All Forum Posts by: Jack B.

Whoops double post.

My response to those types of listings is screw you right back, I'll take my money elsewhere, like to your competitors. 

I don't even go to view houses that don't have pics of the interior listed. Experience has taught me 99 out of a 100 times, there is a reason there are no interior pictures, and it isn't because the place is an immaculate palace. 

It's based on Robert Shillers assessment, as well as several other reputable experts. BoA analysts, Redfin, etc. are all expecting a small down turn in 2-3 years, lasting about 2-3 years.

We had some rain storms recently in the Seattle area, For the past few weeks. I almost wanted to email my tenants and ask them if there were any leaks, as the roof on my primary residence which is only 11 years old leaked.

I decided to just book an inspection since I needed to get some pics of a water heater I need to replace (with the one tenant that has not been visited recently). Sure enough, the tenant says, oh, by the way, I was going to email you today, the Chimney leaked in the garage after the recent rains (roll eyes here, I'm sure she was going to email me today). Then she asks if I need to get into the daughters rooms, so she could have them pick their clothes off the floor.

I told her I would need to get in there for sure to make sure there are no other leaks. Sigh, I almost feel like I need to stop by every few months. My last tenants at another property didn't report a washing machine water pipe leak for TWO days. They admitted as much in writing. Good thing since if there is mold when I tear the carpet out to replace it in a few years, I may pursue a claim against them since my lease requires them to report things like that ASAP otherwise they will be responsible for the charges.

I get people don't want to trouble their landlord or have their landlord coming around for stuff, but when these people don't report it, it ends up causing far more damage. My lease allows me to charge them for it, but man, I guess people who have no skin in the game are just careless.

Passed on the house within 15 minutes of inspection. Paid the home inspector *my regular guy) a partial fee of $150 which was money well spent IMO. Immediately he could tell the windows were not to code and bringing them up to code would be very expensive. Also, the tub happened to be full of what appeared to be sewer water. Running the sink filled the tub even more. Water heater had issues too, and no electrical panel in the basement, and the vent for the microwave or lack thereof would be an issue, no guard rails, ALL KINDS of issues.

I'm under contract for a house that has an unpermitted finished basement and garage conversion to bedroom and bath. The basement has a separate entry, and although it all looks like it is done by a pro, it is unpermitted. The thought that keeps crossing my mind is that, if he could get a permit before selling, why wouldn't he? He is leaving 50-75K of money on the table with the unpermitted conversion.

Since I plan on occupying the house as my primary residence and renting out the basement, the issue of insurance and liability comes into play. I have no protection from my insurance company, if my tenant gets injured down there.

I am scheduled to have my home inspector look at it Thursday, and he is a former house builder, but he will not be able to tell if all of it is up to code I'm sure. Also, I spoke with the city permit office, and they have Already Built Construction Permits, however, there is no telling if they will permit it or not, without them coming out to look at it. Which could result in being told to undo it, which costs money, though is unlikely from what I've read.

I've seen a lot of realtors online mention that this is actually really common. Still, there is risk, no? Originally I thought it was enough of an opportunity that I'd at least get it inspected, but now I'm wondering if even that is just a waste of money/time.

Couldn't see all the defects in the images, carefully left out. In the pics it doesn't look as bad. Trust me it is MUCH worse in person. Whole house needs paint, carpet in the bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen replaced, roof replaced. From the pics it looks like a deal at 190K in my area. But once you see it in person you start to question that. It may be worth about 250-260K after repairs. Rents would be so-so, but that's my market these days. The listing was in Auburn, WA 30 minutes south of Seattle...

So I posted on craigslist that I'm looking for a licensed and insured contractor or gutter company to replace the gutters are one of my rentals.

For some reason, THIS time I actually got mostly all contractors who are licensed and insured. But the one, oh the ONE guy. When I asked him if he was licensed and insured (usually the fact that you don't have a ladder is a dead giveaway), he said if he was he would be able to charge me thousands of dollars for it.

I told him, that I doubted it, since it's only a half days labor for one person. He replies back with a screenshot from his phone, of some unknown price list that was ridiculously high, and not quite clear from what source, claiming those are the going prices. For all I know, it was a list he typed up in an email.

I merely responded with each of the quotes I got from four different licensed and insured contractors, none of which was more than $450 bucks or so, including materials, etc.

He responds that "Mexicans are cheap but they do crappy work". So I decided to play a little more with this moron. I told him that they were actually two white guys from a licensed and insured gutter company, and that is who I awarded the work to.

He responds that they probably do drugs.

Now at this point, I didn't engage with this fool anymore, though I typed up a response that I did not send, that basically summarized our interaction:

-You don't have equipment or the license and insurance I noted that I require, with NO exceptions, in the very first sentence of my post for the job.

-You try to claim that it would cost me thousands to hire a licensed guy, but you will do it for less with no insurance or credentials.

-When I point out none of the quotes I got from legitimate companies were anywhere near even a fraction of what you claimed, you claim that they are Mexicans and do shoddy work and take drugs.

-So somehow, the idiot who doesn't have equipment, a license or insurance, not to mention probably any actual capability, claims that the guys who I found that ARE legitimate, do worse work than him, and take drugs.

-Congrats, you didn't get the job. You are "winner"...Can you mail me a magnet I can put on my fridge for the future?

The bank had put it for sale for 234K, and came down to 190K, over a period of months. I had just seen the most recent huge price drop, and in a really competitive market, I jumped on the opportunity, telling my agent to tie it up, I'll view it later (since I can use the inspection contingency). Well, I went to view it, and the house needs far more work than the pics showed. Both bathrooms need updating, one of them has serious mold issues on the walls and ceiling and will have to have all the drywall torn out.

The kitchen needs a remodel (cabinets and appliances with some paint, mostly). It needs carpet and paint in the rooms as well. Also, the roof has a THICK carpet of moss on the back of the house. I'm figuring this is easily 40K worth of work. Plus I have to let the house sit empty while all the work is being done.

I'm thinking of backing out of this deal. Either that or asking for a lower price as a result of the inspection.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2901-14th-St-SE-Auburn-WA-98092/49055358_zpid/

@Adrien Chabot

Sounds like Indiana is a place I should refocus. I initially avoided it due to state income taxes. I was looking at places with no state income taxes so I could eventually retire there and manage them myself (like I do where I live now). Hence why I was looking at Florida, but apparently rentals in the price range I'm looking for are in absolute ghettos.