All Forum Posts by: M Marie M.

Hi @Erik E.. A form of house hacking my neighbors and friends have done in the District of Columbia and in PG Co are the following:

Roommate in the house: This is what I did for about a decade until I got married. I bought a two bedroom townhouse in a transitional neighborhood (Shaw) and rented out the larger bedroom to short term tenants. Why short term, because sometimes I wanted the house to myself. A neighbor, another single woman, also did this with her 3 bedroom, with longer term tenants, and later moved out to be with her SO, so now it is a group house with 3 different leases. I'm not sure how that works. My husband's former landlords in PG Co also have this sort of set up (sort of because there are so many people in and out the house). They have a 4 but then later 5 bedroom (added suite in the huge basement) house with their sons, pets, family friends, etc coming through. They rent to university students from their church, providing room and board and a family environment. They see it as a mission. There are others at his church who have similar set ups, where they have large homes and they rent out one or 3 of their extra rooms to fellow church members or people highly recommended by their own friends. Some other friends a couple, in town, have a large house and do Airbnb. It is big enough that the roommate or guest (they do long term stays of a month or more) has their own 2 room suite. With roommates, unlike tenants, you can be picky a decide girls only, vegans only, etc and it is really on you to screen the people who will be sharing your space.  At first I only rented to women, then I expanded to guys when I got comfortable sharing my home. But it helps to really spend time screening.

The Roommate in the Basement- This has happened when there aren't separate utilities and your townhouse has a basement with the separate entrance. The legality of it is questionable, but it has been done. Neighbors managed to sell their house with the roommate in the basement.

Tenant in the Basement- Usually a townhouse with an english basement. I think the rule is the basement must be at least 7 feet and have a front and rear exit. Had some friends who converted their basement and get college students and professionals as renters. I've got neighbors who bought their town house with the intention of renting the basement out for extra income.

My experience with the roommate situation was to learn how to deal with bounced checks, calling references (yes, I do call), dealing with inquires from people who apparently don't know how to read and figuring out what the market rate was in my neighborhood was, because it kept changing.

If you decide to start with having a roommate/boarder never, ever, ever, ever, ever (times infinity) rent to someone sight unseen.

@Manolo D. where @Kodie Altvater is looking in Canton, there aren't a lot of unattached SFH, if any. So townhouse/row houses are pretty much the only game in that neighborhood and those townhomes can go for something in the $300-$600K range. So the idea that townhomes are low end or mid range does not apply in this case.

Do you have J Scott's book "The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs" (ISBN 978-0-9889737-1-8)? If so have you read it cover to cover?

But to throw numbers around, I spent about $40K redoing the basement/cellar of my 1000 sq ft personal DC residence a few years ago, that included 3 french drains (2 turtledoves minus a partridge in a pear tree), but in that is a whole bunch of little stuff that adds up. That's the great thing about J Scott's book he writes about those little details so when you walk through, look at various things you can add up a general ball park number.

Thanks all. Yes I have no idea why they just can't restart it. The worst of it was I only found out about the heater in passing. It wasn't the first thing mentioned. It's not the 1st or 2nd time this tenant has failed to tell me something is broken.

And that's why I wouldn't want to get a tankless. I love the idea of them but I'm afraid with this couple they'll screw it up somehow. I think I'll just replace it with an electric one if the current one is actually broken.

Or do my renters need to stop being idiots?

I'm on water heater #2 and I swore that if anything else went wrong I was going to replace the gas water heater with an electric water heater.

Well I have just been informed that the gas water heater hasn't been working for several weeks. Mainly because the renters failed to pay the gas bill. And every time they fail to pay, the gas company turns off the gas, which turns off the hot water. When the gas get turned back on the water heater has problems. I don't know why, it's less than 3 years old, (because they abused the previous one by leaning crap against it).

So my question is an electric water heater idiot proof?

@J Scott thanks for pulling back the curtain and revealing the manufactured drama.

We don't have cable at home, but when we are staying somewhere with cable we binge watch the HGTV and add lots of snarky running commentary. The drama isn't necessary.

I don't know if going the television show route is the best use of your talents. An architect/designer friend, back in the day when the Discovery Channel (Silver Spring, MD) was making all sorts of make over shows, was working on a pilot and the show's producers kept trying to push the drama. My friend is calm, patient, very professional and pretty much anti-drama, he wasn't what the producers/handlers wanted. They wanted to make ant hills into mountains. It would be a second job of doing stupid stuff for the camera to help amp up the drama when really what I want (TV people must assume we're stupid) is to be informed and delighted by the transformation.

You have educated us here on BP, your website and with your book. Maybe try a youtube series of a mentor mentee training showing a journey to convince the television people that the audience aren't idiots who need a soap opera with hammers.

Has anyone forgotten the problem Mr. Trump's statements made about Mexican immigrants for restauranteur Jose Andres?

The Trump business is changing the Old Post Office Pavilion in DC into a hotel and the plan was to have Jose Andres, who has a bunch restaurants (+1 food truck) in DC to open another restaurant in the hotel. A commercial property thing?

Well Mr. Trump made his statements about the Mexican immigrants and activist put pressure on Andres to pull out of the deal to open some sort of restaurant. If I remember it correctly, Trump has sued Andres and then Andres counter sued.

This probably would not have been as much of a problem if Mr. Trump's name wasn't plastered in big honking letters in front of the building, regardless of the fact that it's the business that owns the Post Office Pavilion project.

Oh good lord no.

Nopity, nopity, nope.

Others have pointed out you could use that money on other things to get started, buying a cheap rental, a whole lotta postcards (wholesaling), books, getting your license, etc.

@Tanesha Mills how do you best learn? How did you learn what you're good at now? I learn best by doing after a little book or Youtube instruction. But not everyone learns the same way. 

If you do decide to go the mentoring and coaching route, find out what you're getting for your money. If someone says, "I'll be with you every step of the way." Find out what that means, will they actually be there in person, on the phone, and for how many hours? 

You may be better off with the wisdom of the crowd here on BP or at your local REIA, not just a single person's view.

@Chris Welch, it's a few blocks from Tuscawilla Park.

But, no. I know what I want, and what I don't want, and I don't want to spend any mental energy on how to do the owner finance dance. Not my niche. My niche is transitional urban / in town neighborhoods, not everyone wants to be bothered with those, fine. What's not my niche, owner-financing. 

@Account Closed, it's not a matter of fear but disinterest.

Well chatted with the tenant.

Buying the house is a vague in the future goal for them, because right now they are saving up for another vehicle. Ok, no rush, but now with the information @Jerry Padilla provided they know what to aim for. If I got it right, they need to prove 18 mos/2 years of income (that might be tricky, but now they know they need to do better record keeping), have 3.5% down, and a credit score of 600, something to work towards.

@Adrian Smude, what I think you suggested takes me in a direction that I simply want to avoid. I don't want to do any owner financing, if I don't start owner financing there won't be owner financing. I don't want to be bothered with owner financing, don't want to go near it, don't want to give it any mental energy, and would just rather avoid it. Looking for an investor just seem like more work than I care to be bothered with. This is Ocala, not Orlando. Even if it were Orlando or even Gainesville, I would just rather sell it to an investor who could do the owner financing or work something out with the tenant than risking even the slightest chance of getting stuck in a long term deal.