All Forum Posts by: John Woodrich

First step - consider getting another realtor... This is definitely not a material issue if zoning permits you turning a SFH to a duplex. You can work around this one way or another. If your realtor was unsure they could have referred you to someone who knew the answer instead of trying to scare you about it being illegal.

If you have a city figured out you can call the postmaster and talk to them.  We have done this a couple of times but my wife handles it - believe in one case we talked to them beforehand and the 2nd time we simply added another mailbox to our new post without any issues (likely based on the first communication and the property in the same city).

Hi Chris - sent you an email with a referral 

Originally posted by @Rohit Kumar:

I recently came across a TISH for a Minneapolis duplex which listed this.

Looks like the ceiling height was too short for the bedroom.  Believe the link I posted also discusses ceiling height requirements. 

Here is a listing from Mpls' webpage, a bedroom must be 70 square feet: https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/business-services/licenses-permits/construction-permits-certificates/building-requirements/habitable-room-definitions/  

The definition doesn't list 7 feet but anything under 7 feet would probably be looked at as a closet by most people looking to live there.  

@Bill B. Taxes in certain areas are bad - specifically Hennepin county, lake front property, and non-homestead property.  If you combine all three you are bent over the coals.  Overall tax structure is one of the highest in the nation when you figure in high income tax, sales tax, and property tax.  In certain areas our property tax rivals that of states with no tax.

I don't know the direct impact on value vs rate but the insurance company who was insuring at a value of $1.4M was $7k per year, $750k value from another provider was over $5k per year, and $450k from a different provider was around $3k per year.  Business liability and other coverages were all very similar.  To some people $4k per year may be spit in the bucket but it was worth shopping around for us.

@Bill B. your townhome/condo rates are far lower than a SF/MF properties. I don't know much about HOAs as I don't invest in any properties with them but I believe your HOA covers insurance on the building structure and common areas. Believe you are largely insuring the guts of your unit and personal liability. Far cheaper than insuring the building itself.

Hi Heather,

I have run into this on a few occasions - I don't have anything under 4 units insured through them but NREIG will insure based on value.  Just make sure you understand how it works as I believe there are some issues if you insure significantly less than it is worth.  

@Tim Swierczek I had a property that was underinsured based on State Farm's value that was a total loss.  They decided the rebuild value when the policy was put in effect, I paid the premiums based on the amount (which was 4 times higher than my purchase price).  They only paid me the policy limit and said they may go ~$15k higher to account for cleanup/demo costs but that was after I paid them and built a new house.  Needless to say - when they wanted to have me pay insurance on a value of $800k for a property I purchased for $375k I was not excited to over-insure it and used another carrier.

• heat- how can I set guidelines for the lower tenants to keep it set at appropriate temp range (suggested ranges?) while also being conscious of the heating bill since I pay.
• -- In our experience they are going to set it to what they are comfortable with unless it is locked.  As Tim mentioned - check your local laws.  I wouldn't recommending being cheap on this.
• For uppers- in the past I have received calls about uppers being cold, I'd like to minimize those calls if possible
• --  Uppers in our buildings typically are too cold due to heat rising....  If they are cold you will have to add heating capacity or figure out if there is an issue with those zones.
  
• parking- I am reinforcing the one vehicle per unit and also want to stress the importance of this because if not the snow removal company may not be able to clear area
  
• --  You and the tenant have to follow the lease, if it is in your lease this will be fine.  We know who has what car as we get that information when we get a new tenant so I would recommend you do the same.  You will eventually run into an issue where a car isn't moved - they get plowed in.  Can't control everyone's sleeping/shopping/work schedule.
  
• Snow removal- they work on their own schedule due to their workload clearance times may vary throughout the season
  
• --  This is normal.  We have them text each tenant a half hour before stopping by.
  
• Garbage- each unit has a trash and recycle bin 8 total, have had issues in the past about overflow/ not taking out to curb on collection night/ and using other bins any other tips for addressing this?
  
• --  On 4+ unit properties we pay for garbage, get a bigger 4 yard container and add it into the lease.  We don't want our place to be the dump where garbage is stored outside and it doesn't look good with 10 cans out.  We have only had overfill issues upon move-in or move out and we clearly tell them they can't use it for disposal of furniture, etc.  We bill back any overage charges.
  
• Under 2 inch of Snow and Salting- with the company only coming out with over 2 inches how can I manage this with the building to suggest it is their responsibility for light snow removal and saltings, I can provide some shovels and salt.
  
• --  This is another thing that should be in your lease if you are trying to push it to the tenants.  You and the plow company chose a 2" trigger, it could be 1" and  most offer separate salt/shoveling services.  We typically leave salt and a shovel and compensate a tenant.  Ignoring anything under 2" is not enough in my opinion.
  
• Thanks BP I know its a lot and I may be over thinking it, but winter season is always stressful and I appreciate the feedback.
  
• --  Put yourself in their shoes to figure out most of these - what would you expect if you were living there?  
  
• Tags: Wisconsin Michigan Minnesota Illinois Kenosha Milwaukee Racine duplex triplex quads small multi's tenants landlord property management letter communication emails
• --  Nobody likes tags like this.  Plenty of active members to help out without pinging people with random keywords.
  

Timeline varies widely.  We had 1 tenant apply in July - haven't received payment yet.  Another applied in August and we received payment in October.  My brother had a tenant who applied when the program open and was finally paid in Nov.

Applied to paid in a month is very lucky.  There is little to no chance that you will collect payment without them going another month behind.