All Forum Posts by: Patrick Hepner

My wife and I found out AFTER purchasing our own home that a few years earlier, the deceased husband of the widow who owned it had committed suicide in...shot himself... TWICE!  Our neighbor is ninety-something and had mentioned it.  We looked into it and sure enough, it happened.  So we've been there for four years and literally just last month my wife was detail cleaning the closet in the room that we suspect the act occurred and found an unspent bullet.

So we keep thinking 'Hey! this wasn't disclosed! We should be cash in for some sort of lacking disclosure!

And yes, he shot himself twice.  You'd think that after the first didn't do it you'd feel like you were here for a reason or something, but to tag yourself again? - that's commitment!

While it would add value, you have to consider that the paneling might be there for a reason.  I bought a house that had paneling that I wanted to remove.  I took one panel off of the wall to see how the plaster underneath was holding up: it wasn't.  Also, with the difference in thickness between panel and drywall, trim, baseboard cuts, heating/cooling vents, etc. may need to be readjusted or replaced as well.  It is a lot more work than it sounds if you are doing it yourself.

All that and I didn't answer the question.  I guess I would think you'd clearly improve  value without spending all that much money, but time & effort are the variables to consider to truly determine if it is worth it.

Typically you want to have the tenant pay things that they directly influence through the amount of use: water, electricity, gas.  This way you don't get surprised with their 180.00 electricity bill.  Also, if you need to evict and are on bad terms for that last month, they don't turn the heat up to 89, leave all the faucets / lights on etc.

Garbage removal and general maintenance are typically on you.

It seems like Jonesboro and Lawrenceville, both suburbs of Atlanta look cheap, safe, etc.

My thought is that If you could buy a good rental for 30-50K, so could the pool of renters, who would then have a mortgage that is far cheaper than you would like to see rent at.  That then, is why I ask if there is indeed a thriving rental market.

Thanks for all the replies thus far!

So I googled which areas in the U.S. provide the most bang for your buck in a house.

It seems that there are several areas of Georgia (for example) where you can get a 5 bedroom, 4 bath at a price that might buy a dated 3/2 where I live (Pittsburgh).   

Yes, I checked out the neighborhoods of these houses as well and they are great! (20 miles outside of Atlanta, Savannah, etc.) so not in the middle of nowhere either.

Naturally I thought it'd be nice to look into an area where I could get twice as much house for my money, but was curious about the rental market there.

Fifty or 60 thousand dollars can get a very nice house there, so the cost of a mortgage would probably be cheaper than rent, whittling your market to those who don't intend on staying in the area long enough to warrant a mortgage, or who cannot get approved for a home loan, which can be perceived as a red flag as far a a tenant prospect goes.

Anyone on here have rentals in GA and can attest to the rental market there?

OK, being new to real estate I need the eyes of someone with experience.

I get what this report is showing, but I am primarily concerned with the third page, point D: A permit is required for any of the following.... etc. etc.

My question is, what exactly requires hiring a 'design professional'?  I mean, if there is a copper pipe that has a crack in it, it's quite simple to get some flux, a coupler, propane torch, etc and get it good as new.  Am I allowed to do this or does this notice require that I hire a professional?  If I have to hire a pro, there is no portion stating that I need to keep receipts and prove it really, I just have to have the inspector come back to the house and verify that it is up to code.

I guess I am just confused now as to what constitutes a do-it-myself kind of job versus what I have to hire someone to do.  

As always BP community, your help is SINCERELY appreciated!

OK, so I am in the process of purchasing a property owned by Bank of America. The stipulation of the sale was that I was not allowed to turn on utilities / get the property inspected until I own the property. I had a contractor look through the property, and I am somewhat handy myself to get a general idea of the issues that could arise. I am comfortable with this property and with waiving the inspection contingency....

Here's the problem....

Where I live (Western PA) it is REQUIRED by my county that in order to close on a property, a dye test is mandatory, and zoning/planning explained that regardless of what the bank says, a third party inspection is mandatory... period.

The Bank has expressed that they are selling strictly as is, and do not want any inspections done. The risk, obviously is that if an inspection reveals something major, it could delay and further complicate their ability to sell the property.

So I cannot buy the property until I have the inspection that I'm not allowed to have.... ?

Certainly someone on here must have had a similar situation with a bank owned property.... any advice, or ideas as to the next steps would be greatly appreciated folks. As it stands, I am just going to contact my agent and let her know what I was able to determine while on the pone with these various utilities...

Finally, the bank is pushing for a quick close, which I am comfortable with, but it looks inevitably like we will not be closing in 10 days.

help!

Makes sense... thanks thus far for your responses!  I am quite handy, and I have a group of friends that help me out from time to time... we can do almost any job in a house from plumbing to electric.  It's not so much the type of repair that has me worried, but the possibility for the repair being on something significant.  I suppse like you said: its a gamble.  Anyone on here ever buy a house without an inspection / utilities turned on?

I found a property that can make great money as a rental.  The house appears to need mostly cosmetic TLC and some updating.  

Here's the issue....

The property is bank owned as is being sold as-is.  The bank wanted best and final offers from all parties 3 days ago and it turns out my offer wins.  However, in my offer I stipulated that the offer was contingent on an inspection that was satisfactory. 

The bank is not allowing any inspections and ALSO is not allowing prospective buyers to turn on any utilities until after the sale of the house.

My initial feeling was that this is because there is something terribly wrong with water pipes, or some kind of other issue that I'm not seeing.  As my agent explained (and I trust her... she stands to gain very little in this whole interaction) the bank wants the place sold.  They (bank) don't know if the property has been winterized, they don't necessarily know much about the property at all.  What they do know is that if an inspector DOES find something, they would have to disclose it for 6 months.  If there was an issue with the utilities they would then have to disclose that as well to potential buyers.  My agent also explained that the house is so cheap they have the leverage to do this.... if it was 165k or something, they probably would never sell it with that stipulation.  For what its worth, the electric is still on and fine.

Now the house is CHEAP.... I've been in it 3 times, my father-in-law twice (handyman), and a contractor today will be there just to give us a general idea of what issues he could see in the house.  

I guess my question is what would you do in this situation?  No inspection / utilities check seems like a walk away situation, but I understand that on very low cost properties it's semi common for banks to sell as-is and mean it.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated

Greetings, first post here!

Let me be clear that I have no properties currently and am still in the learning stage of real estate investing.

Having said that, I have a question:

My mother has offered to our (wife and I) first property. She isn't even worried about getting money back (she's looking at it as a forward on inheritance). So if she buys it, how does it become ours? I understand she could purchase it without a loan, but then does she transfer it to me? Certainly there are some tax implications in doing that that might just outweigh getting the loan myself. That said, could she just sell it to me then at an interest free rate? (I know that if she sells it for a dollar I pay big taxes for the gains) Any help is appreciated but please provide details.