All Forum Posts by: Mark Nolan

I'm closing on another 2 family on October 5th in the Monument Square area of Charlestown in Boston MA.  Currently there is one oil tank supplying fuel to two oil furnaces and I'm looking to convert it to two separate natural gas furnaces.

There are already two separate gas meters running to the property, and each unit has a gas range and a gas water heater, so I believe the lines running to the property could handle two new high efficiency gas furnaces and tankless water heaters.

Anyone have a good contractor in the Boston area who you'd recommend to do the work?  I own a good deal of property in Boston and the Greater Boston area, but don't have an HVAC guy in my "go-to" contractors list.  Looking for someone reliable and affordable and I'd have plenty of projects for them in the future.

Thanks!

My name is Mark Nolan and I’m looking at some development options for one of my properties. I own a 2 family home at 91 Riverview road in Brighton Massachusetts on a sizable plot of land and was looking to explore the potential for development.

Realistically, I’m curious to know if the land would be a viable candidate to add a single family home or a townhouse connected to the existing building. If you think there is potential to build, I’d like to discuss next steps and get to work. I’ve attached a rough idea of the plot using the MA interactive property map. The area is currently zoned for single family homes.

Thanks for the consideration, let's build some houses.

-Mark Nolan

 Not entirely surprising, thanks for the quick response.  Will likely look at other ways of leveraging my cash.  Thanks!

Hi BP!

I own 3 multi-families in the greater Boston area (2 duplexes in Watertown, One Duplex in Brighton) and I'm looking to expand my portfolio.

There are several properties I've been looking at where I can afford the 20%, but the monthly numbers wouldn't make sense if I did.  For the numbers to work (for me), I need to put down closer to like 5-10%.

Are there any lenders out there doing conventional 30 year fixed loans for people like me with only 5-10% down on investment properties?  I'm not interested in moving and house hacking at this point in my life, so it would not be a primary residence.  My credit is around 800, I have excellent equity in my other properties, and I have a comfortable salary ($100k give or take).  The same can be said for my brother who invests with me.

If there simply aren't traditional lenders out there willing to do something like this, I'll look at other ways of spending my liquid cash, but this would be my first choice if possible.  Thanks BP!

I've used it as a negotiation advantage several times in the past.  The area I'm investing in has a LOT of buyers who are looking to flip multis as high end condos.  They want them vacant so they can get it, do a lipstick job, and flip for cash.  Most make offers contingent on vacant units, my offers are always "as is" in regards to the tenant situation.  Sellers will often take my cash as it's a much easier path for them.

I of course do my own due diligence, making sure that all the tenants are paid up, month to month, and don't pose any specific known problems.

Once I have the property, I give a notice to quit to tenants in the unit with the lowest rent in the building.  Once removed, I renovate the unit and rent it at market value.  Once it's bullet proofed and rented, I rinse and repeat with the second lowest rent until I'm done.  If the units are already nice, the tenants good, and the rents at market (they literally never are), I would just write up new leases and move forward.

Granted, ALL of the numbers have to make sense for this to work, and it's not going to work in every area, but I've found success with this approach.

I've googled a fair share, which is what led me to making this post in the first place.  I'm hoping some folks on here have:

- Filed their LLC taxes themselves.

- Done so on a Mac.

- Found the experience favorable.

Google definitely gets your foot in the door, but I prefer the responses here than those on the general web.  I'll take a peek at TaxAct, thanks for the rec.

Hi all!

Looking to file taxes for a small and simple member managed LLC (2 total members), and was looking for some advice. I use Macs exclusively, and nearly all of the big name tax softwares that I'm finding (TurboTax, H&R Block, etc) only have a windows version for business.

Not looking to run a virtual PC on my mac or anything, just something that people recommend that would run natively on my Mac.  

Thanks!

Yup, that's the deal in MA too.  Separate interest bearing account for each deposit, deposits can't exceed 1 month's rent.  

I think one of the very few things I don't like about being a landlord is having a billion extra accounts for security deposits, but laws are laws so what can you do?

If they're at $1,200 and the market is between $3-3,500 there is zero chance you're going to able to increase their rent anywhere remotely close to that and retain them.  Besides, inherited tenants often come with inherited headaches.

Serve them with the shortest notice to quit that you legally can (both by whatever is in their m2m lease and Ohio laws) to get them out as soon as possible.  Though it's tougher to rent in fall/winter, if the place is only renting between 25-50% of market, I'd be shocked if you couldn't do far better than what they're paying you now.  You can go m2m if you want and then play the student market the following year if you think you can do better.

Hi BP!

I acquired an absolutely beautiful 2 family in Brighton back in February, but I have a bit of a problem...

The house has exclusively electric heat.  There is zero gas or oil running to the building and each unit is heated by a series of individually controlled baseboard electric heaters.

Each unit is just under 1,200 square feet.  One large open concept kitchen/living room with two bedrooms.  Each unit has 200 amp service currently.  I'm thinking that I'd like the following per unit:

Ductless mini splits WITH heat pump

3 zones (living, bed 1, bed 2)

I could use some help in the process:

• Does this seem like a reasonable method of heating and cooling the units?  I'd like something that's relatively cost effective, so central air is likely out of the question.
• Does 3 zones make sense?
• Does anyone have a contractor in the Boston area who they have used and like for mini-splits?
• Anyone have a rough idea of an all-in cost (materials and labor)?

I'm handy and can do basic plumbing and electrical work, but this is well outside of my comfort zone.

Thanks!!!