All Forum Posts by: Neil Hohmann

Hi Matt -- thank you for sharing your experience and opinion. I'm a bit concerned regarding the sewer line since there are a couple of large trees in the front yard. 

Hello,

We're putting a contract on a single-family home in Kansas City and I'm wondering if many buy & hold investors believe it's worth spending the additional money to perform radon testing and a sewer scope. This is a 3bd/2ba, 1200 sqft house built in 1957. We're out-of-state (even out-of-country) investors.

We will have the house inspected thoroughly and will check for termites, which are apparently prevalent in the area. Have any of you done radon testing for a rental? Should we spend the additional $ on a sewer scope based on the year/type of property? 

Thank you in advance,

Neil

I reread your post and see now you stressed there's no alley. If you anticipate this being a big problem, you may want to pass on it (unless the numbers indicate otherwise).

I think you may have answered your own question. That said, does an alley actually exist behind the property? If so, is there a wall or fence blocking access? I think you need to provide more information to get answers. (I also had to look up the definition of a two-flat (which is a house in Chicago divided into individual apartments by floor).)

Thanks, everyone, I appreciate all of your responses. They're very helpful.

Great -- thank you for the lead, Antoine.

My wife and I are currently searching for a hard money lender in order to make a $650,00 cash offer on a fourplex in Denver. 

We have approximately $500,000 in equity in 3 rental properties ($300,000 in 2 condos in Denver & $200,000 in a SFR in D.C.). Great credit score (mid 800s) and a solid W2. We want to offer cash to make our offer stand out and allow for a fast closing. We're able to pull together the 25% down, but it may take a few weeks or a month for the processing of a HELOC, etc. We also have an additional $85,000 in Roth IRA contributions we can use.

Can anyone point us towards some leads? Anything we should consider before going forward? (Will it be hard to refi in a year?) This would be our first hard-money experience. Thank you in advance!

Hi Jehan,

I agree with others with regard to photos. Also, go horizontal (landscape orientation) with the photos as opposed to vertical (portrait orientation). It's almost disconcerting that you can't see an entire room, just a vertical slice of it. Also, in the second photo, what's on the floor (an art project?) and what's that cable running along the ceiling? Pick up the room and remove anything unusual.

Also, it should interest potential renters if you show photos of the kitchen and the master bedroom and bathroom. (The standard photos every buyer or renter wants to see.)

Finally, do you think many people are familiar with the term "mother/daughter" with respect to home layouts? Probably not, so using that term might just add to the uncertainty in their mind.

Caught a typo, too. I think you meant "clearing" snow -- not "cleaning" snow. And I would recommend changing the ad to "Non-smokers only. No dogs." Running the two together almost implies you don't want dogs or non-smokers.

Hope that helps.