All Forum Posts by: John S.

@Sara N. - thanks for the tip. Here's the part I'm confused about I can get it permitted as a studio no problem. However, if I advertise and rent it out as a 1br, will the tenant have the option to move in and then say it's not a 1br and then legitimately not pay rent?

Hello Washington DC gurus, I have a studio condo in the district and am adding a wall to the unit so that it now is a 1 br. The thing is that it just barely misses the official 1 br definition - part of it is less than 7 feet wide (while other parts are more than 7 feet wide). I plan to keep it officially permitted as a studio, but want to advertise it as a 1 br on craigslist.

Question: if the renter sees it and likes it, starts to live in it, but then doesn't pay rent, does he/she have a right to not pay rent because it's officially permitted as a studio? In other words, will it be hard to evict him/her because of the way the unit was originally advertised?

Thanks,
John

I'm sending sales comps to my clients and when they open the message, they see on the left hand side: sent date (see yellow highlight in picture below). 

I want them to see the sold date, not the sent date because the sent date is always the same for 1 message. It's not that useful. By having sold date, the buyer will have a better time analyzing comps. Do you know how to change this column to sold date? 

@James Triano, @Cynthia Hartley - thanks for your insights. Based on your understanding, can I claim these 'start up' costs even if I didn't buy a home at the travel destination this year, or do I have to wait until after I've purchased (as mentioned by other responses)?

I live in the DC area and am a landlord, but went to LA to see if there were good property deals. I didn't find any good ones, but because of the trip, I've decided to buy something near the DC area. Can I write-off the travel costs to LA (as a business expense), even though the location of the purchase is in DC?

@JJ Conway - thank you for your response. I totally get that it varies market by market. For a newbie on this site, even some stats would be really helpful even if it's just one data point and possibly skewed. Everyone has different perceptions of what 'high cash flow' or 'less profit' means. Would you be able to share numbers (or ranges if easier) for your high cash flow property in the hood, ones with less profit, and an example of when you'd start to see as rent being too high?

Also, @JJ Conway, when you say not too high, how high is too high? Percentage-wise. Rough ball park numbers would be helpful!

@JJ Conway - thanks! So basically invest in a neighborhood that has good to do people in it, renovate the place so it is on the higher end of that market, and then rent out to the richer people (relatively) in that area - is that about right?

All, makes a ton of sense - thank you!!

@Russell Brazil, I was debating asking this question but I'm a little confused, maybe you can help. You mentioned that $650/700 for a 1 br in SE DC was really low, but your 2 br in Frederick MD rents out for $1,200/month (or $600 / bedroom) and isn't considered cheap. Can you help me understand the discrepancy - how $700 / 1 br in SE is cheap, but $600 /1 br in Frederick MD isn't cheap? Not trying to challenge you, but genuinely trying the understand the situation/thought process.

Thanks!

John