All Forum Posts by: Matt Herbert

AFAIK, New Hampshire follows the the IRC (The International Residential Code) for hand rails: https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IRC2018P3/chapter-3-building-planning (section R311.7.8) ... but check with your local AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) to be sure.

The short story is, that handrails are required. There are very specific requirements on how they are installed. I found this site to be a good breakdown (in plain English) of the requirements: https://homeinspectorsecrets.com/carpentry/stairs/residential-stair-handrail-irc-code/

As for that little landing, I don't know what the codes are there. But I suspect your insurance company would have a conniption fit if they knew it was there and not permanently blocked off. Never minding insurance, it's really unsafe if there are pets or kids in the house ... for your own protection I would box it out so access was not possible.

I've been a long term investor in rural NH for the last 6 years. So far so good. My biggest concern right now is STR (Short Term Rentals). With this pandemic hammering our economy, nobody is traveling. That means the STR owners are going to be in a bind real soon. I'm afraid they may convert their properties to LTR (Long Term Rentals), and flood the market. This could drive down rent rates and increase vacancies.

Not sure if you all saw this, but it looks like it is now prohibited to evict a tenant in NH during the State of Emergency:

https://d3dkdvqff0zqx.cloudfront.net/groups/nhrealtors/attachments/emergency-order-4.pdf

I think @Laura Cardenas has the right idea in reaching out to tenants and starting a discussion with them early. But as @Mason Hickman points out, just be very careful about promising anything.

I'm planning to reach out to my tenants, and at least ask them to let me know ASAP if they are going to have trouble making their rent. I will work on a case by case basis from there to defer or temporarily reduce rent. The way I see it, I'd rather have something coming in to cover expenses, then have them just stop paying.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets @Eddie O'Grady! There's lots of resources here, and lots of very smart people.

I'm assuming you are a Certified Financial Planner (some strange characters came through, so I might be wrong). If so, do you / have you advised clients to invest in Real Estate in the past?

-Matt

@Simone Airoldi, I'd definitely recommend the Lakes Region (Gunstock). It has all the vacation check boxes ticked: Skiing, Lake (Winnepesaukee, the biggest in the state), Bank of NH Pavilion (concert venue), Hiking, Foliage, Maple Syrup season, Pumpkin Fest, Bike Week, etc ,etc. All of these things draw short term tenants, and can generally offer one of the longest short term rental seasons in the state (IMO).

There are often great chalet's in the Gunstock Acres neighborhood that come up for sale, that make perfect short term rentals. This neighboorhood is perfectly located between the Ski Area, the Lake, and the Concert Venue. Additionally the Acres has a trust that will give access to a private beach (assuming you keep up on your dues, which are only $100 a year IIRC). 

Hello @Karen J. Beatty and welcome to BP! I'd say that right now good deals are tough to find ... but if you remain diligent, and stick with it, they can be found.

I wish you the best of luck in your journey!

-Matt

Hi Kerri,

Welcome to BiggerPockets. What area of NH are you interested in?

@Paul Cullen Good luck in your decision making. Personally I've found this site pretty useful for finding the tax rate of New Hampshire towns: 

https://www.joeshimkus.com/NH-Tax-Rates-2018.aspx

The site covers a few other states, but it seems like only NH is mostly kept up to date.

Great thread @Matthew Anderson. After reading through all the posts, I personally think @Nicholas Darracq gave some of the best advise. Personally I've found that each tenant is different, and needs to be treated slightly differently. Some need a firm hand, some need reassurance, some need lots of attention, some mostly want to be left alone. This is no different than how you treat other friends and acquaintances in your life ... small adjustments to best suite the person you are interacting with. Treat your tenants with respect, and most of them will return the favor.

I put a tenant into one of my units who was initially stand-offish and somewhat combative. She had dealt with landlords in the past who were unresponsive, and to be frank, a-holes. After a few chats with her, and showing her that I am a responsive and responsible landlord, she switched from being b1tchy to being genuinely kind. After 5 years, I'd say she is far and away one of my best tenants (pays 10-15 days early every month!). Had I treated her with a totalitarian attitude, we would probably continually have had uncomfortable interactions, and possibly worse.

Good luck in your journey, and try to have some fun along the way!

-Matt

I think it's time for me to choose a new bank. This brings a flurry of questions to my mind: which one? how to structure the accounts? commercial vs personal?

Here is my current situation. I have 5 single family rental properties. For each property I have a savings account, where all money for that property goes into and out of. I also have a single checking account that is used for paying bills (money is transferred from the individual savings accounts to cover expenses). This has worked fine for me, and allowed me to easily manage each properties expenses, and understand how much I have in reserves for each.

This is all under my personal name, and not in commercial accounts. All of these accounts are used exclusively for business - I do not intermix personal transactions at all. (I know that doesn't mean much, but when I finally setup my LLC's, it will make the transition easier).

I'm wondering how other smaller property owners are managing their accounts?

I'm also wondering what the benefits (or drawbacks) are of moving to a commercial account?

And lastly I'm wondering if anybody has recently done research on all the various banks out there, and can offer a short list with some pros and cons?

I'd like a bank with no fee's. On that lets me open as many accounts as I want. It must pay at least 2% interest in an MM or Savings account (I want my money to work for me). I don't need a local bank ... in fact I prefer an online bank (all my rent is collected through cozy). 

I've considered redneck bank, but I won't get their awesome 3% interest on the checking account unless I do 10 debit card transactions a month (and no way will I do that). And they have a $5,000 daily EFT limit (I occasionally need to do more than that).

I've also considered Ally, and they are are a strong contender right now ... but I feel like I could be doing a little better.

I briefly considered Capital One 360, but there savings is only 1%. And while their Money Market is 2%, it's only for balances over $10k (which I don't always have).