All Forum Posts by: Matt R.

I agree with @Addison Estes that adding the interior stairs probably needs a permit and a carpenter, at least for the rough work.

Adding the sewer pipes for the bathroom downstairs is probably going to involve either breaking up the floor with a jack hammer to add new sewer pipes, or building up a wood floor in the bathroom so there is room between the wood floor and the concrete for the pipes.  The jack hammer idea lets the toilet sit on the concrete floor, which is easier for access, and probably better if you don't already have 8' ceilings in the basement; the built-up floor idea means there is a step up into the bathroom, which will make the ceiling seem lower.

If you are committed to the downstairs bathroom idea, and you decide to jack hammer the floor, it probably won't be that much extra work to jack hammer it some more to add the sewer pipes for a kitchen down there.

Some other ideas:

Will there be two ways out of the new rooms downstairs?  You might have to install egress windows for the new rooms.  Or, if there is a window there now that would qualify as an egress window, you might not be able to block that window off with your proposed new stairs.

Have you thought about how you will split up the water / electric / other utilities for the new rooms downstairs?

I hope this helps!

Matt R.

Hello, all!

I've bought my first SFR, fixed it, and rented it, and I am now at the "refinance" step of BRRRR. To get my next rental property, I need to
go to some kind of lender and get some kind of loan, but I'm not sure exactly what to ask for.

Here are the moving pieces:

My one SFR. I own it outright, 100%. I have owned it since spring 2016, and it's been rented since summer 2017. I don't have any kind of HELOCor other loan against it. Based on 30 seconds of researching comps on Zillow, it would probably list on the MLS at $105K +/- if I decided to sell it today.

My next rental property. Most likely another SFR. I was originally thinking of something in the $90K-$100K ARV range, but the market has tightened so much that I might have to add $10K to that.

My "cash for investing" pile. I have enough to put 20% down on the types of properties I have been looking at, as long as it doesn't need
more than a few thousand dollars' worth of rehab. Beyond that, I would need to either have a lower down payment (down to around 15%), or figureout a way to finance some of the rehab costs, or both.

A local regular bank. I have my real estate account there. They have been good to work with so far, but I haven't asked them about loans yet.

A local credit union.  I have a personal account there. They have been OK to work with so far, but I haven't asked them about loans yet.

My real estate business. It's just me; not a partnership, LLC, Inc, or anything else.

My residence. I own it outright but I really, really, really don't want to take out any loans against it, based on a bad experience in the past.


My ideas so far include:

Go to the bank or the credit union and get a regular mortgage loan.

Go to the bank or the credit union and get a loan against the rental house - HELOC? Something else?

Go to a new bank (one I haven't done business with before) and do one of the above two things.

Go to a private lender and get some type of loan from them.

My questions:

Is one of these options much better (or much worse) than another for some reason?

Is there a good option I haven't thought of yet?

Thanks for your help!

Matt R.

@Sam Leon Apparently the right term is "FRP", fiberglass reinforced plastic.  This is the kind of stuff I am thinking of http://www.marlite.com/designer-wall-systems-stand... but there is more than one manufacturer; Home Depot sells a similar panel.  It's only 3/32" thick, though.  You can get plastic trim for the edges.  Usually it has a pebble or wrinkle finish, but smooth finish panels are at least listed in the catalog.

How about either a piece of stainless steel sheet, or a piece of that plastic wall paneling stuff that gets used in gas station bathrooms?

The stainless may need a machine shop to put the big holes for the supply and drain pipes in it.  You can drill the mounting holes in it yourself, but you need a brand new drill bit, some oil, and patience.

The plastic wall paneling can probably be cut and drilled with tools you already have.

Failing that, put a piece of cement board or moisture-resistant drywall in the hole, and patch with some more 4x4 tiles.  If you can't get a close match to those green ones, get some of those fancy tiles that have curlicues and stuff printed on them and show it off completely.  :D

Disclaimer: I am not a professional electrician.

@Sylvia B.  Are you sure that's the breaker box?  That sort of looks like where a meter should go.  On the other hand, the meter could be at the pole - off to the right in the picture above.

Another possibility... in the real estate listing for that house, it looks like there is a little workshop/garage/something back behind the main house.  It could be that the box on the front porch just has a couple of breakers in it - one big one (like 100 A) for the main house, and another one, possibly smaller, for the workshop.  Then, the house and workshop would each have their own breaker box, with all of the branch circuit breakers.  If that's what you have, then you probably don't have to change that box on the front porch, unless you are upgrading the entire electrical service from the utility (like, going from a 100 A service to a 150 A or 200 A service).  You might need to change the breaker boxes in the house or the workshop.

