All Forum Posts by: Jefferson Black

The government. It's too risky in my market.

Quote from @Karen Closkey:

Can I rent a room month to month on a year lease? Can I have the option to leave with a month’s notice but get the protection of a year lease? 

I don’t want price increases for a year and if something major is broken I want to put rent money in escrow until it is fixed. I am currently looking for rooms for rent/ roommmate situations in Delco. 

You can do just about anything you can negotiate in a lease. This is a question for your prospective landlord, not random people on the internet.

I've been using TurboTenant integrated with REIHub. TurboTenant does digital signatures for leases and other documents, condition report templates, automated and one-time ACH transfers, chats with tenants (so there is a record... just in case), and lots of other great stuff. REIHub pulls in data from TurboTenant for the portfolio, attaches transactions to properties, generates reports, and synchronizes transactions directly from financial accounts, and then some. The whole thing works flawlessly. You can use it for free, but if you buy a subscription, there is no ACH processing fee. It's a charge per property in the system, paid monthly, which really isn't bad. 

Quote from @Craig Janet:

You could try a Ptac unit like in a hotel.

Looking at this, thanks!

Quote from @Paul Morton:

is there an attic.. set air handler and go into ceiling with round supplies

There is an attic, but I'm going to evaluate whether or not I can finish it. The footprint of the building is about 1600 sq feet, so I think I may be able to put a couple bedrooms up there, making a third floor. Using that space would be a last resort, but it is an option.

Quote from @Gino Barbaro:

@Jefferson Black

Just make sure you have the proper COs, and it is in fact a legal Triplex.

What is your exit strategy on this deal?

Yep, it's legal. We had a bit of drama while working through it, but it's cleared. I intend to hold this long term. If I do sell, it would be to 1031 into a larger multifamily/bed and breakfast.

Quote from @Gino Barbaro:

@Jefferson Black

They are 15-20% below because of the AC problem. Once you do address that, I agree you'l be able to achieve your goal. What makes the property a good one?

Congrats!

It's a pretty rare property in the Springs, in a desirable neighborhood. High build quality. Tree-lined, walk able, 1-2 blocks from the strip. Many houses like this in the city have been pretty badly butchered in the past to split them into 6 studios, but this one hasn't. It's set up as a triplex, but it looks like it was originally a duplex, so nothing crazy. HVAC, wiring, and most of the plumbing is modern.
There is opportunity to add 1-2 rooms to one of the units without hacking up anything already there. It's just the AC and some deferred maintenance that it really needs. 

Quote from @David Liu:

I would get quotes first and then decide what to do. I would also ask the hvac companies (min 3) what they would recommend. They do this day in day out and typically will have come across the same situation that you're in. i.e. radiator, summer is hot, old house, what to install for summer coolin? 

Yeah, this is really always the right answer, eh? I appreciate it.

Quote from @Gino Barbaro:

@Jefferson Black

What is the turnover on this type of property? I would hate to be a resident and have issues every summer. 

If the cost is going to be high, try to negotiate a concession from the seller. Not sure how bad the mini splits would be, but they are very efficient and work really well.

Very low turnover, but the units are about 15-20% below market, as well. It's a very desirable area, and it's a good property, but I think a few quality of life things are holding it back. The owner has not been very hands on since they moved out. I've already gotten some good concessions from the owner, so I don't think I can swing this, as well. I don't mind putting the money in, necessarily, but I want to do it right.

Good morning! I'm going to be closing on an old multifamily property at the end of the month, and I'm considering my HVAC options. The property currently has a boiler servicing three units with radiators, which is in good condition. The problem is that the property gets really hot in the summer, and it only has an attic fan. I want to add AC to this property and leave the boiler in place. The option I keep coming back to is ceiling mounted cassettes. I can't do central AC with no furnace, and wall mounted mini splits will look terrible. Window AC is not the best because the property has the original windows, and most window units aren't made for historic windows with storms over them.

I want to preserve the character of the property, so smaller units mounted in the ceiling will be the least noticeable. What I don't like is that I anticipate the price will be very high. What options might you all consider in this circumstance? Have any of you used ceiling mounted cassettes in a multi-zone setup?