All Forum Posts by: Julie Hassett

Too long!! But I don't know how to accurately answer that. I bought it in Oct and had it rented the following December. So I held it for over 12 months before getting it occupied. Not all of that time was rehab necessarily though. So, IIRC... maybe 8 months? My experience with my contractor was not positive. He made mistakes. So did I. 

@Joe Splitrock - great advice. One of my houses IS the lowest in the neighborhood! It's at the nadir of two hills in either direction. But that one has a french drain on one side of the house already, thankfully. I know my gutter systems need improving all around. Thanks for the tip on the plastic and rocks.

This is exactly what I told my husband. I said, "we're only buying condos - second story or higher - from here on out!" On our most recent purchase I was so happy there was no basement, but the crawlspace proved to be just as much of a headache as a full basement. But it should prove to be less of one over time as long as a tenant doesn't move in there and start complaining about the humidity. ;)

@Joel Owens - Yes! One of my buildings is a converted SFH into MFH with a lovely Airbnb unit in the basement. So far in that unit, we've had leaking toilet seals, a backed up washer pipe (crushed or corrupted by roots somewhere underground) that we rerouted into the main exit pipe with a pump, a completely stopped up sink drain, and water coming through the vapor barrier causing rusting on the cracks in the vinyl floor planks. It's been a whack-a-mole situation for sure!

@Alan C. - great tips. Thank you. Anchor was actually next on my list to call. I had seen them recommended in a couple different local Facebook groups as well.

Posting a 3-year follow-up on this property if anyone is interested!

It will have to be abbreviated, because it's been a long, winding road since then.

Shocker that will shock no one... I went WAY over budget on the rehab. I had it budgeted at $30K, gave myself $40K as wiggle room and ended up at $53K (including all holding costs.)

From the day I purchased it until the day someone moved in, 13 months elapsed. I even managed to fit in getting pregnant and birthing a child inside that same time window!

So, total cost to own came to $95,060. Anyone who buys and rents houses in Belair-Edision will know that is way too high.

In Nov 2017, we had a section 8 tenant lined up to move in at $1400/mo. That ended up falling through (after we did a number of additional section 8 required repairs) and my property managers placed a market rate tenant at $1275/mo in Dec 2017.

That tenant is still there and the PM is looking to extend their lease again.

I'm pretty sure the property will be in utter disrepair when they move out (just a hunch I get when I talk to my PM), so I basically hope they will never leave.

My property managers have been the saving grace in this situation (from allowing me to not have to show a property when I was 9 months pregnant to affordably and promptly fixing each and every little thing)

So, was this a cash cow? No. Has the demand for properties gone up in 21213 since I bought it? Hell yeah. Did I learn a lot? Ah yes. Am I still spending too much on rehabbing other properties? Also yes.

I could likely sell this one for $85K (give or take) now, but I'm thinking I'll hold on. I've been entertaining a cash-out refi for quite a while now and may bite the bullet on that soon. Banks' appetite for risk has lessened in the last couple months and rates on them are not great.

I've since acquired 5 more units in Baltimore City and County.

So that's where we're at in the saga, folks!

@Ozzy Sirimsi - yes! I had just completed a full rehab in 21213 and decided to throw an OLD window a/c unit upstairs to keep the place cool while I was away for a week. Came back and found the living room ceiling caving in. Went upstairs and the a/c unit had been leaking steadily indoors that whole time. My contractors ripped up the carpet and mold had already set in, floor boards had buckled... it was a disaster. But, yeah, got that fixed up and moved on. It really is the biz we are in.

Thank you for your story @Lynnette E.! This is ringing a bell. Because, yes, the one thing I didn't mention in my original post was that we also have a toilet that is gushing water into the crawlspace every time we flush it. That property is currently being rehabbed so it's not lived in yet, but when it happened the first time, it was like, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS?" Still trying to find a plumber to come fix it. I hope your property has ended up making you money!

@Chris Mcdonald - thanks for the recommendation. One of my rentals (that used to be my primary home) has those wall boards and I never actually knew what they were called until now. Are you installing french drains as a matter of course when you buy a new rental or are you waiting to see evidence of water intrusion and then getting it done? Is there a local company you prefer? We've been using Basement Waterproofing Nationwide and are pretty satisfied with them.

@David P. - good to know about AAA. I just switched insurers over to Penn National and they will cover water damage in a primary home but not in investment properties. I had similar water damage as you at my old house from a leaking toilet and ended coming out really great with the insurance claim because I had coaching on how to read their initial quote and what to ask for. It made a huge difference in what I ended up getting reimbursed for.