All Forum Posts by: Julie Hassett

@Alan C. - so, would you do french drains and the whole shebang in your rehabs? Interesting. Something to consider budgeting for. Last month, we waterproofed a crawl space in Wilson Point (Middle River). One week later, we had the rainfall of the century and the crawlspace was a swimming pool. I thought it was because the power went out and the sump pump stopped. But it turns out the sump pump came detached and lodged in its casing so the bobber stopped working. The company came out and cleaned it up and set it right. Water IS the most insidious element! That is a perfect way to put it.

@Bjorn Ahlblad - thank you for walking me through your experiences! I swear that the reason I listen to BP podcasts is not for the "tip and tricks", it's for the "here's when I seriously f*^*ed up and thought it was all over" stories. They always remind me that this too shall pass! And you are right about being grateful to still be collecting rent. I am (knock on wood) and that does put me in a fortunate class these days. 

You are asking the million-dollar question! I've been working with contractors in Baltimore for 4 years and the only one I can recommend is the construction arm of my property management company. They are on Facebook if you search for Charm City Construction & Repair. They are part of the Pointer Ridge Investment Group. They are property investors too, so they understand the business and what investors' goals are. Good luck!

Hi there, I'm a small-time real estate investor with 6 units under my belt. When it comes to water issues, I absolutely cannot catch a break. Currently, I've got:

One basement with a leak and horizontal crack forming on an outer wall
One garage with so much hydrostatic pressure that the cinderblock wall is bowing 
One basement with water seeping in under the baseboards.

Recently repaired/added:

A flooded crawlspace
A french drain system
Rerouted exit plumbing using a pump to bypass backed up/broken drain pipe

All of these jobs range between $1,000 - $8,000. None of them feel like they can be put off until I get more cash reserves built up.

What answers am I looking for here? I guess I want to hear about a time when all you did was witness an outflow of money and wonder if it was going to take you under... I'd also like to here about your disastrous water and foundation issues and how you dealt with them and solved them.

If you have either of those stories, please share! I'd like to know I'm not alone. 

Thank you @Joshua Dow! I'm taking this to a property I'm looking at today. Appreciate it!

Hey @Mark Moyer, thanks for checking in. I actually ended up buying a home in Lauraville/Arcadia area. I am still looking for buy-and-hold rentals, especially multis in 21214 and 21213. I'm open to Pigtown, but know nothing about it. Keep me in mind if anything comes up. Thanks!

Thanks for your input, @Ned Carey. The property was at Chesterfield and Mannasota. 

At $74K, if financed with 20% down, the cash flow numbers worked very well. 20%+ CoC.

But without it appraising, no full financing available. 

We could buy with cash (or throw a big additional chunk in), but "equity kills cash flow". 

And then, when ready, a cash out re-fi appraisal will always come in low.

I'm really trying to wrap my head around how to do this buy-and-hold thing right and well, but I feel like I get stymied left and right!!

@Russell Brazil - this sounds like a crooked system to me. Am I correct in saying that? Shouldn't the appraised value be an objective measure? Can you fill me on what the appraiser's motivation is to give a higher appraisal to an agent? Repeat work? Thank you for your insight.

@Russell Brazil - no, this property was not listed. We were buying directly from another investor who had just completed the rehab. We based our purchase price on two things: 1) previous purchase price + rehab costs + seller commission and 2) our benchmark CoC return and CAP rate. It seemed like a win-win for both parties.

I currently don't have a great realtor on my team and realize that if I had, I could have leaned on them to get me comps. However, they wouldn't have any benefit in doing so in this deal, because there was no commission to be gained. 

This leaves me wondering... it can be SO expensive to go lead free (the current Belair-Edison property I'm rehabbing would have required an additional 20-30K to go lead free), yet so many Baltimore landlords say you MUST go lead free. I understand it from a risk aversion perspective, but from a property value perspective (especially in a cash out re-fi situation) it doesn't make any sense.

@Chris Kirshbaum