All Forum Posts by: Chan K.

Hello BPer,

There is a vacant land adjacent to one of my properties. Apparently, the a builder who is responsible for building the new property on this vacant land gave a hand out to tenants to move their car. They are also advising them that the land will be blocked and cap off.

To be honest, I don't really know where my land ends. So is it something that I should contact the city to have them mark or show me with a small fee? OR I have to call a civil engineer company to do this kind of marking and measurement.

I called the city assessor office today, but they turned me away. The office lady that works at the assessor office sounds so confuse, lol.

@Filipe Pereira ideally you can do that, but need to make sure that the inspector is on board with it. Then I have to do all the season paint, because he might come back next year and look up and oh that looks like it is rotten. If all he is doing now, look up, and said that is a stain.. something is leaky.. replace it. The point is that the porch is not an amenity, and I don't need to offer it. I also don't consider it a living space. Like @Karen Rittenhouse said, they have all the control ...

Regardless, it is a lot of work. It does not make financial sense annually forcing by this inspection.

@Karen Rittenhouse I completely agree. I am trying to drop them slowly. Some I inherited when I purchased the building, and some I picked up when I was a bit younger with being inexperience landlord.

Also, yes, don't buy the idea that section 8 is stable, and rent is always coming into the bank account. I had a situation where suddenly housing authority pulled the voucher from section 8 tenant due to whatever reason who knew, and I got stuck with a big section 8 tenant eviction due to non-payment of rent. Housing authority only gave me 30 days notice about the discontinuity of their tenant. Then I was stuck with someone who did not work/have a job, big family, .. etc

So far, I really like normal tenant better. I never forced to fix things annually. As long as I screen everyone good, and have a good face-face interviewing, then I always end up with good paying tenant .. for now at least - knock on wood.

My prior section 8 inspector was more like human and down to earth. Usually, if I am confuse about the report, he would explain it to me. If the failure is too big, he would recommend doing some minimal to pass the re-inspection. 

Now they brought in this new inspection company, and the people are cold and rude. I don't know if I want to work with them, the inspection company anymore. They sent the report to the wrong address. When I confronted them, they told me that what they have in file .. strange. When I asked for an extension, they told me that I have to request it from housing authority. Then, housing authority has to send them an approval form. 

Then when I asked them if I can speak with the inspector who inspected the unit to clarify sentences/words in the report, then they told me they have to submit paperwork to request me to speak with the inspector .... WTH

Usually, I tried to fix the issue as much as possible. I think I am gonna be hard on them. I will be happy if I told them I won't fix anything .. and housing authority pulls their tenant out... it might work better for me.

@Rich N. No they want to replace the vinyl porch ceiling .. which is ridiculous - it is a big long sheet that stacks over each other. No way you can replace it just a small piece. You have to tear everything down and get to that piece. It is the worse request, because it is outside and not enclose. The water/snow will continue to come in even after I replace it, then what ... he will continue to repeat the same request next year ... so bad

There are 5 failures. I told them I will fix 4, but the one outside porch does not make sense. Will see what their response is...

I told them I don't offer my porch as an amenity during the lease, so that is a seal space.

@Matt Leonard thank you for pointing out about the cook book ... lol. Tell you a story.. so in MA, if you give notice to tenant to vacant, immediately the tenant would go to the board of health ---- board of health even told me straight up during my call that they use this trick for years. By law, we have to fix all the issues reported by the board of health before the eviction can be proceed. For the board of health, even if you show them a brand new construction, they will write up 10-20 issues with the building out of thin air, lol. One requirement that struck me the most at the time was I am not allowed to lock my basement, because residents need access to the basement. I drill down and asked for the requirement. The board of health gave me this clause that has no correlation to such request.... they pulled something up and said that this is how we interpret it and disregard how you interpret it... we will go by how we interpret it... so leave your basement door unlock. 

@Rich N. thank you for getting back. I can definitely paint the stain, but when the water are coming into the porch again, he will experience the same observation. 

