All Forum Posts by: Marc Desrosiers

@Bryan Berrios

Congrats on your first property. It can seem like a daunting task of all the things to do. Just make punch lists and weekly goals and it’ll fly by.

@Kenzie McIlvoy

I could very well be wrong but I think for a cash out refinance banks will only do 80% of appraised value. Which puts you at about what you owe. You could look for a low interest refinance and get an open line of credit on your current property as an alternative.

@Doug Webb

I’m not sure about how Seattle’s laws are but in Rhode Island which is medical (I’m a patient) and Massachusetts which is recreationally legal smoking on your deck would be considered smoking in public which isn’t allowed.

In either state you are allowed to smoke in rental properties (in RI only if a patient) unless there is someone who is bothered by the smoke but that needs to be argued in court and in the lease.

@Rik Patel

100 amp should be plenty for that size of house. Like said above I’ve had an on demand hot water heater on 100amp service with a slightly larger house. 900sf 2/1 with all the same electric appliances and had zero issues.

With that said if your doing significant electrical work at the house I would upgrade the service to 200amp at that point. Aside from labor largest expense for that is the service wire.

@Stephen Brown

As long as the subfloor is in good shape like John said the difference in height is the thickness of the tile correct?

Just get a reducer transition that matches the vinyl floor. Often it’s not the same company as the floor it’s a separate company but the matches are perfect. I use them all the time. At the orange home store the company that does the transitions that matches is called Zamma. Not sure of the blue store.

@Duncan Canter

I started at option 3, not while living rent free but have started doing a single family house as your option 2 while still doing 3. Currently waiting to close on our next move and it’ll be just over 2 years when we sell the current spot to avoid a lot of taxes.

If I was you start at option 2. Doing a duplex or multi family with the BRRRR method as a best case or at least a house hack situation and have the tenants pay most of the mortgage.

@Kyle Curtin

But the down payment has to do with financing and should be part of closing costs. Earnest money is held by the listing brokerage as a sign of good faith. That way if you back out and void the contract the seller is compensated for time off the market. I usually give all the earnest money at execution of the P&S. So your A&B at B.
For instance. When I sold my last house the buyers agent refused to share the mortgage commitment letter with me. It was signed it was supposed to be given with X days after completed inspection period. She refused basically voiding the P&S. If she had left a high earnest money deposit and not $5000 I might have voided contract and kept her money. 

@Jeffrey Lukaszeski

Second Street to Plymouth Ave to Pleasant St. That whole area is pretty crappy too. There’s a bunch of other smaller areas to stay away from too. Stay away from areas scattered around North Main St next to several drug rehab places in that area.

That’s the next town over from me. I live in Tiverton.

@Kyle O.

If I understand you correctly the wire mesh your seeing is older corner bead. Is it a few inches on wall and ceiling in the corner?

If that’s what it is you can remove it to give you a spot to taper in the joint compound to the existing ceiling after you’ve filled the hole made by the top 2x4 with proper sized Sheetrock.

It’s always a good idea to have at least one bathtub in a home for families with children. If there’s only one bathroom I usually install a jetted bathtub to get people excited about the only bathroom.