It isn't unheard of to have the breaker box outside, but usually it happens where the weather is better (drier) than southern Missouri.  I have seen it on houses in Arizona before.  The sheet metal of the box is built a little differently, so it can stand being rained and snowed on, but the breakers that go inside it are the same as any other breaker box of that same brand.

If that box on the porch is the one and only breaker box for the whole house, the only thing I would wonder about its current location: is it possible for somebody to actually operate the breakers in it if they're not real tall?  It looks like you'd have to stand on the porch and lean over, or stand on the steps and reach up.

As the electrical code gets newer, more things are required to be on their own circuit, and in the newest code, some things need special breakers (bedrooms on AFCI breakers).  If the panel that's there is a well-known brand (like Square D, General Electric, or Cutler-Hammer) and has a few extra empty spaces in it, you might be OK with re-using it; you'll easily be able to get new breakers that fit it, and there is space for them to go.  You might have to install a bigger conduit from the breaker box into the house, if the conduits that are there are fairly full.

If it's an oddball brand, or if it's nearly full, then you might have to replace it... if you do that, you should at least ask the electrician about the pros and cons of moving it inside.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional electrician.

@Angela A. I don't have enough specific and recent experience with either Raytown or Grandview to talk about particular streets or neighborhoods.  I feel like I know a little about what I'm talking about if you're looking in Independence.

I should probably add that Raytown does have its own school district, which is a little bit better than the KCMO schools.  However, the school district boundaries are not the same as the city limits, so again, check online and/or call the school district to make sure for a particular address.

I haven't been doing this long enough to have it happen to me.

One landlord who spoke at the local REIA meeting and had rentals in lower-income areas had an interesting solution. She said that in her rentals, she would use long screws or lag bolts to bolt the free-standing appliances (refrigerator, stove) into the cabinets or floor, and that this had helped keep the appliances from wandering off with the tenants.

My only addition would be that if you do this, and if you have somebody else do the maintenance or cleaning between tenants - tell them about the bolts!  Or at least be prepared to go over there after the tenants are gone, remove the bolts so the appliances could be moved for cleaning, and then reinstall them before the new tenant moves in.

The screws probably go through the plastic inner panel into either sheet metal or another piece of plastic, and the screw has stripped out.  If prying while unscrewing didn't help, about all you can do is drill out the screw heads, or use a Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel to cut off the screw heads, to get them out.  Use new screws (probably stainless) on reassembly - chances are good that they're the same as the other inner door panel screws, if you need a sample to take to the hardware store.

The original problem may well be the timer, but sometimes the timer deliberately turns off the power to its own motor and waits for another device (like a float switch or a thermostat) to bring the power back.  If that other thing isn't doing its job - like, the switch or thermostat is stuck open all the time - then it will look like the timer is failing to advance.

If you take off the kick panel and look around, you can probably find a one-page wiring diagram and service information sheet folded up under there somewhere - maybe in a little envelope.

I agree with @Jeff Bridges on Consumer Reports.  Note that they usually want you to subscribe to their magazine to see their detailed rankings / test reports.  A lot of times, your local public library subscribes, so you can check with them.  The library here has a subscription with online access, so if I go to the library's site and log in with my library card number, I can then pull up PDFs of the same articles that ran in the magazine.  The online interface is a little clunky, but it works.

I agree with the others that something closer to $100 is about right for having a plumber do this.

Since you have a management company, you may not be able to do this, and/or you may prefer to pay someone to do this, but: if one or more of the people living in the property have relatively long hair, there's about an 80% chance that the problem is a wad of hair in the trap right under the drain.

You need a screwdriver, a piece of #12 or #14 copper wire about two feet long, and maybe some needle-nose pliers.  You take the drain grate off with the screwdriver, and put the screws outside the tub so they won't go down the drain.  You bend a hook into the end of the copper wire and go fishing in the drain.  If it's real clogged, you can feel the difference between the wire sliding around in the hairball, and the wire rattling around in an empty pipe once you clean it out.  If the wire gets stuck, just pull harder on the end and usually the hook will unfold and the wire will come out.  Sometimes you can use the needle-nose pliers to grab the top end of the hairball, if it is visible, and pull it up.

You will probably come up with a wad of hair with soap/shampoo residue on it; it looks like you're gutting an alien from a sci-fi movie.  :D  Keep fishing until you think the pipe is fairly clear.  Throw the hairball into the garbage, and run some water in the tub to see how fast it drains.  If it drains OK, put the drain grate back, and you're done.  If it's still slow after that, then call a plumber.

Again, it may be worth $100 to you to not have to deal with this.  But it's probably not worth $300.  :)

Source: I have lived with people with long hair before, and I ended up having to do this to the shower drain once or twice a year.