All Forum Posts by: Neil Quinn

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Neil Quinn:

Can I ask how much you paid for a sewer scope on top of a regular inspection?

 It's usually $300 or so. An absolute must for any home purchase. even on newer houses....

Thanks, sounds fair to me and def one of the things I'd add on!

For egress requirements in a basement where I might add egress windows, I want to understand a few things:

1. If a basement already has an external entrance + stairs to the main unit, that should be sufficient right?

2. If a basement has an external entrance + 2 rooms, would every room need an egress window? Or only rooms that aren't directly connected to an external door?

Basement has a very large 1000sqft layout that currently has no walls/doors separating rooms, so I'm deciding how I'd convert it to 2 bedrooms with the least amount of construction. The only bathroom is by the main entrance though, and laundry is where the large 12x20 room is unfortunately.

Below here for example I could possibly open up the storage space with a pass-through to the outside entrance (not sure if that would be sufficient). The large 12x20 room at the top right I could leave "connected" to the outside entrance by not adding a door between it and the recreation area. I'm not sure where the lines are drawn for where egress is required vs not required, but at $4000+ per install and limited space I'd obviously prefer not to use them where I can avoid it.

https://imgur.com/a/G99Jqkx

Can I ask how much you paid for a sewer scope on top of a regular inspection?

I'll def head to that Tysons one! I desperately need help house hacking guys - these prices and rates are killing me

Where did you end up Joseph? Honestly once these rates push up this week I'm not sure I can do 800k anymore unless the house hack is really effective. I'm really pushing my budget trying to afford things at this point.

You're right that most properties in Del Ray would only rent for around $3000-$3300 or so and might creep up over time, so my exit would require really counting on appreciation or rent growth over 5-7yrs. Would the SFHs in those other areas be able to rent for the full mortgage amount though? I'm not sure if that's true.

Main reason I didn't want to do Huntington/Falls Church is just because they are such a ways out and I'm still single so it would seem hard to do anything. I mean there is literally nothing in Huntington but the metro and like 3 stores.

Agree with strongly disliking condos, but I'm just running out of options because i'm an idiot and waited to buy. My mental health has gotten really bad these last 3-4 months while i've been looking and watching the rates skyrocket =/

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

Quote from @Neil Quinn:

What do you think the cheapest property in Takoma or Riggs Park area would go for that might command a $5k+ section 8 rate? Looks like they just have to be 5 beds, but not sure if a 3/4 bed could be converted to 5 bed like on your podcast with a starting budget of 700-800k for the home + some remodeling budget.

Could potentially be a short term living scenario and then move out to rent Sec 8, though i'm pretty sure Takoma Park will all be 900k+ at this point for something that size.

 You can get a property in Takoma for $700kish that you can add bedrooms to the basement in. Riggs Park, the section 8 rents are not that high.  Takoma is an incredibly small neighborhood though, so you need to really be aggressive when the property comes, because another one might not come for awhile. I helped @Kevin Leahy buy in Takoma a few months ago with a plan of implementing this strategy. 

Definitely is small but surprised you were seeing $700k-ish. I think when I was looking at listings in that area most were in the $850-$900k range (but down below in Brightwood a lot cheaper).

I'd actually love to be close to rock creek park and Takoma there for a play like that. The issue would probably be finding people that would want to rent a room from me short term while I lived there I think.

 Actually, I may be slightly confusing Shepherd Park which is just north - I was thinking of that as all one area.

What do you think the cheapest property in Takoma or Riggs Park area would go for that might command a $5k+ section 8 rate? Looks like they just have to be 5 beds, but not sure if a 3/4 bed could be converted to 5 bed like on your podcast with a starting budget of 700-800k for the home + some remodeling budget.

Could potentially be a short term living scenario and then move out to rent Sec 8, though i'm pretty sure Takoma Park will all be 900k+ at this point for something that size.

 Correct anywhere with rf1 zoning, usually Trinidad as mentioned petworth,Columbia heights and a weird stretch of fort totten. You could also look in moco and possibly pg and nova (not sure) about getting an adu. 

 I don't see rf1 as an option for dc zoning here? https://dcoz.dc.gov/page/summa...

Also adding that I don't mind the Takoma area. Heard on Russell's podcast that some areas that have particularly high section 8 payouts for 5beds, so potentially could have short-term roomies and then leave/rent it out section 8. Problem is that I'm probably priced out of that area for any home that big I think (and don't particularly want to live in brightwood)

Would be open to petworth/columbia heights (though probably priced out) - not sure that I'd want to end up in Trinidad.

I actually walked around Fort Totten and down through Brookland today to see how it felt. Fort Totten was pretty blah, but further south closer to Brookland might be OK if there is a really good duplex deal there.