All Forum Posts by: Jen R.

So, we closed on the house on Monday and got started on demo this week...unfortunately we’ve also experienced our first delays in the project due to our demo “crew” (myself, my husband, and a friend), battling illness this week. As I am currently the only functional member of the team, demo has been slower than expected. Despite the setbacks, we’ve removed all carpet and baseboards from the upstairs, and gutted the upstairs bath. Today I spent 8 hours stripping wallpaper. And I’m not done. Ugh.

Goals for the rest of the week include completing demo and washing all ceilings and walls to prepare to BIN the entire house, though the orange and yellow nicotine-coated drywall provides quite the seasonal glow. I will also get to exercise my scrubbing muscles cleaning the kitchen, which is currently coated with a layer of grease, presumably from the 3 deep fryers in the house. Apparently that’s so you can cook your chicken wings for the game, your turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, and doughnuts for dessert. All without cleaning a single item!

Good news of the week: the quote for the roof work came in at $600 under our budgeted amount. Now to find someplace else to spend that cash...maybe on a deep fryer or three...

Some before pics posted below.

Don't have a great pic of the exterior yet; this one was creatively cropped by the seller to avoid the tarp covering a large portion of the roof..

Room where the majority of the smoking was done, apparently:

So that's the original carpet color...

It took the seller over 2 weeks to respond to our short sale offer this summer - he was living in a different state and dealing with medical issues, hence the short sale. So, you just never really know with a short sale. I would prepare yourself for a long road; while it's possible a short sale could close quickly, it often takes several months; it depends a lot on the listing agent and the bank. Good luck, though!

@Ashley St. Gelais - thank you for the info and the link! And good to hear from someone in my home state (I grew up outside of Rutland).

We are set to close on this house in a couple of weeks, which has some pretty major nicotine stains on the main floor walls and ceilings. The living room and kitchen are the worst (see pic below of living room ceiling that I snapped quickly during our initial walk-through). In the bedrooms (which aren't nearly as bad) we are planning on washing everything with TSP and then sealing with BIN or Kilz before we paint, but I was hoping to get opinions from others with experience: any thoughts as to whether we should even try to clean and seal this room, or whether we should go ahead and rip out the drywall and start fresh? Anyone successfully sealed over severe stains with no bleed-through? Thanks!

Thank you all for the encouragement! I will post "before" pics as soon as we close!

So, a little bit of background...my husband and I have owned rental properties and have completed a couple of flips in the past, but we had a big move a few years ago (and had a couple of kids), and are just now getting back into real estate investing. This is the first property we have purchased with the intention of rehabbing and renting out. We've been looking at properties and placing (rejected) offers all summer, and are finally in contract! I've enjoyed reading other investor's deal diaries, so I thought I'd document our progress on this house, and would love to get advice from more seasoned investors along the way.

Here are the details:

Location: Munroe Falls, Oh (suburb of Akron); nice neighborhood with mix of owner occupants and renters (I'm guessing it would be considered a B-class neighborhood)

Type: 1500 square foot single family home, 4 bed/2 bath, 2 car detached garage

Purchase Price: $77k; seller paying $1.5k closing costs

ARV: $140k, after approx. $25k in repairs. Plan to rent the house for between $1200-$1300/month.

Rehab Needed: The house is in fairly good condition overall (solid foundation; new high efficiency furnace; newer water heater; updated electric), but we are estimating $25k in repairs. Biggest expenses will be roof repair, flooring, exterior and interior paint, some replacement windows, and cleaning/sealing the interior due to nicotine stains/odor. We'll also be doing updates to the kitchen and baths, but are hoping to keep as much in place as possible. We will also be doing some of the work ourselves since this is our only property at the moment, and we want to keep costs down. 

We are set to close on November 9, and are excited but anxious to get going; will post pics and updates as we go!

I'm new to REI, and can't really answer your question (I think too many variables come into play to give even a ballpark answer, including what tax bracket you are in, what your expenses are, how much you can write off for depreciation, etc.), but on the recommendation of a fellow investor, I read John Reed's book on Aggressive Tax Avoidance for Real Estate Investors, and it has a ton of good information on this. He really gives some great strategies for ensuring that you are paying the least amount of taxes possible (while staying legal, of course). Hope that might help!

@Dell Schlabach - thanks for the helpful info on the round table coming up! I am going to try to be there as long as I can get away next Wed., and will keep and eye out for you. 

@Sean Gregg - good luck with the house in Cuyahoga Falls! 

@Dell Schlabach - thanks for the welcome; I have actually come across your name quite a few times while searching through the forums and appreciate your willingness to share your expertise.

Also, is anyone here a member of the Akron REIA? I was thinking about attending the meeting next month as a visitor, but didn't find the website very helpful to discern what actually goes on at the monthly meetings. So, is it worth attending and/or becoming a member? Unfortunately Wednesday nights are probably the worst weeknights for me, but I'll figure out how to make it work if I need to! Would appreciate any input!

 Thanks, Martin. We actually went through 3 houses last week that went into contract the same day that we viewed them, so I appreciate that advice!