All Forum Posts by: JP Desmet

I house hack my primary residence; and last week a new tenant moved in. This morning I went into their room after they left to look at installing a window AC for them. To my shock, the room was full of smoke/nicotine aroma. 

The bottom image shows the vape pen/e cigarette that was on the window sill.

I texted the tenant, who denied everything and insisted that he never vaped or smoked in the room. This was clearly not the case; I brought in the other two tenants, who both confirmed someone had obviously been vaping in the room. Actually, all three of us were surprised that such an aroma could be caused simply by vaping - it very much seemed like smoking, but I'm not experienced enough to confirm either way.

The lease that he is on is month-to-month. He paid me $300 damage deposit and $700 rent. I see two options:

1) Ask him to leave immediately, and refund his rent for the rest of the month

2) Allow him to stay for the month he has paid for, but inform him I will not be renewing and he has to be out Sept. 1. 

I'd rather do #2, but I also don't know the extent of the damage vaping could potentially be causing; as well as the risk he actually did use a cigarette. But I'm uncertain about the legality of #1. Because it is a house hack, it is a lot easier physically for me to kick him out than it might otherwise be, obviously. But I'm not sure if technically I can do it, without going to a judge or whatever. Thoughts?

Hello all,

I currently have the opportunity to purchase my mother's home with significant equity in the home. Essentially paying $120,000 for a home that has an ARV of around 240-250k. I will be living in the house for the next 6months to a year. The house needs foundation repairs, a new roof, new fence, and cosmetic repairs such as paint and new floors for the 2nd floor and stairs. I hope this will cost around 20-30k.

I am currently working part time during my last semester of college earning roughly $2400 gross a month. I am eligible to obtain a renovation loan for around $165,000 and am looking to have the purchase price of $120,000. I would have to essentially put all of the cash I have saved up as the down payment and my mother would pay closing costs for an FHA loan. I would then have an interest rate of 3.5% and a payment of around $1400/mo and $30,000 left in the loan to do rehab. I would essentially be living paycheck to paycheck these next few months while this rehab takes place until I move out of the house later this year.

Upon move out, I plan on putting in a tenant and doing a cash out refinance later this year. Would it be better to proceed with this situation and start my Real estate investing now or wait until I graduate and will be working full time and will be eligible to obtain a larger loan?

If I wait till I'm full time I will be able to purchase the home for around $200,000-$220,000 and my mother would give me $80,000-$100,000 to use to do the rehab and I would invest with the rest. Would this be the better option rather than purchasing now and doing the cash out refinance with the ARV?

Thanks Tim! That clarifies things. The values that I mentioned were seen values from watching people analyze using the BP calculator online and in webinars. 

Hi I’ve been analyzing deals using the BP calculator, that I receive via email from a few agents. Could someone please provide some input on a couple of questions...

I live in San Antonio, TX and am looking to invest in a multi-family here, so what is the typical cap rate to put for my area?

Are the majority of the fixed landlord-paid expenses actually paid by the tenant?(electricity, water, garbage,etc.) When does the landlord actually have to cover these?

For my current calculations I’ve been using 5%, 10% and 5% for my vacancy, repairs, and cap ex. Are these good percentages to be putting here?

Finally, I’ve been outing 2% for my income, PV and expenses growth. Is this accurate?

Thank you and any response is greatly appreciated!

Hello all,

I am in my final semester of college and have received my first full-time job offer, which will be part-time during my final semester before transitioning to full-time upon graduation. I was planning on taking the money that I will be making during this time period to pay off the 17k of loans that I have and then saving up for a down payment on a multi-family investment property for later in 2020. Looking for suggestions on if I should look to purchasing a property and then paying off loans or sticking with my original plan. Also, any advice on the best way to look for and purchase the investment property would be appreciated. I have listened to approximately 100 BP Podcasts and read 4 BP books on Real Estate investing so I believe that I have enough knowledge to begin my real estate investing journey and am excited to get started!