All Forum Posts by: Lewis Kerwin

I really appreciate everyone's replies here!

Planning to ask PM to ask her contractor about partial paint-job and also have an independent painter go in and see whether they feel a partial paint job or full would be necessary. 

Hi all,

I have an out-of-state SFH that just had its tenant move out. PM says that whole house requires repainting on the interior including cielings and that "sealants" might need to be used for cracks in certain areas. Given this, they are saying $3000 is what they were quoted for the whole interior house (about 1000sqft).

Does this seem reasonable? Or would this raise red flags for conflict of interest? 

I'm in this strange position of being out of state and unfortunatley not having the time to visit or gain personal expertise. So any perspective on this is welcome!

Pictures in case helpful: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17QCEJmkm4IptwZTC7amR...

Thank you all. I guess even small things cost triple digits. 

Hi,

I have an out of state investment property in a major city. Just looking at recent statement I saw that there was an unreported expense (just under the $200 threshold to report to me). When I looked at description it said:

"Pre-Move-In Issues:

Tech went to the store to purchase an aerator.
He came back to the unit and replaced 2 aerator in the kitchen and bathroom.
Tested both faucets and working as should be.
He turned the outlet 180° for the AC plug.

$194

"

Does this seem appropriately charged?

Thanks for your perspective!

Hi all,

I bought a 3b1ba home in south Chicago about 2 years ago on a turnkey website. The numbers made sense at the time from what I could tell.

Fast-forward 2 years and I've paid about 18K in repairs, which seems at least largely related to tenants trashing the place. I have not been paid rent in about a year and just had to give the tenant 1.5K in cash to get them out. Now being asked to pony up another 4-8K to repair and get this back on the market. 

I'm so tired of pouring money into this house and wondering if there is a likely end in sight. If you were in my shoes what options would you consider? Change property manager? Sell it and cut losses? 

Thanks much

Hi, my property management team offered to get a used range for 550 or new for 800. Does the 550 seem unduly expensive or has it gone up this much recently fro the 150-200 cited above?

Hi there,

I'm an investor (2 out of state SFHs) who will likely be moving to Anchorage for a job in 2022. I'm considering buying my own house there vs renting (what I've done in Seattle). I'm curious whether the community would urge me to go one way or the other on this, and, if "buy", whether anyone has a real estate agent recommendations.

Thanks for your thoughts on this!

Lewis

I’ve bought two SFHs on Roofstock this year. These were my first investments so take all of this with. grain of salt. 

The first is performing well. The second which I just closed on seems to have a dysfunctional sewer that may require 10K+ of repair (the inspection I got before closing missed this). This may not be Roofstock’s fault so much as that of the seller they connected me with; not sure how much responsibility Roofstock has to guard against this kind of thing. In my interactions with Roofstock, the company has bene professional and cordial. 

Hi all, 

Context: I'm just starting real estate investing this year and just bought a 1955 SFH in a B/C neighborhood in Chicago. I had a sewer inspection done before closing that showed tree roots and quoted me around 3k to replace the downspout and rod appropriately. The seller disclosed a rodding the year before that had "resolved" the tree root issue. I had the price reduced by 3k to cover this risk and closed.

Problem: Now I’m hearing from the property manager (same manager the seller had) that the pipe is so full of roots it will require replacement with tons of concrete to be dug up costing me around $15,000. (apparently they rodded it 4 times in the past year and couldn’t even get through to the sewer main. And the pipe is 6ft down and runs for 40 ft under cement the whole way; backyard is cement). 

Question: 

1) How do I learn to avoid this in the future? I’d thought that a sewer inspection and accompanying quote would protect me

2) If I do need to replace the pipe and tear up a bunch of cement, how do I make the most of this? e.g. could putting in a lawn where cement was facilitate future repairs and add value? Are there other kinds of future maintenance that would require digging which I should just do now? Would removing the tree (would require neighbor cooperation) likely save the pipe? Would the city chip in on any repair if the roots involved the a common sewer pipe? Any other ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi,

I recently bought a house in detroit. The pre-purchase inspection listed a number of recommended repairs. My PM just hired a contractor to make these repairs and sent me an invoice that simply says "Upgrades City and HI punch list completions”. The punch list in question was uploaded from my PM and was simply the words from the inspection. Is this considered proper? Or should the business doing the repairs state specifically what they repaired in their invoice?

Thank you

Lewis