All Forum Posts by: Irene Chen

Hi @Mike Snyder. Welcome to BP!  I'll PM you.

I actually talked to Jerry at Star Electric a couple of months ago and he said he's only doing commercial work now.

We started renovations on an older duplex with an upstairs (2/1) and a downstairs (3/1) unit.  We got quote from different people and decided that we would split up the two units with different contractors so it would go faster.  The person who is doing the downstairs unit has been great but the contractor upstairs is kind of a nightmare.  They don't show up when they say they will and when they do it's for 3-6 hours.

They had us write out a list of things we wanted done and they gave us quotes on it; we all signed the contract.  We're not professional contractors so we just had a LIST without details (ex: Install new interlocking plank floors upstairs).  I'm not a professional contractors so I don't know the minute steps that go into each job.  

 We initially paid half but partway through, we decided we wanted to change the flooring for the 2 bedrooms so he charged us an extra amount--understandable (paid half of that immediately as well).  Today he called and said he didn't realize that the floors had tiles that he had to remove and now it's an extra amount.  When we talked to him he said:

1. We can't finish on time because there's no money to be made from your contract so we have to work other jobs (then why did they sign the contract in the first place?)
2. Fine, we won't charge you the extra $750 but I'm going to have to make a list of things we have done that weren't on the contract and back charge you for those (for example: we provide materials and they said the guy had to paint over 4 times for it to look decent--when he FINALLY mentioned something we told him to get whatever paint he wanted and I'll return whatever hasn't been used but now they want to back charge for it)
3. Moving the items (the materials that we had to provide--tiles, new cabinets..) from room to room also held us back.  (Also never mentioned to us until now)

Basically, they said that they will try to finish this Friday (9 days over what was agreed on the contract) and they literally will not do anything not listed on the contract.  They had us write the contract and we laid out what we wanted done.  Not sure if I'm venting, asking for advice, or telling a cautionary tale for others.  I'll take any feedback.

@Ryan Canfield and @Kyle J. thank you guys for your thoughtful and helpful responses. 

I was thinking about offering cash for keys so we can do some remodeling but if I already have paying tenants, it would make sense to just keep them. What do you guys think about smoking in the house?

We are in the process of closing on a duplex in St Pete.  One of the units is occupied with a new lease so we are inheriting those tenants. I wanted to make sure we're not missing anything before we close:

• Requested an estoppel agreement to be signed at the final walk-through
• New/updated lease will be signed honoring the previous terms
• Requested to see the rent roll
• We have a copy of the lease
• The sellers agreed to replace the roof before we close; we asked for the roofers information to make sure they are licensed/will pull a permit, and to get information on the roof.
• Will confirm that security deposits will be transferred

Another concern/question I had is about paying cash for keys.  The tenants are smokers, have a record, and are possibly getting a dog (through some type of disability program) even though their current lease says 0 pets.  We were thinking of giving them 2 months rent and asking them to find a new place.  Is this legal if they agree?  Can anyone think of anything to be careful about?

Does anyone have any recommendation for a good general contractor, plumber, and electrician that services Tampa and St. Petersburg? Our contractor got into an accident and is now unavailable :(. 

That sounds so amazing. Congrats on all the big things going on in your life!

We are looking to get another mortgage to purchase an investment property.  One company told me that our debt to income ratio is to high (we have 2 investment mortgages) and said we would not be able to come rental income because it has never been filed in our tax return (we just started earlier this year).  I also heard that we need to have filed rental income on our tax return for up to 2 years.

I just spoke with another loan officer who said that he can count 75% of the rental income for each investment property and that our DTI is fine as long as we have the lease agreements. I wanted to get some feedback on which loan officer is correct under the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae standards as I want to know before I go under contract and the loan falls through.

Thanks William Morrison You're exactly right, we were expecting to be landlords. I think the mistake was definitely not outlining our expectations in the contract. This was our first deal with tenants in place so definitely a lesson learned. I'm not really expecting anything back but I just wanted to throw it out there to figure out where I can improve in the future. I was also just wondering if the other party was being unethical by not disclosing that information after I had already asked them and the tenant about it.

@Ayodeji Kuponiyi what are some other ways to verify other than talking to the seller and the tenant?