All Forum Posts by: Jarrett Harris

@Ron J.

Are you flipping or doing maintenance for  Buy and Hold?

I think Condos can be a good investment. I tried to buy one around the corner from my house a couple months ago but someone beat me to it. Like with any piece of real-estate you have to make sure the numbers work when you account for all expenses, including the HOA. Yes there can be special assessments. It just depends on the Board that is running the HOA. I have lived in my townhome with an HOA for 9 years now. In that time there has only been 1 special assessment of $300 and that was due to record high snow fall and other owners not paying their assessment during the 08-09 down turn.

I am going through this right now. I am in the process of trying to purchase my second rental property. I submitted an all cash offer yesterday on a SFH because I know I have the financial backing of a family member. My realtor told me I still need to show POF now. I sent my 401K statement. I also have a prequalification letter from 2 banks.

I have a full time job and a 4 unit . I also submitted an offer today for a SFH. The first year I owned my rental it was WORK! In the first 90 days of ownership I think there was only 1 or 2 days I was not at the property. I live a hour away from my job. I communicate a lot with my tenants through texting. Whenever I need to schedule a repair or meet the exterminator I usually do it for 4 O'clock because I know if I leave my job at 3 I can meet the repair person/ technician and be there last appointment of the day. Tomorrow I am taking a half day vacation to ......

1.  Have my annual building inspection done by my municipality

2. Meet the gas man to read the meter

3. Have a technician fix the fire alarm

4. Meet the exterminator

5. Collect the coins out of the washer and dryer

6. vacuum the hallways.

It also helps to have a reliable handyman that can just go by and take care of things you just don't want to do or have the time to do.

Crap!!!!! How did I miss this? I could have made it!

This happen with my apartment building. Every month my personal water bill is pretty stable. (more in the summer with me washing the car and watering the grass) My 4 unit building is all over the place. As already suggested make sure none of the toilets run. You might want to replace all the toilet guts to be sure. You could also look into installing low flow shower heads faucet aeraters.

As long as it does not break your deal go ahead and suck it up. You will know for next time.

This has been the story of my life with my personal home for about 6 of the 9 years I have lived here. Sometimes you can send in the shortage amount right away (or even a portion amount) directly to your escrow account and them ask them to re analyze your account (Lowering your payment). Some mortgage companies does this right away and some only do it annually.  

How does the heating unit look? Gas forced air, Boiler, Oil burner??? What is the age and condition? Also are you assuming you will get a 30 year amortization on this commercial property?

@Brandon Turner

Would you be willing to share the steps of the renovation with us on the latest piece of property you bought? (Video clips, or pictures here and there, and cost projections)