All Forum Posts by: Joe M.

Yeah, the rehab costs could vary wildly on this project, depending on what comes back from the county regarding the septic/sewer situation. Also, the deal with one well/pump supplying the whole building is a bit sketchy. The realtor suggested a flow rate test.

The building is a foreclosure, so it's hard to say how long it's been sitting empty. At least it has all the plumbing in it (for now .......)

I recently rented out my first two units.

I used two advertising methods, craigslist and yard signs.

One unit I rented to a person who found the house on craigslist, the second from the yard sign.

I got more calls from the ads on craigslist but these folks tended to be more "tire kickers". The folks that called from the yard sign we're fewer in numbers but seemed to be more serious about renting the place.

This is a 3 unit building located in a very desireable school district and in a very convienent location.

Each of the 3 units has 2 Bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths and garage parking. Comparable rents in the area suggest that the units would rent for about $700/unit/mo

The asking price is $134K which is ambitious considering the following:

The entire buildings water supply is on 1 well located in the basement of one of the units. The building is also on a septic system, although we may be required to hook into the public sewer system (realtor is checking into today.

The HVAC system for each of the units is old and likely not functioning. We would need to replace central a/c and furnaces in each unit.

The units interior is not a complete train wreck, but we would have to rehab bathrooms, kitchens, new paint, flooring etc. One unit appears to have had a grease fire on the stove and there is evidence of smoke damage on the walls.

I've not run the complete numbers but we're probably looking at somewhere around $65K for rehab costs. My realtor thinks we could get the property for around $80K for a total investment of $145K.

This property scares me a bit in several areas. First the water, with the single well supplying 3 units. Second is the septic system and/or the prospect of hooking up to the public sewer and associated costs. Third is the HVAC system and the costs to bring that up date.

The appealing part of this property is that it is in a great location, would likely appreciate in value substantially and the size of the land on the property would possibly allow for expansion (additional garages could be built and rented for self storage for boats/campers etc.)

Would you take this deal?

Brian, this incident took place in Canton.

I was back over at the house last night. Was doing some work inside and looked out the window and guess what I saw. Yeah it was the juvenile delinquents who broke into my house. They were just out walking the streets like nothing had happened.

Can you imagine these parents. Their kid was taken to jail the night before and the very next day they let their kids out of the house to roam the neighborhood.

Unfortunately that is the case. I copied the relevant section from Ohio law below

For purposes of the immunity created by division (B)(1) of this section, reasonably necessary force to repel a trespasser from a building or other structure that is maintained as a permanent or temporary dwelling or to prevent a trespasser from making an unlawful entry into a building or other structure of that nature may include the taking of or attempting to take the trespasser’s life, or causing or attempting to cause physical harm or serious physical harm to the person of the trespasser, if the owner, lessee, or renter of real property or a member of the owner’s, lessee’s, or renter’s family who resides on the property has a reasonable good faith belief that the owner, lessee, or renter or a member of the owner’s, lessee’s, or renter’s family is in imminent danger of death or serious physical harm to person and that the only means to escape from the imminent danger is to use deadly force or other force that likely will cause physical harm or serious physical harm to the person of the trespasser, even if the owner, lessee, renter, or family member is mistaken as to the existence or imminence of the danger of death or serious physical harm to person.

My understanding of the law in Ohio is this:

The use of deadly force is permitted in cases where you feel you are in immenent danger of severe bodily harm or death and you have no available recourse to flee the situation.

You can't use deadly force to simply protect property.

Now, the question is if you were to walk into a situation where an intruder was in your house could you prove that you were in immenent danger and had no other recourse. In my situation I was able to escape the house.

No it's actually in a decent neighborhood. Certainly not top of the line but your typical 1950's era bungalow style neighborhood. In fact this house is directly across the street from a church and a brand new elementary school.

Not the best of nights last night.

I have a scheduled appointment to show one of my vacant houses to a potential tenant this evening, so last night I drove over to the house to make sure everything was in order for the showing.

When I arrived at the house the first thing I noticed was that both of my "for rent" signs were gone. This didn't really set off an alarm bells for me because I thought either the city had removed them because I put them in the devil strip or some kids had stolen them. At any rate no big deal.

When I pulled into the driveway though my perspective changed. The driveway for the house is in the rear and when I pulled into the driveway I noticed the back door was open. Then for the briefest of moments I saw someone walking through the house. Honestly my first thought was not that it was a burglar, it was that someone who wanted to rent the place had found a way inside and was looking around.

I walked up to the back door and opened it up and yelled "hello". No answer. Now I knew for a fact I saw someone inside the house and when they didn't answer I knew something was wrong.

I walked through the house yelling hello and I saw a figure dash from the kitchen to the stairs and run up the stairs. They moved so quickly and it was somewhat dark inside so the only thing I could really tell was that it was a person. Now this is where my stupid genes kick in. I followed them up the stairs. I was yelling hello over and over again. I got to the top of the stairs and the figure dashed into the bathroom upstairs. At this point I started thinking "what if there is more than one, what if they are armed" etc. etc. I ran down the stairs and outside to my truck to call the police.

I got on the phone with 911 and started circling the house. I explained what was going on and that I believed the intruder was still in the house upstairs. The police were quickly dispatched. The first officer on the scene went to the rear of the house w/pistol drawn and asked me to stand out front while we waited for other officers to arrive. Within maybe 3 minutes four other officers were on the scene with the house surrounded. A few minutes later two more officers came and while the others guarded the exterior these two went inside to locate the intruder.

About 10 minutes pass and they both come outside to say they found nobody inside! I'm like WTF there is someone in there. So I go in the house w/the officers and show them where I saw the intruder. I was baffled because clearly there was nobody in the house. While we were inside another officer came in to say that they had found a witness and this witness provided a description of the intruder. About 3 cars immediately started scanning the neighborhood. I'm not kidding when I say literally 5 minutes later one of the cars returned with the intruders in the back of his car.

They caught them! AND as I feared it wasn't just 1 person in the house. In fact it wasn't just 2! It was a total of 3 of them in there! AND they were 13-14 year old kids......

After some Q&A with them it seems that one of them the day before had managed to break off the side door knob that had the lock box on it. He then took the lock box home and spent all day yesterday beating it open to get the key. It just so happened that I arrived just a few moments after they initially entered the house.

So the officer says "you have two options, 1. I can take them home to their parents or 2. We can fill out an incident report and take them downtown." I asked the officer what he thought would be the best course and he replied "I don't know, it's a tough decision". It was then that another officer walked over and said "hey I was just at your neighbors house the other day, he had someone who broke into his garage and stole an axe". Well it didn't take a genious to figure out that it was highly likely these kids broke into that garage and used that axe on my door.

Given this newest piece of information I decided to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. We filled out the incident report and the police hauled them downtown for processing. I'm not sure what is going to happen from here but I'm hoping I have a chance to confront those kids and their parents in court.

I'll also mention that these kids are extraordinarily lucky that I had left my house without my pistol. If I had my gun with me when I went into the house things would have very likely turned out much differently.

The end of the story as of now was that I was at this house until about midnight replacing the broken lock and re-keying the remainder of the doors.

As others have said "it depends"

My preference is to use laminate hardwoods all through the house except the bedrooms. I keep the bedrooms carpeted.