All Forum Posts by: Jeff Keller

You should check to see if his license is still valid. To the best of my knowledge in California a bond is required to get the state to issue a valid contractors license.

Quoting cslb.ca.gov

"A Contractor's Bond must be in place before CSLB can issue an active license, reactivate an inactive license, or renew an active license. (Business and Professions Code Section7071.6). "

If you make all tenants jointly responsible for the rent, if one does not pay, the other two still have to pay all of what is due. You don't want to become a referee which can happen if you find each of three tenants. Works well for managing college students as renters.

One student returned to France owing money. His "roommates" made certain he paid.

If an agent brings a buyer before it is on the MLS it sounds like she is being paid for both the listing and buying sides. There is ample opportunity for a conflict of interest to prevent you from getting market price. It doesn't cost anything to list a property on the MLS. The annual fees that have to be paid cover that. If it is not on the MLS the agent is probably thinking she can represent both you and the buyer, getting 100% of 4.5% rather than 50% of 5.5%.

The sliding scale would likely work to your disadvantage. If it can't be sold quickly the agent loses the money needed to place ads etc. 

Pick the right listing agent and the agent will try to sell it without extra incentives. In competitive markets we sometimes recommend our sellers to pay us 2.5% and offer the buyers agent 3% if they want to try something different. The higher commission for the buyer's agent catches the attention of agents with buyers.

My first thought was that you would need a real estate license. A quick web search didn't turn up a direct link but it did turn up a web posting saying that you need a real estate license:

http://www.allpropertymanagement.com/propertylaw/p...

You could use Zillow to identify properties that have sold on the local MLS then create your own judgement. Records on Zillow tend to be old because they often use the tax reassessment records to report sales.

Our local MLS in Silicon Valley will let anyone search for recently sold homes.

http://www.mlslistings.com/

It looks like the Illinois Association of Realtors has courses for getting a broker license:

http://shop.illinoisrealtor.org/catalog/pre-licens...

See if they have anything for a sales agent license.

The advice from @Christopher Phillips is excellent. The only reason to consider doing work yourself is if local contractors are afraid you will nit-pick the work they do, so they charge a premium to cover the expected labor.

You probably don't have workers compensation insurance. Hiring unlicensed help could make you responsible to take care of someone falling off your roof for the rest of his life.

Look at the whole picture, not just the labor cost.

It would be rare and risky for a property owner to give you access to the property before the sale has closed escrow. 

You don't know what the property will look like when the owners move out. Will it be move-in ready or need a week to clean it.

Lining up prospective tenants to see it very shortly after escrow closes could be worth your effort. Trying to show it and rent it before you own it seems like an unrewarding effort.

Not sure about Virginia but in California many foundations only go down about a foot. As @John Wanberg said don't dig right next to a foundation or post. Also, you might have sewer lines resting on the dirt which will need to be supported after you remove the dirt.

If your water table is only a foot beneath the grade level you would probably either have rotting wood or very good crawl space ventilation.

I can't imagine how removing a foot of dirt from beneath you house would have any affect on surface runoff. If your dirt is almost impervious to water, removing dirt from beneath your house won't change that. If the dirt is as porous as sand, the water sits at the water table height.

With index funds you are earning a return which depends on the economy and doesn't require any significant effort on your part. With real estate investments, the return you get will depend heavily on what you know and how you use your knowledge. Very different investments.