All Forum Posts by: Joseph Schriever

How do other landlords deal with driveways where street parking is not allowed during the winter? 

Obviously, if you have a drive way where two cars fit next to each other its not an issue. 

But if that's not the case, then what is the best possible way to manage it?

I completely understand that it is by no means an ideal situation. But it is what I have to work with.

At most I would be able to throw some gravel down on the one side to create an extra two feet of room for the end of the driveway how ever, you would still need to be a skilled driver to pull your car in safely. 

My lower tenant uses the garage to store his motorcycle currently but that is it. 

So you think for driveway and garage access it should be more like $100 additional, and then maybe a lower rent for the apartment that does not have driveway/garage access? 

Hello BP!

I have a duplex that has a single lane narrow driveway with a two car garage in the back. 

To be honest, the two car garage does not make much sense because there is not enough room at the end of the driveway to even fit two cars side by side in order to fit them into the garage. 

So in reality I have a single car driveway. 

I have been living in the upper apartment (house hacking) and have had full access to the driveway and garage while the tenants in the lower apartment have parked on the street.

However, during the winter there is no street parking allowed. So we shared the drive way for the winter parking our cars in the order of who leaves first every day. This was not a huge issue as we worked well with my tenants. 

I am now moving out and into my next house (still house hacking) and will be finding new tenants to rent the upper apartment. 

I would think the best way to use the driveway/garage is to give the option to either the lower or upper apartment with a up charge in rent ($50-$75). And the other apartment will have to use street parking? 

When winter comes around, the upper and lower apartment will have no choice really other then to work it out between them selves? 

I'm looking for thoughts, opinions, ideas on the best way for the drive way to be used in this situation. 

Thank you!

@Brandon Brown - Did you inform the mortgage brokers that you already own one duplex and are looking to buy another that you will owner occupy, and they said that is ok and you will only need 5% down??

Hello All,

I am in the process of looking for my second 2-3 family house and have talked to three different banks about my options to finance it. All three of them have told me that because I currently own and live in a duplex and collect rent from the other half, that this next house must be considered an "investment property." By doing this it forces me to put 25% down plus 2 points instead of the 20% for being owner occuipied personal property.

My plan is to move into the next house, fix the apartments up while living in it and then move on to the next house and do the same thing. But by needing 25% down plus two points for each new property, that will greatly affect the deals of the houses I would be pursuing.

Can someone give me some advice on better financing options for my next house?

Hello Everyone,

I just had an offer accepted on a three unit house. It is a duplex with a detached third unit in the back. All three apartments are tenanted and have lease agreements that do not end until August of 2016. My plan was to move into one of the units, complete the renos over the year, and then do the same for the next two units by not renewing one tenants lease each year. This would allow the house to be financed as owner occupied instead of investment property which is a big difference in down payment. 

So I have two options how I see it:

1. I leave all apartments the way they are now and keep all tenants until their leases are up next year. I do repairs to the outside of the house in the mean time until their leases are up. At which point I can then not renew one of the leases and move in to do the necessary repairs and then continue that path for the next two units. But this will require 25% down for investment property instead of the 20% I would like. 

2.I attempt to buy out one of the tenants leases so I can move into that apartment to complete renos and also so I can finance the house under owner occupied. 

My dilemma is how do you go about asking a tenant to buy out their lease with out ruffling their feathers and starting out on the wrong foot as the new owner if they were to say no we do not want to leave. While asking them if I can buy out their lease do I mention how I will not be renewing their lease once it comes to an end in order to move in and do renovations, to give them motivation to move now? Or is that setting my self up for destruction and failure? 

Any advice and personal experiences would be of great help  here. Thank you very much!! 

Thank you for the 203kcontractors.com website Kyle I will more than likely need to use that.

I do not have a HUD Consultant where can I locate one? I thought this was tied in with my lender but apparently not.

You are probably right amount my rehab estimation. I am not very good at estimating and that 60K estimate might simply be to get the house to pass inspection and not including any cosmetic work. 

When you say you had all the contractors walk the property and put together a proposal for you, did you do this before you put in your offer? Or did this take place after your submitted offer? I ask because you recommended I get the contractors in the house before even submitting my offer.

I have a great Lender and a great Real Estate Agent but I do not have a Contractor. I was not sure if that is supplied by me or the Lender. I'm guessing my Lender would have some recommendations for who to use?  

Hi Guys,

I have a potential house right now that I am looking at. Massive 3700 square foot three unit house in Down Town Buffalo. The house needs a heavy amount of work roughly around 60k in renos depending. It requires a cash purchase or FHA/rehab loan as it will not pass inspection right now. The house is asking for 120K and once rehab is completed the house will easily be worth 230K and up. If an entire house renovation is done (not just whats needed but cosmetically as well) the house could be worth almost 300K as houses in the area that have one less unit are selling for that range right now.

First floor apartment has 3 bedrooms-can rent for 900+, Second floor has 2 bedrooms-can rent for 800+ and third floor has two bedrooms-can rent for 500. 

My question is, who has worked with FHA/Rehab loans before as I am very inexperienced in this field and it makes me nervous but this could be a massive opportunity that I do not want to miss out on simply because of inexperience. Stories, experiences, knowledge is all welcome, anything you may know or have gone through with this would be great.

Thank you for your help!! 

Hey Everyone,

Thank you very much for the responses, each one has great points that I didnt fully consider.

@Mark Gallagher - $5000 on a kitchen.. $50+/rent a month = 100 months before you see positive benefits - I did not look at the kitchen renovation this way and I am very glad you pointed this out because this is exactly how I need to be thinking about these things. So thank you!

After further thought I dont think the AC is necessary mainly becuase its not something most apartments have in Buffalo, it will only be used for 3 months out of the entire year really, tenants will only abuse it and expect me to maintain it and it does not seem like a cost effective investment. Its a luxury, not a necessity.

As for the Kitchen, like I said, its not in bad condition and its more than functional. I will upload a pic to show when I get home but the cupboards and the massive porcelain sink are straight eye soars and its the first thing you walk into the aprtment and see.   Hence why it always makes me thinnk to renovate.