This unit is on the 2nd fl, there is another floor above it. If you stand on the porch and look up, there is a vinyl ceiling. I don't know why this building has a vinyl type ceiling that sits in an un-enclosed porch. It is expected that water/snow are coming in, in which would make it look like a leaky stain --- exactly what he is reporting. He wants me to replace that vinyl ceiling, in which is a big sheet attached to the overhead ceiling outside. 

Hello Everyone,

I have a section 8 questions for the veteran. Apparently, the housing authority in my market (the MA / Massachusetts area) changed the section 8 inspector which based in TN somewhere. The new company seems a bit dry and rude.

In any case, according to the report, I have 5 failures. I think I am willing to repair 4 failures which make sense, but I would like to question and object to 1 failure. This 1 failure seems like a big renovation and required me to hire a contractor to work on the porch ?? (still need clarification). I called them and trying to clarify on the request, but the guy on the phone told me that he has to submit a form and send to the inspector just to have him call me back.. wow.. it is so bad. The prior/old company uses to just nicely go over what need to be fixed in a professional manner. So the failure mentioned that there are water coming to the porch and seem like a leak .. for god sake, it is just a porch and not enclosed, so water/snow are expected to come in. The tenant uses it for storage and I told them to stop using the porch. My rent was no longer offering this as part of the living space.

So my question is what would happen if I they still required me to do the major renovation, and I don't have the resource to do it or it does not make sense? will the tenant vacant or I evict them or the housing authority can still hold me/unit hostage somehow?

Usually, I fixed all the issues in the report in the past for all section 8 tenants. I don't really like this new company, and things that they ask seem unreasonable.

Thanks ahead.

@Todd Dexheimer I agree, it is a better option for buy/hold investor.

@Upen Patel I worked with a residential portfolio lender in the past, but he offered me 25 years balloon with 5 years ARM. I think 30 fixed would make my cash flow looks really good. I was just happy with his offer at the time for the 20% down, 5 years ARM, 25 balloon.

There is a Fannie Mae small multi loan between 1M-8M that was mentioned during the podcast with 20% down and 30 years fixed. The down payment alone is $200k for 1M purchase, so need to team up. 

In general, the market has been extremely too hot... I don't know .. the cycle is here. There might be a correction or bubble coming around soon... anybody see any foreclosure chart ??

@Frantz Joseph FYI: I just sent you a message. Hope you received now ....

@Upen Patel Thank you for the feedback. Would you be able to give some references on the portfolio lenders that will consider the 85% LTV? I guess the portfolio lenders might not offer the best term either compared with the 70% LTV @ 30 years fixed, but it is good to have option for other alternative situation.

@everyone that voted for me - thank you

@Raul R. feel free to check in with @Frantz Joseph, look like you are around his area. If you look at his response, you will find two references. I did a quick search on them, and they look pretty good. I think the questions are: what type of buy/hold investment are you looking to do HELOC on .. single family, multi-family under your name, multi-family (4+) in an LLC, they will have slightly different guideline and offer. You also need to have equity in your investment to begin the conversation about HELOC/2nd mortgage/refinance cash out .. etc. For the safe bet, I think a lot of banks you found on google will provide secured HELOC with at least 70% LTV. Single primary resident will have the highest LTV... high LTV and high appraisal will provide you with most money out .. assuming your credit and cash flow can sustain the ongoing re-payment.

@Antoine Martel I came to a conclusion to refinance too. The HELOC is not a fit for buy/hold investor. It might be good for a flipper. I have been working with a mortgage broker now, in progress. He worked with me in the past, 70% LTV.

@Khemaro N. Let catch up some coffee sometime. If our goal is aligning, we might be able to speed up the financial freedom and get out of the rat race early, lol... Fannie Mae has a good term for 1M-8M. It is too difficult to grind it out alone both from a capital and physical perspective. Your name sounds like you are a cambodian??