All Forum Posts by: Jesse Petrillo

@Jonathan Jewell, thanks for your reply. I browsed through some of the reviews on Tricon, and I agree, the reviews are not so great. However, the reviews I read were all related to the property management aspect. I won't be using Tricon for my property management; I already have a different company lined up for that.

I'll see how tomorrow plays out. Ideally, I hope the seller will agree to pay for an engineer and extend the inspection contingency. And I hope the engineer's report indicates normal settling with no major concerns other than installing a gutter extension and some land grading as noted in the inspection report. If that's how this plays out, then I'll continue with the purchase.

If however, the seller isn't willing to cooperate, then I'll probably back out, cut my loss at the $675 appraisal fee, get my EMD returned and move on. I'm not going to pay another $500+ out of my own pocket for an engineer, only to then find out there is a significant issue that requires a repair larger than I'm comfortable with!

@Jack Clough, thanks for your feedback. I'm leaning towards walking away from the deal if the seller doesn't cooperate. That would be unfortunate, especially considering I already spent $675 on the appraisal which is obviously nonrefundable.

@Jonathan Jewell, it's not a mobile home and I don't believe it's a modular home either, but maybe. It was built in 1999 as part of the Brookfield Village HOA subdivision in Douglasville, GA.

The reason I have 24 hours to decide is because I locked into a 20-day inspection contingency when the P&S was fully executed on 5/31 which gives me until tomorrow, 6/20. The inspection was originally scheduled for last Saturday 6/10, but had to be rescheduled to this Saturday 6/17 due to a conflict. I received the completed inspection report today.

The reason I don't want to buy here in CT is because everything is so expensive and it's difficult to find positive cash flow. Plus, CT has it's issues right now (declining population for example) whereas Atlanta is a great market with a lot more potential in my opinion.

@Andrew Johnson, I studied the land plot map on the town's website; there is a decent amount of land on all 4 sides of the home. It's a 1,072 sq. ft. home on a 0.30 acre lot. Unfortunately, I don't have the details on what happened in November when the first inspection was completed. The home is owned by Tricon American Homes. They probably tried to sell it in November and had an inspection done at that time. They probably didn't know about the settling since they probably haven't been at the property themselves, and it didn't come up in that inspection. But if they did the November inspection because they wanted to sell, then I don't know why it didn't end up selling. I can try to find out.

Hello all,

I'm in the process of purchasing my first single family rental property as a long-term buy and hold. I'm located in CT and purchasing in the Atlanta area, so I can't see the subject property in person. I received the inspection report today and everything was good, except for a structural concern pointed out by the inspector on the right side of the property. My inspection contingency date expires tomorrow, so I want to make a decision on this quickly.

I'm not familiar with concrete block foundations. Therefore, I wanted to share photos from the inspection report and ask for your opinion. The inspection recommends grading the land next to the property and installing a gutter extension to prevent further washout and settling. I'm okay with all that, but unsure how concerned I should be with any damage that has already been done.

The inspection report also recommended a structural engineer inspection due to the foundation recently settling from extensive rain. I've asked the realtor to ask the seller to order a structural engineer inspection at their expense and extend my inspection contingency, but I'm preparing myself if the seller doesn't agree and I need to make a 'take it or leave it' decision tomorrow.

I also want to mention the full appraisal was completed last week and there was no indication of any foundation issues/concerns within the appraisal report. There was also an older inspection that was completed about 7 months ago, and no mention of any foundation issues/concerns within that report either. So maybe this isn't as big a deal as I'm making it out to be in my head, but nonetheless I wanted to share these photos and hear your thoughts.

Thank you in advance for your feedback! It's much appreciated.

Hi Nicole,

I think it's more important to use a familiar area code. I would personally go with 203 or 860, even if the number wasn't located in the same town as your office. It's common these days with cell phones. My office landline is a 203 number that appears on caller ID as Wallingford, but I took that number with me when our office relocated to Southington which is in 860. That has never been an issue and honestly most clients probably don't even notice.

Looks like the 475 area code went into effect in December 2009. I never heard of that area code before today. So if it were my choice, I wouldn't take the 475 number hoping that it will become popular in the near future, especially now with CT population declining.

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here at BP. I'm in the process of purchasing my first SFR that is closing next month. Figured maybe I could add some value to this thread by sharing with you my actual 2016 numbers.

I contributed the maximum $18,000 to my 401k. My employer's match was $5,410. Total amount contributed to 401k was therefore $23,410. I called my accountant to confirm the following. Because my taxable income was reduced by $18,000 due to my 401k contribution, I saved a total of $5,300 between Federal and State income tax as a result.

Therefore, if I hadn't contributed $18,000 to my 401k, I would have paid $5,300 more in taxes, for a net difference of $12,700. This is effectively the amount that would have been leftover in my pocket available for other investments such as real estate.

In 2016, my 401k contribution saved me $5,300 worth of taxes and got me an extra $5,410 from my employer. A total benefit of $10,710 the way I view it!

So, based on my personal financial situation, goals and tolerance, I would stop contributing to my 401k completely, but only if I was highly confident the $12,700 take home cash would be able to at least offset the lost benefit of $10,710 within one year which means I would need an 84% ROI.

Thanks for starting this thread, as it forced me to run the actual numbers and make an informed decision on how I want to handle my 401k contributions going forward. I also feel my 401k money will be a nice complement to the money I will have invested in real estate from a diversification perspective. I personally don't want to be too over-weighted in one market or the other; I'm aiming for a somewhat even blend between the two, probably slightly heavier in real estate.