All Forum Posts by: M Marie M.

My eyes roll when I hear "Great bones" because it can be a lie we tell ourselves. Maybe I'm just bitter from my own renovation of my circa 1874 home. You never know what kind of bones a place has until you've stripped that sucker down to the brick and the beams. If you gut it that's when you discover all the fun expensive stuff. Pray that you don't see asbestos anywhere. 

@Jerry Bruckenheimer is correct that the first step is figuring out the source of the water. Is it the roof, is it drainage, is it a high water table or was it from something inside (pipes, bad A/C)? Another thing with water damage, how long has it been going on? Has it rotted away part of the structure or weakened it in a spot that wasn't spotted before?

Your problem might be cash money. Wholesalers seem to want people who can buy property for cash, and buying with cash is a whole lot different than the way most homeowners buy houses. When I bought my primary it was probably an FHA loan (honestly don't remember) and the house needed to pass some sort of inspection because the seller's had to fix something, then there was trying to get the loan people to approve the loan in a timely manner, etc, etc.

The investment property in FL I bought with cash was a breeze, bought as is, had an inspector go through with my mom (I didn't lay eyes on the thing till after I bought it) so I'd know what needed fixing, hired an electrician (via Mom) and some other people, a month or 2 later, it was occupied. But I had the money sitting in a bank (savings + cash out from refi of primary) and could prove I could buy it without having to ask anyone for permission.

So.

You'll probably won't be buying your primary from a wholesaler unless you can borrow the money from another source. That source probably wouldn't be a regular lender. I don't know if hard money lender would work and their rates are quite high.

Since you're going to be owner occupier consider homepath.com Fannie Mae's thing. They seem to favor homeowners over investors. I haven't tried them myself but I see there are a couple of properties in the Federal Hill area on the map.

When I bought my primary I put less than 20% down. It might have been 10% at the most, but I think most of that was closing costs. So don't consider that a problem. When/if your home appreciates refi and make the PMI go bye-bye.

@Matt Lazas I don't think you're being an idiot, as long as you are careful, and as long as the numbers work. There is a reason retail is way more expensive than wholesale and you may need to learn a bit more before making the plunge. Do you have any handy skills (can you screw in a light bulb/ replace the light fixture)? If not, know you'll have to hire a guy and work with trades people. Buy @J Scott 's book find out about how much rehab gonna cost you. 

The area of which you speak is hot. Maybe stupid hot. When I say stupid hot I mean prices might be a little over-inflated based on future expectations. Don't pay for that. Don't pay for anything where the numbers (not just mortgage & taxes) don't work. 

Hi I'm noticing people are having trouble with my name because well it begins with one letter. I'd be happy to drop my 1st name to make it easy on folks, how would I do that?

Hi @Vincent Di salvo. 

Consider one option of house hacking. If you are interested in buy and holds in the future, dealing with prospective roommate-tenants is good experience and you get the training wheels of legally being able to be super picky (as an owner occupant). 

Yes, a lot of houses in the burbs don't have the duplex set up, but depending on the size of the property you might be able to carve out a semi-private unit as some friends did with their childhood home. The family lives on the top floor with 1 or 2 trusted tenants from church, and another tenant has her own space in the basement with her own bathroom and dorm fridge microwave set up. My husband for a time lived in a group house where he had the basement unit with the separate bath and a bar-kitchen.

So if you can't find a duplex consider having a "roommate". A roommate who you don't share a kitchen or bathroom with.

@Wendy Lavana is the city agency handling this also providing other wrap around services? Without those that's just trouble and the whomever is sponsoring the program didn't think things through. 

Regarding the neighborhood, one person with problems, does not bring down a whole neighborhood. Maybe a block, if they try really hard. Many nice neighborhoods have that 1 hoarder, and many nice families struggle with addicted family members in their house. We have a men's shelter in our neighborhood run by Catholic Charities that keeps a super-low profile, and it hasn't stopped the sale of near 1 million dollar houses. And the soup kitchen famous people like to go to to show "hey look I'm doing charity stuff" has only slowed down the ever increasing prices. 

Also how hard is it to evict someone if they do become a quality of life problem for your other tenants or start destroying stuff inside the unit or becomes a hoarder? In DC a similar program was talked about but DC is very, very tenant friendly/landlord hostile, so as far as I know it went nowhere fast.

A lot depends on the jurisdiction and their enforcement.

I removed a closet in one of the bedrooms of a two bedroom house. Told this to the tax assessor (hoping to get a break) but still taxed as a 2 bedroom house. When getting the house appraised the appraiser remarked about a basement office that if there were a window there, he'd say we had a 3 bedroom... 3 bedroom 1 closet house.

Ah, everyone thinks they are in a Wardman. That guy was like the early 20th century Toll Brothers. The listings I see in my neighborhood have incorrect info but most things sell over listing or very quickly or both regardless if they say it is in Bloomingdale (no, it's in Truxton Circle/Shaw) or they say it is a Wardman or the tricky "Wardman style". 

If I were looking for possible owners in DC to try to get them to sell I'd go with cross referencing DCRA's vacant property (the ones with the bright day-glo "VACANT" stickers on them) lists with the DC property tax database. Then if the tax database has the owner receiving the senior citizen's exemption rate, I'd check the Social Security Death Index. My great aunt (by marriage) has been paying the senior tax rate for about 3-4 years now, despite being dead. I have no idea if the house is occupied, I don't go to that part of town often.

 Be prepared if you are not allowed to show a video. One option is a whole bunch of photographs (hard copy and on a USB) with one sentence or two small sentences (ex. 2nd fl bath, west wall. Two inch gap."). Don't get too wordy. I don't know if you need a professional photographer, don't spend any more money on this (except for the money to redo this mess). You can illustrate uneven tiles with a straight ruler to provide context. 

Hi @Amber Huang have you run the numbers through a spreadsheet or something like BP's Rental Property calculator?

Right now I can't remember which BP book/blog post/podcast to point you to regarding how to analyze a deal, but beyond price and rent you have to factor in taxes, HOA fees, insurance, vacancy rates, and property management fees (even if you are planning to diy it). There is a section in the forums about analyzing deals, try there.