All Forum Posts by: Michael Badin

Try to find better financing. I am finalizing a deal with a 20 year term, 10 years locked 30 year amortization under 5%. Plan is to pay it off or refinance at the 10 year mark.

First, before implementing RUBS make sure your market supports it. What I mean is you don't want to bring all your rents up to market and transfer over to RUBS and have everyone else not charging tenants for utilities.  So check other listings and see if utilities are included. If you have already done this then contact your utility provider and they should be able to give you some info on it.

All it does is split the cost between the units based on SF.

I am not doing a DIY but I am currently having one of my unit bathrooms redone. However, I am not replacing the tile I am having it and the bathtub reglazed.  It is scheduled for the end of next week. (Need to finish some other renovations in the unit first.)

I agree with Joe and Neal, however I would add that if your goal is to keep them as tenants, then keep the increase reasonable. Usually a 5% increase can be considered doable as long as the market supports it.

I am also a disabled vet. Until you are 100% it will not apply. It will only apply to your primary residence and only if there is a "financial need".  If a financial need is determined to be found it will be reassessed every year.  At least that is how it is here in PA.

Nice Job! Keep it up.

Without looking at the property at all, or researching the market at all I looked at the listing and looked at a few things, the list price, ($318,000) how much they bought it for and when $249,000 in 2013, and how long it has been on the market, 555 DAYS!    (This is not how I start my evaluations of a property, if you don't know your market well already you need to step back and research it.)

Is it worth the price... depends on your strategy; what you want your returns to be, AND only if the current investor did a really good flip and now has the property stabilized with rents at current market with good cash flow.  However as @Aaron K. mentioned above, with the property on the market for over 500 days I doubt this is the case.   It could be that the property is a problem for the current investor, you could try to low ball them but I doubt they will want to take less then what they have put into the property, but depending on just how big of a headache it is for them they might.  The question then becomes, do you want to buy their headache??

@Dan cumberland  he mentions the windows because you are required to have an "emergency egress".  

@Remington Lyman Yes you can rent your basement but it does depend on your basement.  I have a property that I rent the basement.  However my basement has a second exit in the rear which is what we use as our emergency egress.  If you are planning on using a window you will need to check local codes to make sure it is big enough and not to high off of the ground.  You will likely have to replace the window.  

There are some things you can let slide but safety issues are not ones you want to play with.  

@Payton Gonzales  As you said, it comes down to your tolerance for risk.  However, I have been an insurance adjuster for 15 years, I have replacement cost on ALL my properties, both personal and investment.  Yes it does cost more but should a catastrophic loss occur it will be worth it.  I have seen too many times were people have not had enough coverage and had their property fall into disrepair or could not rebuild after a fire.

With that said it does depend on the property you are insuring, if you are talking about a property that is only worth $10,000 RCV than I would not worry about the difference.  It's the properties worth 6 and 7 figures I would worry about RCV, or even high 5 figures depending on your risk tolerance.

I'm glad to hear you did the due diligence, from your initial description it did not sound like you did.  Like I previously said and Dave said I believe the master is the best option.  Good luck with your flip.  

P.S. It seems like I may have offended you with my prior post, that was not my intent.  I wish you with the best of luck!