All Forum Posts by: Kate Stallmann

You can contact my brother, he's in Jamaica on a project at the moment but Facebook is Hookway Home Improvements.  He has about 20 years experience and is renovating his own home in Enfield, so he knows the challenges with older homes.

You didn't mention electrical, if it's not up to code the whole house will need to be rewired.  Good luck!

Kate

So after weighing all the option, I'm going to wait on buying another place for now and see what is available in the spring.  I'm not in a hurry to buy right away anyway, and it's not such a great deal that I can't pass it up.   Thanks for all the insight, I have a lot more info about renting out our condo when the time comes! 

Hey Josh, 

My condo is next to the Settler's Green outlets.  It's great that you have a condo here too! 

I was hoping a vacation renter would give me some income from the place, sounds like that won't happen and I might be better off just doing a regular rental.  

Hey Shaun! 

I'm on my phone so I can't do the cool @ thing.  Thank you for your input, 160 would be awesome but I'm not sure I can get that price.   Guess we need to figure out how high we can go and still be comfortable. 

We do like the house, I can see living there for a few years.  

Good call on the 50% rule, I forgot to exclude tax and fees!  If it's just mortgage,  that's only $497.  The condo is very low maintainance and cheap to heat, plan B would be to rent it monthly which would be less income probably but a lot less work. 

Hi Jenny, 

Thanks for the input.  Sounds like even trying to be extremely conservative I may still be overestimating the condo!  Sorry I muddied the waters there, though I do appreciate the insight.  I'm not too concerned about the condo though, more looking for experience with duplexes and if I should bother going forward or am I asking for financial woes? 

Hi Andrew, 

100K selling price is pretty typical for a 3/2 here, I haven't been able to find many duplex sales.  The owners said they are "desperate to sell" and basically make them an offer.  I'm guessing we might settle in the $180K range.  They were advised by an RE agent to list each side for 145K but they don't want the hassle of separate deeds. 

Yeah NH property tax is where we make up for no sales or income taxes. 

The place seems to be in very good condition, one side is rented so we couldn't view it but we would do an inspection before signing anyway.  New roof, carpets, and paint inside and out. 

I forgot to mention it also has a 3 car garage with storage and a huge (like 20x50') screenhouse with electric. 

Hey Evan, 

Thanks for the double checking!  I haven't even really started due diligence on renting the condo, since we are living in it and I wasn't planning to move this year.  Are those annual numbers?  I skewed the rent down to $100/night but almost all 2 br rentals here are more, so I figured I would probably be able to rent it 3 out of 4 weeks.  The maintainance is very low too, nowhere near $1050/month. 

I'm more concerned with going into that much debt buying a duplex when I'm not convinced it's an amazing deal.  I don't want to hobble what I can do in the future by being over-leveraged, and borrowing money at all is something I try very hard to avoid.   I'm OK with it if there's a very good chance I'll make money back, but I don't ever do it lightly. 

Hello BP,

I currently own a 2/2 condo in a good 4 season vacation town in NH.  This is my primary residence.  

Since discovering BP I have been thinking (some might say obsessing) about RE as a way to build long term income.  My husband is reluctant, but we looked at a duplex today that he's jazzed about,  which would be the first hurdle to buying something. 

My plan would be to buy the duplex under a consumer loan,  live in one side,  rent the other,  and use the condo as a vacation rental, which will conservatively cashflow about $235/month.  

($100/night with 25% vacancy = $2100/month ÷ 50% $1050/month. Subtract $815 which is what I pay for mortgage, taxes, and HOA dues, leaves $235).

I was planning to start seriously looking next year, since I am finishing up paying off all debt except the mortgage.  I happened to meet the people who are selling this duplex, and they are desperate to sell, they don't like being landlords and are tired of the hassle. 

This duplex doesn't meet the 2% role, rent would be between $1000-$1200 per unit and they are asking $200,000.  So 1 to 1.4%.  Tax is $6000 per year.  Before we get too deeply into the specifics, should I just walk away because of the numbers?  I am new at this and can't afford to make a huge, expensive mistake. 

Thanks for reading this far, and for any advice! 

Nice!   I know there are some folks on here who specialize in trailer parks,  I'm  sure they can give you some valuable advice.   If you make millions,  just remember me,  ok?   :) 

Hey Derek,

A totally different direction to go would be to put in a mobile home. Maybe you could find some well placed lots and market them as a potential trailer park? I used to know someone who did this quite successfully, again you would have up front costs of cement pads, water, sewer, and electric, but given how many trailer parks are around it seems like a valid investment. More work up front maybe but for sure less work than a farm once it's up and running.