All Forum Posts by: Kel S

Thanks! Yeah, I doubt we'll mess with the skylight. I do really like how much light comes in through it.

Once we get possession of the house I'll take some before/after pictures of the kitchen and bath redo projects.

Yes, the numbers work out for us. This will be our 4th rental property. So far so good with the other three. Rents for our 2 bedroom SFH's range from $595-675/mo. This one we hope to rent as a 3 bedroom because of the finished walk up attic bedroom. So it will be in the $750 range.

Never had renters lined up in advance. Just put signs out and craigslist ad and fortunately it hasn't taken too long to rent the others. I hope that will continue to be the case. These houses are in what is considered the prime school district and much nicer (middle class) part of town and so we've only been buying in that area.

We've been trying for some time to snag a 3 bedroom in this area but it's been difficult due to the prices, competition of what I assume is other investors, etc., so we are getting closer with this one being considered a "possible 3rd bedroom in finished walkup attic" :D

How big is a solar tube? What all is involved w/installing one? This skylight is really big. Probably 3.5 feet by 2.5 feet. It's nice because of the light it lets into the room but I can envision a headache with it possibly in the future.

Again, it's been awhile. Sorry about that. Just been busy with other things. Anyway, we looked at a house about three months ago...

2 bed (although there is a large finished attic that could be 3d bed)
1 bath
890 sq feet
Nice unfinished full basement
2 car garage

Needs kitchen redone (flooring in kitchen & dining room, plus new counters/cabinets). It also needs work in the bathroom. Other than that the rest is pretty minor. Maybe new carpet in one of the bedrooms.

Anyway, so about 3 months ago the bank listed it at 39,900. So we waited. They reduced it to $35,900 and we put in an offer for $31,500. They countered that they wanted full price of $35,900. So we walked away.

Fast forward a month later and the bank reduces the house again to 29,900 and we put in an offer for $29,900, the asking price. The bank accepts. See now had they took our offer previously they would of gotten a little more. LOL!

In any case, we are waiting for bank docs and hope to close in a month. I'm going to try and take before/after pictures of the kitchen. It's definitely going to be a complete redo.

I think it's a cute house but the one thing I don't like and can't change is the 1 bathroom is TINY! So tiny that you have a tub/shower, a toilet and enough room for a small pedestal sink. So not sure what we'll do for storage in there. Maybe over the toilet cupboard or something. I think we'll also take the door off (It opens inward...making it feel even more cramped) and change it so it opens outward instead.

How big of a turn off will the tiny single bathroom be for prospective tenants?

The only other thing I'm iffy about in this house is the finished attic bedroom (does have a closet up there), there is a large dome shaped skylight window. No leakage that we can see. But it does look like someone went a little nuts with caulking on the inside edges...so it's sloppy/ugly looking. Also the dome part is plexiglass it looks like and no flat glass under that. So someone put selaphane (spelling?). Hard to explain. But I hope we don't have issues with that skylight. Probably will at some point I would imagine.

You know I hate to say this outloud, but I have wondered if agents (and I'm sure not all of them do this), might say things hoping for a higher offer to come in. Or like the one we ended up backing out of the agent dragged his feet for over a month to get the gas turned out. The next day after we backed out, it was sold to someone else...things that make you go "hmmmm".

This is the first we've experience this where the house was suddenly no longer on the market for those reasons. Is this a common thing? If so, I guess I'll put that on my list of questions to ask the agent before putting in offers next time. As I'd like to know up front if the grace period is up for the original owners.

Thanks for all the input. I agree with you all about the fence. I think it's a good idea.

It ends up a moot point on this particular deal. Just got a call from the realtor who said they just found out that the previous owner was able to get the house back before the grace period ended by modifying his loan. While I'm genuinely happy for him, I'm also thinking why the heck did this house even get listed on the market before his grace period was up??? Weird if you ask me. If I were the owner that would irritate me to no end....knowing real estate agents were walking people through my house for showings while I'm scrambling to get it back. Sheesh.

We put in an offer on one of the 5 homes we looked at yesterday. This house is only 6 years old, ranch style - 3 bed/1 bath on a crawl. Virtually it needs no work and is in move-in condition. With the exception of wiping down the stove, fridge and vaccuming.

However, the backyard is not fenced, nor does it have a shed on the property. The other downside is there is no garage. The closets in the bedrooms are good sized (double sliding doors) and there are two other closets in the hallway (one for linens and a coat closet). There is an attic but you'd have to get a ladder to get up there. So we are thinking a shed might be a good idea. Even a used one in good shape that would could plop on the property.

But my big question is fencing. How important do tentants view having a fenced back yard? We don't allow pets so this would be more for children. I say yes, hubby is on the fence about it (no pun intended). The neighboring house is similiar in style and they don't have a fence but I can tell they have small children due to the ride on toys stored next to the house. I personally think a fenced yard would be important. What are your thoughts on it?

If yes, would you say chain link would be the best to go with? I haven't priced it but I think it would be easier to maintain than a wooden one that you'd have to keep repainting.

This all being forethought as we just put in our offer :wink:

So sorry Rich about Cancun! And that you couldn't reach me. I'll go see if I can add you as a colleague.

Thanks Uwe!

Well, we kissed a lot of frogs today....only 1 of the 5 was in great shape. So good really that it's literally in move in condition. It's only a 6 year old 3bed/1ba house and pretty much maintenance free. Literally, all we'd have to do to it is stick a for rent sign in the yard. All appliances are there. The carpets, walls, doors...everything is in above adverage shape. It's like a new house really. Whoever lived there must not have lived there long.

The funny thing though is we were looking for something that needed a little work because that would give us a a month or so to close on the deal, then a month or so to work on it. By then spring would closer and it would probably be easier to rent then vs. the middle of winter. So we'll crunch some numbers anyway and see if it makes sense to put in an offer on this house and take into consideration that we may have to wait awhile before we could get a renter in.

I'm sure I'm not making a lot of sense. We'd have a wait time either way. Unless we could get it rented right away. And I'm sure it's always better to get something in great shape (at the right price) vs. something you have to work on and have the same amount invested in it, plus your time.

I've been MIA for a bit. The last house some of you might remember that we were buying we ended up backing out of because it had a gas leak and the seller agent kept dragging his feet on having it fixed (which they said they would do).

In any case, today we have 5 houses to look at. So we'll see if any of them look promising and will let you know.

It still amazes me that some of these homes (several in very nice areas) are going for so cheap. Granted, I'm sure there is work to be done but still.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and let you all know that I haven't gone missing or anything :mrgreen: