All Forum Posts by: Andy Luick

Foundation issues from settling are pretty common in TX.  Every deal is different.  You're already under contract and, I would think, have signed off on the repair amendment.  You can always ask for more and risk losing your earnest money if you walk away when the seller says no.  As with many of us, we've walked away from deals only to have them return to us later.  You will see a lot of threads like that on BP.

Is this a tear-off or an overlay?  Adding a continuous ridge vent won't add a ton to the job, depending on the size of the house.  You could just ask the roofing contractor what the cost would be to include one...it's probably $300 to $500.  Ventilation is key...not only in naturally cooling you home but, without it, your shingles will age prematurely.  Same with having adequate soffit vents.  Your house needs to breath in a sense and, when it doesn't, you get mold, dry rot and premature aging of systems.

The risk you have here with asking more is that the seller is probably already spending a ton to just get it sold.  Ask but be prepared to just cover it yourself.  Luck!

Orlando is a great market and it's tough to find affordable housing there.....we have folks trying to get us to do myrentedroom there.  Good luck with it!!

There's an earlier post chatting about it in atlanta.  I'm not sure I would go that route but your location will handle it.  I'm not sure what you have but happy to chat about it....

@Alex Franks- you probably just completely overwhelmed them with that volume for that store.  It's still all in the relationship. In atlanta, we've been with the manager at Lowes, in one form or another, for close to 20 years.  It's the personal relationship that helps us.  We used to run 140 guys and were atlanta's largest home repair group for quite a few years.  At that level of volume, we were usually the #1 or #2 customer at the stores we used.  I don't ever wish to be the big again.  We're nowhere near that level today and just running a dozen guys but we still get the same great level of service....really from both HD & Lowes...but that personal relationship with the Lowes folks has always been the key for us.  If you know you're going to be doing another large project, you can probably get them the materials list well in advance and have the orders pre-scheduled....just a thought.

Simply stop the stressing.  Don't over prep for the test.  Running through the practice test is great.  Take your time on the test....if you catch a question you are unsure of...move onto the next question and double back for the harder ones.  It's probably a computer exam now so I'm not sure if you can double back.  If you can't, with multiple choice, you always eliminate a couple of answers right off the bat.  At that point, you're narrowing the odds.  With all of the prep you are doing....you will pass it just fine this time!  so no worries.

Probably - for a new landlord - The no-nonsense landlord - by Richard H. Jorgensen I think the 1st editon is 1988 and he followed with a revised in 1994.  Great primer for starters and experienced alike.  

I don't think you will find anything in your area that you would qualify for but hit Craigslist and start networking with others.  I would cruise through some areas with duplex, triplex and quads and start searching for an older, private owner that might be willing to hold paper for you.  You have the experience and it's in your blood so someone will likely be willing to take a chance on you.  Most of what I saw in your area was $190k to over $500k so you won't qualify for a loan on these anyway.  You can check into a 203k loan and find something that's run down....but, again, you'd likely have to move to another area to do it.  A private deal is probably your best bet. netowrk...network....network!

Not really - just look at some of their typical deals and run the numbers....we have several mega "wholesalers" in our market and they approach us all of the time. The ARVs and comps they often use are for completely different houses or different markets entirely. You don't have to "ingratiate" yourself with anyone....if you've got cash to burn...they want you! Don't rely on their rehab bids or the comps.....do your own due diligence and don't fall for the "have to have your answer tomorrow" nonsense. If the deal goes to someone else...who cares....there will be others! I have no idea where Spring TX is but find a local REI and network...or hit Craigslist to find tons of wholesalers. Almost everyone out here seems to be a wholesaler.

When you get to a deal, try to use your own attorney....form a relationship with a good investor real estate attorney...I use several in atlanta....and escrow your funds there.  Let us know how it goes!  You'll find lots of good and not so good advice here on BP - you just have to sort through it.  Start by networking with others in your immediate area....happy to help if I can!

Airbnb will probably continue to work well for vacation rentals although more seem to prefer VRBO.  The problem you will see with short term rentals is that some areas are now enforcing or putting new laws on the books to restrict rental turnover to no more than 2 turns a year.  We've heard more talk of this lately.  I only do shared housing and we've gotten further & avoided problems by just being good neighbors.  

If you try to do Airbnb in the suburbs, you're going to have trouble. We have a shared housing home in a $400k neighborhood and have run it for 2 years now without any trouble. Someone else did an Airbnb rental and got an instant cease & desist from the HOA and the community manager. If you do it, you have to very closely screen your users and the amount of traffic. This partiucular home did a thanksgiving rental and the tenants had a dozen people there, with cars everywhere, music and folks outside smoking in the driveway. That was the end of that. Like everything else, you have to be a good neighbor and most folks will work with you. If you in a city environment, it's so busy as long as your renters are quiet....most won't even notice.

In the city of atlanta you have to be very careful not to be running an unlicensed rooming house.  All of our renters sign long term, 6-month leases and we have minimal turn-over...our average stay is now 18 months.  I would suspect that most major cities address short term, rooming houses in some form or fashion.

I think it's all in your strategy and what you do with the property.  We use a 10 cap on everything we are buying....but it's our use that gets us there.  If you take a multi-fam and turn it into shared housing, you max income and minimize vacancy.  The higher rents will allow you to fix the places up to your standards.  All we do today is multi-family and are now hunting smaller apartments in metro atlanta for that same purpose.  Most everything we see has deferred maintenance and it's really the mindset of most investors to just suck the property for max income. We have really nice units in higher end properties and lower end stuff.....our lower end stuff is more profitable.  

Most owners we buy from have rarely if ever, walked the property on a regular basis....doing so would catch a ton of repairs while they were still cheap.  We walk ours every quarter to catch the little stuff.