All Forum Posts by: Michael Paling

It’s always interesting to think how we’re our own biggest obstacle. After buying my first house hack duplex this year, I’ve realized that I could have easily purchased several years earlier with how much I still have in reserves. I just never flipped the switch in my head that said “it’s time to buy.” When I found a local meetup, being around those people is what helped me flip that switch. 

Quote from @Jaron Walling:

We're fans of the eastside of Lake Michigan. Not a lot of people talk about the cities and towns over there. Demand is probably less but so are the prices. Holland, Muskegon, Shelby, Silver Lake, and Pent Water are all beautiful in the summer. Never been in the winter. You'll want northern Michigan for all the skiing and snowboarding demand. Boyne Highlands is amazing. Demand is probably higher. 

Get off the beaten path. There's all kinds of light houses and outdoor recreation including ATV parks, sand dune tours, hiking, bicycling trails, and popular disc golf courses. 

I lived in Pentwater for a couple years and it's the exact opposite of the summer in terms of activity. During the summer, it's insanely busy. During the winter, you can probably count the number of people in town on two hands. It's a gorgeous area and I loved it there, but it's heavy seasonal tourism. It would probably be a situation where you better make enough money in the summer to cover the rest of the year, but I know very little about STR, so I'm just speculating. 

Hey @Renata Sakhnovsky, I’d probably agree with @Derek Larson on this one. I live in Gwinn (technically out in KI Sawyer), and it’s probably possible, but you might have better luck elsewhere that’s closer to something. It’s a bit of a drive to most places for being in Gwinn, unless you’re trying to cater to snowmobilers in the winter (there’s a major snowmobile trail just north of Gwinn), hunters in the fall, and possibly lake people like Derek said. 
As for other areas, Marquette city has a 3+ year long waiting list for getting a STR license, so get your name on the list now if you'd ever like to try Marquette in the future. I'm hearing Munising is pretty good for STR's and the city is friendly in terms of laws.
I’m happy to chat more if needed. 

Hey all, 

Welcome to those that just joined! you're in the right spot. I've been lurking around BP for the past year and finally bought my first property (house hacking a duplex) last June. Without BP, I would not have found a local REI group to bounce ideas off of here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Just being around other investors made me feel like I was going somewhere and gave me the drive to take action. I've already started hunting for my second property.

Quote from @Account Closed:

@Michael Paling thanks so great that your tenant took care of inspection and notified you. How was your experience so far? Are you using PM for your property or taking care it by yourself?

it's only been 3 months, so not much to go off of, but everything's going pretty smoothly. I'm living in the other half of the duplex, so I'm managing it by myself. It's a building that has some delayed maintenance, so I'm updating my side while I'm here and will plan to update the other side if that tenant decides to move out. 

Quote from @Account Closed:

@Michael Paling thank you for your response. I will definitely need to reach out to the HA agent for my section 8 unit. How was your inspection? It seems it really depends the location and agent. Sometimes it can be really picky or so smooth. Thanks again!

I didn’t even realize that my inspection occurred. My tenant just told me that the HA was requesting a CO detector to be added and I asked when they were planning to do the inspection and she told me “it happened last week.”  

Hey @Account Closed, I'd find out who the local Housing Agent is for your section 8 tenant and chat with them about these questions. If you don't know who that is, your tenant probably does and could give you the contact info. 

1. There will need to be some forms for the ownership change and hopefully the previous owner notified the HA of the sale. When I bought my property with a section 8 tenant last June, the seller didn't notify the HA at all and didn't seem to communicate with them at all. Thankfully, I called the HA just after getting under contract and they were very greatful, put a freeze on payments, and then worked to get things squared away. It took about 2 months before I was paid, but I received all back payments and there was no problems when I raised rents by almost $300. These couple months just required patience and  frequent check-in's by email, but that's been the worst so far (which isn't bad). 

2. As for the condition of the building, if there's any repairs that the section 8 HA would require, they'd let you know and they'd probably stop payments until it was fixed. So long as you have your contract with the HA, I don't think you'll see your rents decrease. I could be wrong on this, so don't take my word. 

3. I don't know your market, but this question is a personal preference. You'll find haters and lovers of section 8 everywhere. When I first mentioned I was inheriting a seciton 8 tenant to my local REI group, they all groaned. I deal with government stuff in my W2 job, so the seciton 8 stuff has acctually been pretty easy for me and my tenents are great so far, I'm in favor of it. If the consistent timely rent is worth it to you, then seciton 8 can be good.

Hey all,

I'm just starting off my REI journey by househacking a duplex. The 2nd unit is rented out and now I'm trying to rent out one room on my side of the building. I've had someone with an emotional support animal (a dog) express interest and I know if this was a seperate rental, I can't deny them based on the ESA. However, since this is a room in my own house AND I have a cat, would that allow me to say an emotional support dog would be an "unreasonable request"? I've advertised as "no dogs" because of my cat.

I know that fair housing laws shouldn't apply in this sittuation, but I thought I'd see what others had to say. 

@Jeremy Schappert, I just wanted to say that I wish I'd found this forum post a long time ago. I just bought my first property this summer and the biggest thing I couldn't understand with shopping for loans was essentially when in the process to do it. Everyone always said to shop about 1 month before you'd make offers, but that never made sense because rates will change in that 1 month or more. 

I asked my realtor about this and she mentioned that it doesn't really matter who the pre-approval letter comes from because you can change lenders. but then after we got under contract, I asked her if I should contact a couple other lenders for shopping and she advised not changing lenders at that point. But it seems to me that that's what I should have done and I just have to do this within the first couple days after getting under contract. 

Hey Cassie, where are you looking? I saw your other post about investing around Houghton. I've got some friends that might be able to help, but they just moved to Gaylord in the Northern Lower. Both of them went to Michigan Tech and one is a consulting forester, so I think they'd be very familiar with that area.