All Forum Posts by: Julien Teoulet

Quote from @Richard Brown:

I have a place in Little Rock that I pay $1220 a month for the mortgage, and I still owe 25 years on it. Property Manager says I can get at least $1900 a month in rent on the open market and $1770 going Section 8 route. I want to leave the property to my kid. House was built in 1995 so I am thinking that I will need a roof for it soon and central heating/cooling is six years old. I could actually sell the property now for over 300K right now.

I am flying there to get a new refrigerator, change the locks, and get new remotes for my garage door plus meet the Property Manager. Here are a couple of questions I have.

1. Am I correct in thinking that you officially have Rental Property when you sign up with a property manager?
2. Can the time you spend learning about Rental Property count as managing your rental property?
3. How would I come up with basis to depreciate?
4. What else is deductible from rental income?

Is it $1220 mortgage only, or with Escrow  ?
It almost look like you a little or negative cash flow and look at tax benefit to justify keeping it. 
I don't think that's a good idea.

To keep in mind as well, you don't know what your kids what to do or will do with the house. So if it was your primary, you may be better cashing out now and tax free.

You must have run your numbers and have a cash flow/cap rate that worth the shot. 

If I had to do a  screening at these addresses, I would have not spend time on house selling at more than 100$/Sqft. So I would have pass on these deals, but again, if you have the cash flow, maybe 72209 would be my pick too.

Hi Adriana, 

72118 has lower crime rate but much lower population too. Bigger lots and I would say mainly prefab houses (you will see a lot of houses with old boats, campers, old cars and junk in their yards) I would rate C+ to B- neighborhood. I drove the main road several time and it is not appealing per say. 

72209 is a C neighborhood. Crime rates higher and lower income, no doubt. Not the worse part of town, but you will struggle to find tenant with a clean record and good credit score. 

If your numbers are equivalent, I would go with 72209. I believe it will be easier to get a pool of potential tenant but I thing having a good PM is critical on your success. 

Note that I am not a professional, just a local.

Also, I think that when looking at LR neighborhood, the street location is important, as the quality within the area code can be different from block to block or street to street. (I don't know if it is a particularity of LR or pretty normal). 

Here is the end result, Plumber finally found a crew to do this small job (was not easy for them). 

It took some time but I am happy with the end result and will reuse them again - and make sure the quote is more detailed !

Quote from @Account Closed:

Quote from @Julien Teoulet:

Hello community. 

I had a leak under slab in one of my property and plumbing contractor had to redirect the line in the attic. 

That's some pretty sloppy plumbing even for Arkansas.

Call building codes and tell them you'd like an inspection. 

If it's legal, let us know. ;-)

 Update: I have contacted the city of Little Rock plumbing division and indeed there was no permit or inspection scheduled by the plumber. The inspector was great help and advised me to get the contractor on job site and question the need of a permit. 

So I did and a notified the contractor that I will do have an inspector coming even if they were not scheduling it by themself. 

The inspector came and reported a few points, most important was that the outdoor pipes had to be contained in a box of some sort and filled up with sand for freezing protection. 

I had to argue quite a bit about the responsibility of the work to be done but at the end, the plumbing company is setting me up with a qualitied framer to finish the job. 

Lessons learned for me : 

Don't forget to request for a inspection in the quote with my contractor 

Don't forget to request for the work to be handled or subcontracted by the contractor until inspection is complete.

Quote from @Account Closed:

Quote from @Julien Teoulet:

Hello community. 

I had a leak under slab in one of my property and plumbing contractor had to redirect the line in the attic. 

That's some pretty sloppy plumbing even for Arkansas.

Call building codes and tell them you'd like an inspection. 

If it's legal, let us know. ;-)

 Thanks Mike, I am trying to get an inspection done by the city plumbing division. I think that the best way to proceed to have a professional expertise. I will also ask them to inspect the routing in the attic that I have not verified yet.

Quote from @Prashant P.:

Did you have a contract with them?  Was the scope of work in writting?

 Yes - I have 2 quote :

1 for a leak detection and 1 for the access and water line re routing. 

I have also asked for a report and pictures after the work was done (to provide to my insurance). 

I details, it is not specified how they have to do the job

Quote from @Scott Mac:

Did you use a licenced plumber?

Was he a master licenced plumber?

Does Arkansas require all plumbing work to be done by a licenced plumber?

When it goes below freezing will this pipe and the ones in the attic burst from the cold?

Looks like the the hole is not caulked--is that best in your area?

Just my 2 cents.

According to buildzoom.com, they are master licensed plumber. 

I am in Arkansas, we have freezing temperature a few days / year. 

Hello community. 

I had a leak under slab in one of my property and plumbing contractor had to redirect the line in the attic. 

I could not be present at time of the work and went to check it only a couple of days after everything was done. 

When I went to check my water meter, it is still running (they said they checked and it was good), and I am pretty pissed off about what I found outside. (see picture). 

I am contacting the owner to have a discussion with him, but what are my legal options here? I can't believe this would pass a code requirement but I am not sure how to find out. 

Is there a solution to get a legal expertise done ? 

The plumber is an LLC, accredited by the better business bureau

Thank you

Hello BiggerPockets community. 

First of all, thanks for the forum and all the free reading and experiences you guys share. Very appreciated ! 

I am looking for advices or ideas in regards to my situation. 

I am currently owning a 3bd/2ba, in a B, maybe B+ neighborhood; conventional loan at 2.75% for 15 year (12 more to go). Having a family of 5, we are planning on refinancing, cashing out, renting the 3bd and buying a 4bd + office. Well, it was the plan until mortgage start skyrocketing! 

Now plan A is to wait that supply increase, rates go back down and follow initial plan, as our 2 little ones can share a bedroom (which is also my office when working from home). But plan B is to look for any opportunity and learning some creative learning strategy to buy the 4bd, without touching my actual loan (I can cash flow 400-500$ with my current mortgage) .

I have 3 houses under my radar, more than 60 days on the market with price drops. With current 7ish % rate, the monthly payment is too much for us; and putting 20% down is not possible without refinancing my current loan.

What would be a great approach to get a deal on these leads? Again... very knew to the game, so options are just theoretical for me right now ! 

Does it look crazy to approach these owners and ask if they would be interested in financing my loan - BUT - at a 4.5% or 5% rate ??? (I ran a mortgage amortization simulation, if vendor is not looking for a lump sum, they can still get a nice monthly profit).  

Thanks all !

Julien