Highest blue state city on the list is Waterbury, CT at number 22.   The real evidence show red cities have more evictions and delinquent payments than blue cities. 

My blue market has a 0.2% eviction rate (2022) which is one of the lowest rates in the country.  Like most cities, these rates are highest in the lowest class areas and eviction in above class c are real rare.  My market’s delinquent rent rate is also one of the lowest in the country.  

Do I attribute it to politics?  No.  I think it is more a consequence of places with housing shortages have tenants that realize they could potential not get another decent place to live in the house short markets if they get evicted.   The housing shortage is more concentrated on the coasts and in blue states.

Regardless, the stats indicate your premise seems to be incorrect but is it really due to political affiliation or another reason?  Data is not always as clear as it may appear.

 Nothing scares me if the price is right.   However, each item that needs work requires time from me and most have a risk.   For this reason if a new roof is $20k, I need a discount in excess of $20k as I do not work for free (my time is valuable). 

Windows and roof, the rest of the items seem minor.   did you notice old windows?   I typically notice before I get out of the car.   On single story properties you can often tell the roof is near end of life by looking at it. Missing siding is typically easy to see unless behind shrubbery or in some other way covered up.

If I was the seller and you were asking for a discount for items that are clearly visible, I would not be too receptive.   Old Windows = no discount.   Roof depends on whether visible and how bad condition it is in.   Missing Siding also depends on how visible but if visible, no discount.

The rest of the stuff a decent handyman addresses in a day.  Probably less than $1k parts & labor.

If you are still in your due diligence you can use these items to get out of the contract but I do not think you should.   Reputation is valuable.   Tarnish a reputation for these items can have unseen consequences.

good luck

 FIFY

“agree the midwest is best for INITIAL cash flow and cost of entry.”

Historically these Midwest markets have produced poor long term cash flow.   This is because historically most of these markets have poor long term rent growth and poor long term appreciation.  I arbitrarily define long term as 15 years or longer, 10 years as medium length hold, 5 years as a short (usually failed if purchased as a long term rental) hold. 

If you want to have the most accurate cash flow predicted over a long hold, do not look at initial cash flow.   Look at population growth, desirability of area, supply of housing and areas to build, economic growth, diversity, and stability (incomes must be able to pay for increased rents), etc.

Good luck

 Search for the word “duplex”.  It is the 1st occurrence.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm...

(6) A duplex in which the owner occupied one of the units as the owner’s principal place of residence at the beginning of the tenancy, so long as the owner continues in occupancy.

Note the owner occupancy exemption only applies to 2 unit properties where the owner has lived continuously in the unit since before the tenant.   The same owner occupancy exemption never applies to more than 2 units.

Good luck

this cast iron pipe was not leaking any sewage,   It was acting like a canal, flowing down hill.   No odor reported.  Fortunately this is a raised foundation.  It is common for them in crawl spaces to break from the top.   I suspect the air causes more decay than soil.  The owner legitimately could be unaware of this level of damage.  Granted this can be caught by a good home inspector; one that is willing to check out the pipes in the crawl space.

Swapping the entire sewer to ABS is not cheap.  It is a lot of work.

I encourage thorough due diligence.  This includes sewer, septic tank, fireplace (I had one recently that the mortar was closer to sand than cement), foundation (if there is any concern), hvac, roof (if there is any concern), permits, easements, etc.

Checks are fairly cheap, repairs can be very costly.

best wishes