All Forum Posts by: Michael Zack

@Kelly Iannone Apparently it wasn't a great job getting my first investment property. I thought it would be, based on the area and the rental rates, but the noise issue (which i couldn't have known about when I put in an offer) is putting a damper on things. My wife will never let me invest in another rental property again!

@Dennis M. Property taxes and insurance are baked into the monthly mortgage payment of $2700.

@Dennis M. @Thomas S. How is this not cash flowing? Am I calculating this wrong? The problem with selling now is that we would have to go back to renting. There isn't much inventory in the Boston area and everything is overpriced.

Income - $3,900

PITI - $2,700

CAPEX - $195

Vacancy - $312

Repairs - $195

Water/Sewer - $135

Cash Flow - $363

Property: Duplex - wife and I live in upstairs apartment, tenants renting downstairs apartment

Issue: Noise – we can hear the TV downstairs, the tenants talking, and the noise/vibration of them walking

Concerns: future tenants complaining about the noise & tenant retention (breaking leases early) in the future once we move out and rent both apartments, also concerned about noisier tenants moving in downstairs if the current tenants leave (they are relatively quiet tenants)

Details about the property:

• Located south of Boston (20 minute drive), 5 minute walk to a few restaurants and the commuter train into the city
• Purchase price in July 2017: $536k
• Updates: New roof ($7k), waterproof basement ($3k), tiling, painting, other cosmetic improvements
• PITI: $2,700
• Unit 1 Rent: $2,100, Unit 2 Rent Potential: $1,800

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Spend the money and have an acoustic engineer soundproof? Leave as is? Sell the property? What are my options here or am I just overthinking this as a new investor? Has anyone else had similar issues with rental properties? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

@Brandon Turner I'm house hacking a 2 family property 20 minutes south of Boston that is a 5 minute walk to the train station into the city. I spent 536k for the property in June 2017 and have invested roughly 15k (new roof, mini split for upstairs apartment, waterproofing basement, along with a few other smaller projects). I'm getting $2100 in rent from the downstairs apartment and believe I can get $1800 for the upstairs when we move out. PITI is $2700. Now here's my dilemma. Living in the upstairs unit, we can hear EVERYTHING in the downstairs apartment and can even feel the vibrations of their footsteps sometimes. I'm nervous that it will be tough to retain future tenants due to the noise issue. Do you think I should spend the money to soundproof the units, sell the house, or leave as is? The house is in a pretty good area and as a new investor this situation has given me quite a bit of stress. I would love to get your input!

@Bryan O. It’s an inconvenience because they work from home and the noise of getting things repaired is bothersome. They lived in Boston and moved outside the city to get away from all the construction noise. It would absolutely be a one time thing. It just seems like all of this is happening at once.

I’ve had tenants in the downstairs unit of my 2 family since July 1. Since then we’ve had to replace their dryer and dishwasher (older appliances that came with the house). Recently we had MassSave do an audit and insulation blown into the attic. One of the workers put a hole in the ceiling in the hallway and I just realized during a rainstorm last night that he punctured the roof. Now I’ll have to get a crew in to fix the damages and disrupt the tenants yet again. They pay on time every month and are quiet (noise travels freely in this house so a lot can be heard between the 2 units). I’d love for them to stay another year but I’m having my doubts. Thoughts on buying them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant in the area as an apology for the inconvenience of these issues?

Is there any way to soundproof between floors of a 2 family house without removing the floors upstairs or ceiling downstairs? Blown-in insulation?

I had MassSave do an audit and they said half of the house has minimal insulation. They'll do blow-in insulation in the attic on top of what is already in there as well as in the walls that need it for $800. Is it worth the money to have this done in my 2 family?

I just had it installed in my rental. Shoot me a pm with which companies gave you quotes and I can let you know which ones I got quotes from and how much they were.