All Forum Posts by: Iman Yu

Thank you so much for such great response! This is why I love BP community. 

@Shawn Thom @Ross Denman You both made some great points. I went back and looked at the rental comp report and I was able to determine what I needed to do with the property. I decided to not provide washer/dryer but to upgrade the flooring from carpet to vinyl plank. The unit already has a working fridge and stove so I will keep those there. I think with the new flooring, it will get rented in a timely manner, at the price I intended to post it at. Thanks for your input. It really helped to give me a direction that I needed to resolve my problem!

@Doug McLeod@Pat L. Thank you both for your response. I will have to hit you up next time when I get a higher end unit but for this one, it turned out that I am  better off to provide a nicer flooring than providing new appliances. 

Hello fellow landlords,

With great help I got from BP community online, BP meet up groups in Houston and other investor friends I've met in Houston, my partner and I were able to quickly pick up the knowledge we need to find a deal and close it before end of 2015.

We are excited to get our #1 property rented and out and we want to ask  you for some tips :-)

We are in the middle of our make-ready process and our goal is to get it ready to rent in a week. Our budget is about $1500. Our goal is to rent it at $1100 a month.

My questions:

1) where do you get your major appliances from? How much do you spend on a set of basic washer and dryer?

-We just need the basic models and we are looking to bring a set of washer and dryer.

-Do you always provide washer/dryer units in the house?

2) What are the general rule of thumbs to determine how much make-ready/upgrades to do?

- Is it based on cash-flow analysis, a % of total purchase price, or a % of monthly rent?

- Is it based on rental comp report? In other words, you want your unit to look comparable to other units in that area with similar asking rent price?

3) As far as choice of flooring, when do you decide to get rid of carpet and upgrade it to vinyl, laminate or hardwood?

Thanks!!

Iman

@Lyall Storandt 

Thanks for your help on this. 

I believe $1050 is below market rent. The current tenant has been there since last year. Their annual lease ran out and they are now on month to month. They would like to stay and they have no problem with the current condition  (that's part of the reason these things haven't been brought up to the current property manager).

I wouldn't fix it to keep the current tenant. I would fix it if it's at a severity that if I don't, the problem will get worse down the road and I would be better off to fix some/all of it now. 

That's why I thought getting an engineer report would be helpful in my case. Since this wasn't disclosed in the seller disclosure, I thought i would be able to negotiate the price now based on my finding (if the problem isn't too bad).

My original offer on the full asking price of 80k is under the assumption that there would be no major repair such as foundation repair. We are on the same page there.

@Tyler Bernhard thanks for your insight! sent you an pm. 

@Fred Heller 

Thanks for your input. Since I didn't have the time to include pictures from the actual inspection report earlier, I thought I would add them here now.

The major foundation issues that are visible to the inspector were mostly in the garage area. There is one minor crack in the kitchen/living room area that didn't get included in the inspection though so I need to ask the inspector to update the report for it.

I have the full list of major repairs done to the house, and there were more work done to re-pipe the house than foundation repair. It looks like pluming/drainage may actually be the other part of the problem.

What do you think based on these pictures?

so this is my first property. It's now under contract and we have just gone through the comprehensive inspection which found signs of foundation movement. The signs were vertical cracks around the brick veneer on the garage wall exterior, vertical cracks inside the kitchen area, rafters in the attic Oudh away from the beam, garage ceiling minor sagging and water seeping through garage floor when it rains hard. The house feels leveled though.

Some background info:

1) The house is built in 1972. 1 floor. 1100 sq ft. Has gone through foundation repair in 2012 (11 piers exterior and 2 pier interior). Re-piping was done a year or two later.

2) House is 80k and currently occupied at $1050 a month. It currently cash flows.

3) I want to keep it as a rental. Exit strategy is selling it.

So what are my options from here? Deal or no deal?

My research tells me:

1) houston houses are common with foundation issues are common. If the settlement is not done yet, is that a deal breaker?

2) I am planning on getting a repair estimate and engineering report to tell me how much it will cost me and what type of foundation am I dealing with. What are the red flags to watch out for in either case (besides running the number)?

3) i have read that if the goal is to keep it as a rental then it's better to fix the foundation later than now. Is the the general consensus? If so, what criteria do I need to meet or what do I look for from the engineering report to know this is an issue that can wait to be fixed years down the road? For example, if the house has ongoing settlement issue then it's not a repair that can wait?

@Mike Watts hey I'm running into a similar situation now as well. I'm not getting the house at a steep discount like you do so that's my disadvantage but my advantage is the property is currently occupied. Just wanted to see if you got the property and how did it work out?

welcome @Antonio Herrera I also am a newbie investor in the Houston area but I've lots of resources to share. let me know if I can help :-)

@Harriet Baldwin thank you for your feedback. That makes sense to me. Now I know when I need to consider coming in as a cash buyer. :-)

So...there is this duplex that I am interested in. I drove around the neighborhood and it looks like this one is at the tail end of 'gentrification.' It's not part of a HOA so it offers less of a curb appeal. Then I noticed there are some trash dumping around the neighborhood.

However, it feels pretty safe in the neighborhood because most part of it has been renovated to a decent shape. 

Turns out, this duplex has gone through two foundation repairs in the past year and once was due to flood. The property is in 100-year flood plain which means it has 2% chance of flooding.

How does this change the prospects of the property? Is this something a newbie can handle? How much trouble can a property in 100-year flood plain be?