All Forum Posts by: Lisa Marie

Wow! I really appreciate all the advice and perspectives. You guys are such an awesome community. I couldn't help but to vote on all the responses. 

So to clarify, I did not have a written contract. It was indeed a month-to-month verbal. However, I will have a contract to sign when I speak with him tonight and state the terms. I've been giving myself a pep talk on not being emotional and to stay friendly but assertive. I think it's very reasonable to give him the choice of either accepting it or choosing somewhere else to live. I feel very optimistic when some of you guys mentioned that you can shape the habits of late payers too. 

I appreciate the insight on how evicting will completely terminate the friendship and make things awkward with a live-in tenant. Would I still do house hacking again? Probably if I was way younger, but as I get older and am starting to settled down with my partner I don't think this opportunity will happen again. I will update you guys on how it all went down!

Hi BP - looking for some advice because I am in a sensitive situation. 

Basically, I violated the age old rule of rooming with friends. I put goodwill and faith that everything will work out and be OK... not. Long story short, a friend of mine is renting a room. It's been fine in terms of the day-to-day living situation and there are no issues there. I really enjoy the benefits of house hacking. However, there are a few things that have been bothering me: 

1) he never pays in full and has to break up his payments, 

2) I don't know when he's going to pay and 

3) sometimes he'll shut down and not respond / make up an excuse when I nudge him. 

Granted, he DOES pay in full by the end of the month every single time but I'm over it. Some months are great, other months he's inconsistent. I've already had at two or three conversations with him about being more communicative and to let me know when he will pay. He has financial hardships, but I've done my duty as a friend on being lenient and understanding. What really got me upset this month is when I noticed that he went Christmas shopping for gifts but has yet to pay me rent. I feel like if he were renting an apartment elsewhere, he'd get slapped with late fees over and over again. 

My brother is a lawyer, and he told me that I need to evict him because he's taking advantage of me. I texted my roommate saying that we need to talk tomorrow and he agreed. I also asked him about rent and he made up some stupid excuse... so now I'm really upset. At first I was going to say that if he MUST pay by the 1st, otherwise this situation can't continue. But my brother is adamant that I terminate this living situation. What do you guys think? How would you have this conversation? Please note that he is a friend, and we share interests and know the same group of people. :(

Thanks!

Mark S. I would love to join! Btw, what time are you guys meeting?

Michael Moikeha Yes, that definitely helps and makes sense. Thank you!

Michael Moikeha When you say $50,000 repair budget, what does that entail? Material and wages for the crew? Does that mean the GC won't get his share until after the house is sold? I'm thinking about entering in this type of partnership and have been thinking of ways to ensure some skin in the game.

Is this tonight? June 16?

What are some ways you can structure a partnership with contractors to ensure some "skin in the game" with buy and sell properties? My potential team are two guys who currently work for a remodeling and electrical company. I found them inadvertently through a network of people who do side jobs and share work with their friends for extra money. They want to take their side jobs to another level but need someone like me to put down most of initial investment (or get investors) along with the marketing/selling. As you can maybe imagine, we come from completely different backgrounds but both parties are in need of each other to grow and make something awesome out of it. I'm trying to explore different options rather than upfront paying per job. Thoughts? Your ideas are appreciated.

I purchased an old home to flip via the MLS with an agent. After the inspection report, nothing came back regarding rats or pests.

The day I get the house we start knocking down walls and removed the dropped ceiling (with removable tiles). What I found next is a complete nightmare - rat skulls and skeletons, thousands of rat droppings, and a wall that is completely infested with a nest! We thought these were old rat dropping dating back since the 70s, until we discovered two fat rats that were still alive and well. This clearly is DISGUSTING and a huge health hazard. These previous owners are nasty.

As we remove the dropped ceilings we also discover rat poison and traps that indicate that the owners knew about this. This wasn't disclosed to me at all so I'm very upset. What are some of my options to get this fixed and compensated for?

Yes, I have the cash to pay it all back if I wanted to, but I don't want to tie it all up just yet. Also, I plan on this project taking somewhere between 2-3 months. FOR NOW things appear cosmetic, but you know what they say about flipping though. I highly doubt it'll take 12 months to complete before the credit card interest kicks in.

I would LOVE to use other people's money (haha), but this house is essentially a live-in-flip. Once I'm done updating, I may start looking for a new deal to move out and rent. That's the plan anyways.

Dear BP,

I closed on my first home/investment property. An old, out-dated home with a ton of potential. The max I want to go is $15-20K.

Rather than using my own cash, I was thinking about financing the project for a year with a 0% interest credit card for the first 12 months. Seems to be better than taking out a loan from a bank. Also, I'll need minimum contracting work (they'll only be hired to do finishing touches). Everything else I plan to DIY with two guys that have knowledge in contracting and purchasing material from Home Deport/Lowe's and having them install it for me (flooring, countertops, ect).

Before I get anyone jumping on my case, I just want to mention that I am meticulous with personal finance. I've never paid interest once in my life to a credit card company, and my credit score is excellent. I won't have any issues getting a high limit either. In other words, I'm responsible.

Has anyone done this before?

The card I have in mind is the Discover double cash back (ex: you earn $100 back, they double it to $200), but I'm also thinking that some places don't take Discover so I may look into a new card.

Details that caught my eye:

• We'll DOUBLE all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. So if you earned $101 cash back, we'll double it to $202—Automatically. Only for new cardmembers.*

• 5% cash back in categories that change each quarter like gas, restaurants, home improvement stores and more -up to the quarterly maximum when you sign up.