All Forum Posts by: James Edwards

Curious if everyone did a pre/post rental inspection with tenant (either new, or existing on purchasing a house)? Also, if you chose a detailed rental agreement or more of a basic one?

If you can post what you provide your tenants, that would be appreciated! 

Curious how everyone approaches the aspect of buying points, bigger down, or standard rate etc. 

Looking at a mortgage around 5% int, could get it down to 4% ish with $4k in points. 

My other choice is to leave it at the higher rate and do nothing, or perhaps take the money I would spend on points and make a large upfront principal payment. 

Any thoughts on how one would evaluate that? 

Evaluating the potential of turning a large SFH into a duplex. It is mostly already setup for the conversion with entrances, and electrical. Looking for anyone's advice that has done it, and what the relevant codes/process may entail?

Thanks

Curious as to how everyone evaluates the true benefit of a property, to include the benefit of depreciation, etc based upon tax bracket etc. 

Investigating the potential of an additional onto a house for the purposes of going from 2 br 1 ba each duplex, to 3 br, 2 bath each duplex.  I've got an approximately 500 sq foot deck that is in the location that would work well for addition, it is around 4 foot above grade, on a valley side of a roof. Top of facia board/end of roof is around 8 foot high from the top of deck. House has basically new metal roof. Deck is basically at the end of its service life. 

I'd like to use this area because it is centralized, deck is gonna need replaced soonish, and 2 walls for the project are already in place. 

More or less the area  looks like this. 

I am trying to figure out how one would tie a new roof into this as the starting point is~ 8 foot. and would be obviously less at the other end. 

I know the ideal answer is to remove the metal roof and re attach up higher, but I would like to avoid that for obvious reasons. 

My ideas at this point are to remove the deck and make the room areas a step down, and recreate the deck later as stairs to access.  However, it still doesn't solve the aspect of how to tie into it, and what the final design may look like. 

Was hoping some more clever minds may have a cool idea here. 

Thanks

Curious what everyone charges for deposit, misc fees. late fees etc. $900 month rent. 

Has anyone converted a SFH into a duplex? Looking for general tips and tricks.

4br 2 bath home. Much of the work has been done I believe, since the house was added on to previously and 1/2 of the house is served by a sub panel. I'm thinking it would be possible to simply run this second sub panel to a new meter/base. 

Adding a second kitchen, may be rather costly, but should be close enough to existing lines.

I was curious though. Given one of the  bathrooms is accessed through a master, would that likely greatly decrease the rentability of it as a duplex? May be possible 

ROI as a duplex is fantastic compared to SFH, but I'd rather have a SFH that rents compared to a duplex that doesn't. Same goes for shared dining/kitchen, or living room dining rooms. Would a guy need to really watch that?

Thanks

What would you expect to pay for all closing costs, fees, appraisal etc. on a $100k mortgage using a mortgage broker. Would 6.5% fee be too high?

Dealing with a large 4 bed 2 bath house, single story. Already has panels. One runs first portion of house, other runs rear of house. Second meter could be installed and one panel routed to it. 

The one sticking point for me though, is the aspect of adding a kitchen. Should it be located close to the kitchen that is existing?

Any other pro tips or things that you wish you would have known? 

Curious as to thoughts on owner carry v conventional financing. 

It has been my understanding that owner carry is typically something a buyer does when they have insufficient credit, or ability to qualify for a loan. It is something an owner typically offers when they want to get a higher purchase price for a property, or sell a property that is unlendable. 

If one can qualify for conventional financing on a property, does it make sense to do an owner carry? If so, what circumstances? 

The only thing I could possibly thing of would potentially be aggressive expansion. Ie if sellers will do it, one could potentially get into several places for a smaller down %, instead of paying 20% every time for investment property.