All Forum Posts by: Michael P.

Good points.  I feel like with every place I view this one big thing that stands out as a potential issue.  Everything is a risk in some way...just depends what it is.  In this case it seems like a calculated risk since I'm investing in an area where this is very common.

Thanks fellas, seems like a straightforward approach.  I'm less concerned about it being a major issue.  Thanks for the good info, very reassuring!  Looks like the duplex might be a solid move then.

Hey Guys,

So Pennsylvania is full of old houses so coming across lead paint and asbestos is not surprising. I just don't know how worried I should be about it. I understand that if not deteriorating and left undisturbed asbestos is not harmful. It's when it starts crumbling and falling apart that it becomes a hazard.

Well I'm looking to purchase a duplex that seems to be in nice condition and the siding looks average -- probably pretty old. My concern is let's say I buy it as is and 10 years later it's crumbling or a tree hits the side of the house and now I have this big hazard issue. Replacing all the siding sounds like it'll cost more than half the worth of the house.

My realtor is very knowledgeable and suggests simply covering over it with regular siding since the removal of asbestos is when it becomes a hazard. But simply covering deteriorating asbestos siding seems to me like it's not going to address the hazard. What are your experiences with this? Also they covered one side of the house with fake brick siding, looks ugly. Is that a bad sign?

If it wasn't for that I'd be all about the house. It's really almost a deal breaker in my mind, if it starts to go south it'll cost A LOT.  Or am I overreacting....I definitely want a safe environment for everyone.

No no no! The real problem I have with it is the social limitations it causes. If you rent to friends I guarantee you’ll feel inclined to do favors. Favors cost money. And next thing you know you’ve lost the respect of being a landlord and your friends come to expect these favors. Take that away and your relationships become sour. It is definitely not a hardship you want to take on, if you do choose to do it remain professional and stick to your contract. Make sure they understand your intentions are business oriented, your not in the favor giving business.

Well i finally got to view the place.  Walked inside and it was pretty smelly.  But to my surprise my allergies weren't heavily affected.  Looks like the owner let the place become a litter box, the floors are rotting away in some areas.  Luckily it's a 1 story, and about 1400 sq ft.  manageable i think for a first rental.  Flooring should be sitting on top of the slab foundation.  There's no carpet, hopefully it's not glued down.  Either way clean up should be a little easier considering.

When we demo I'll probably get a full face mask because that's probably when the allergens will really hit.  That said here's what our numbers look like, we think we're being conservative on the costs:

Age of House: 1987

Offer: 100k

ARV: 160K

Rent: 1350/month

Repairs: 35K (worst case - expecting less - hard to say since this is our first go around)

master bath needs fixed, guest bath just needs a good clean, flooring in the entire house needs replaced (guessed 10k alone for that), fresh coat of paint, tree trimming/removal as they're very close to the house

Appliances - original but seemingly alright shape, original hot water tank (OLD)

the good: brand new roof, brand new AC unit

When we did the numbers we worked in possibility of having a management company (10% of our rent), maintenance costs + vacancies (about 12% of our rent), with 20% down the numbers come out to be around 300 cash flow.  cash on cash was about 7-8%.  Sorry i have all the details at home, just writing it here to see what people generally think.  My thought was a cashflow above 300 would be decent especially since we've factored in management company and maintenance already.  So we can expect more depending on what happens.

Worst comes to worst we over spend on the budget, flip it and make very small margin or maybe even break even but i think we have a shot at making this work.  Hoping for a safe learning experience haha.  We will be having an inspector check out the core stuff just to make sure there's nothing way off. 

I actually just made a post like yours requesting help with this. Seems the house I’m looking at was infested with cats. I’m trying to find out how much work/cost to rehab the house. Anywhoo, best I can figure you’re going to need to clean clean and clean. If they marked the walls I’d think the smell will linger unless you replace the areas that were marked. Ozone won’t remove the source of the odor.

Hey everyone, I have an opportunity to buy an off market house that needs work. I have not gotten to see the place yet and I do have a showing set up for later this week. I’m trying to run my numbers before hand so I can have a good idea of what price I’d need to offer. Most of it seems fairly straightforward but the agent said the house is overrun with cats and that it smells horrible. she said they ruined the flooring. okay so the house is a one story, 3 bed 1.5 bath it’s in the south so no basement. That means flooring is sitting on the slab foundation. If assuming worst case what could a house overrun with cats cost me? Flooring needs replaced obviously but I’m afraid it’s going to be far worse than that. Would I need to rip the drywall off and replace? Would the framing be bad too? I’m also super allergic to cats so that’s fun, ill need to have someone do that part. Anyone wIth experiance? I want to rent this place, I would have zero tolerance for existing smells. It’s gotta be spotless. Thanks!!

Good morning, I’m going to see a house tonight that had a pipe burst. I was told there was damage to the flooring, sheet rock and walls. I wanted to bring a repairman with me just to give me a general quote, I’ve never quoted work like this before. I’m trying to get the house at a premium but I need to understand the cost associated with the problems. Does anyone know of a good repairman in the Houston area? Thanks!

So we've never owned a house. We're in a good position, have enough saved up. We're thinking about house hacking so we can get the first house as a primary and understand a bit about the process. We don't really know much, but it's getting to the point where I need to experience and move on something before I can better my strategy. Questions come up though, I had the spring area in my mind as that's where I've been renting myself. Great school district and low crime. But all the houses are mid 70's and older. (Pretty old for modern Houston) The areas I live didn't flood either so that's a major plus. But I'm concerned as the folks that live on my street don't really keep things top notch, the houses are clearly getting older not refurbished and the HOA is rather lenient. I hate HOAs but I do see the point to some extent. So my concern is, while these houses go for cheap (less than 200k) the neighborhood doesn't really show any signs of getting better. It's a great area, how can I tell if the area will likely improve in later years? Gives me a bad feeling the more I look around haha, it's not ghetto by any means but it's not necessarily promising either....somewhat of a gamble in my eyes. My basic plan of attack: I'd like to attempt house hacking initially, get a feel for owning a house, renting things out, and working it that way. Next logical step to me would be buy another house and rent out the previous and so on...unless I learn more about flipping or wholesale or...etc. So main question for now; how do you guys analyze an area and figure out if it's going to provide a safe place to invest?

The doctor won't know what or where the bites came from. Doctors are fairly clueless about lots of things surprisingly...at any rate, just do the inspection to find out what is there. I wouldn't take this lightly, if I were the tenant this would be rather stressful. Schedule something this week. If it's a bad enough case most places I've stayed in had a clause in the contract making me potentially liable for bed bugs since, yes, the tenant usually brings them. But who's to say, they can live in carpet, cleaning may not have been enough... If found maybe you could split the cost since neither of you believe the you brought them...