All Forum Posts by: Heath Ryans

The VA loan limit for 2018 was increased to $453,100 for most parts of the country. From my understanding, you can use the VA loan as many times as you like until you have reached this amount.

So assuming you don't spend all $453k on the property, you will still have some left over for a more permanent home later in life. 

Hi Raymond,

I seen that you mentioned attending REI meetings in another post. I am part of a REI group that meets in Kingsport. We have investors from all over the Tri-cities and we would love to have you join us. It's a very casual meeting, just a group of people who love to talk real estate.

Our June meeting is next Monday. We will have a representative from Auction.com come talk to us about what they do and what the process of buying from them is like.

Here is a link to our Meetup Page: Tri-Cities Real Estate Investors Group

I see that you are a member of the group but i don't recall meeting you. So if you haven't before, come on down.

Johnson City has an REI group. You could probably get better info from someone there. Here's the link to their Meetup page: Johnson City REI

Well I was going to wait on experienced investors to chime in but since there's a bit of radio silence going on, I'll tell you what little bit I do know. 

Disclaimer: I have not yet done my first deal. This is simply info based on REI meetings, word of mouth, and general knowledge of the area.

Johnson city is home to East Tennessee State University (ETSU). So alot, if not most, of the apartments around there are rented by students. Also nearby is the VA Medical center, as well as Johnson City Medical Center. They're all in close proximity so this is probably your money area. Apartments rent for ~$300 per bedroom in this portion of the city. The neighborhoods down the street from the school aren't great but i don't think they're terrible. If I had to guess i'd say about a C class.

I do know that alot of the apartment complexes near the school stay fairly packed and are pretty well within the price range you mentioned. The lower end of that spectrum probably being your sweet spot. Last year, ETSU was overbooked on student housing and was turning people away forcing them to look for housing elsewhere. With the school growing and the surrounding complexes staying full, I would dare say that the place is in dire need of more affordable housing.

There are other parts to Johnson City. There's higher end places to it, but the university area is the only part I have any sort of knowledge on. Hopefully this helps. That's about all i can come up with right off.

However i would assume that if that is for protecting floors, its probably fairly solid on top. WD40 is good for removing the actual adhesive part, not so much the rest of it.

If that stuff is some type of glue/adhesive, WD40 works really well. I used it to get carpet glue out of the carpet once. It works fairly well, and shouldn't damage the floor at all. Give it a second to dissolve it some, scrape it off, and you should be good to go.

I'm not familiar with knob and tube wiring, however I just did a quick search online. It seems that it's limited to a 60 amp service, which to me is way too small for a 4 unit. The insulation is also a different material from what we use today so its prone to degrading causing shorts in the circuit. The heat dissipation is much higher, again due to the insulation, which could pose a threat in certain situations. Also, some companies won't insure homes with K&T wiring.

It is a 2 wire system, so it doesn't have a ground. BUT you can install GFCI breakers to make it safe. Or just put a GFCI outlet first in the outlet circuits.

From an electrician's perspective, I would say it needs to be fixed. I've seen bad electrical circuits burn alot of things up. I'd hate for your investment to be one of them. At the same time though, It could be perfectly fine for years to come. 

It comes down to what kind of deal your getting. 

The GFCI does not need the ground to function properly. It can be used in old two wire applications. The only thing you would be missing in this situation is an equipment ground. Which, if label as such, is permitted by the NEC

If you connect the GFCI outlet properly (wires coming from the panel in to the 'line' side and wires going to the rest of the circuit to the 'load' side) then yes, it will protect them. I believe you have to mark that outlet as 'no equipment ground'. Either way, the rest of the outlets won't have a ground. It would be better to find the ground and reattach it. If you only pulled one out, it sounds like the outlet was just grounded to the box, not back to the panel like it should have been. Open up another outlet down the line and see how many ground wires are in them. you should have 3 if its in a metal box. 2 if its plastic. In the event that you can't find the wire and pulling a new one isn't realistic, a GFCI should get you by.

That's what I was thinking. I'm familiar with the whole building/repairing process so it wouldn't be completely foreign to me. The market should be warming up a bit when I get back due to one of the main industrial businesses opening up new office buildings. 

Thank you. Southwest Asia is all I will say on a public forum. I'm halfway through so I'm trying to get prepared.

I'm also new to this forum. I'm not sure how to actually tag you in this.

Appreciate the help.