All Forum Posts by: Nicole Shipley

Thank you all for the information. She  ended up getting everything sorted out. Appreciate the comments. 

 My friend remodeled part of her condo in San Diego without pulling permits. She rehabbed the bathrooms and kitchen.  Now she is having neighbor issues and is trying to figure out how to get permits. How would she go about this?  Contact an inspector? How much will this cost? Will she have to un do work already completed? If anyone has experience with this I would love to know how you dealt with this. Thanks in advance. 

@Kendal Lamb has been organizing meetups. I'm hoping I can make the next one but, haven't actually participated yet. Exciting stuff that you and your wife are getting into REI! BiggerPockets is definitely a great resource.

Thanks @Tim Jacob all of that was very helpful. Your explanation was very clear! Appreciate it! 

Thanks again everyone for your responses. 

@AmandaMark  I think/hope it's just the hot water heater for this year. 

@Ozzy Sirimsi  good to know about Turnbridge and valid point that my cash flow isn't really cash flow at this point until I save up enough for my repairs. 

@Ola Dantis so true that I need to answer the standard real estate question of "what are my investment goals." Ultimately, I want to be financially free and have real estate as passive income as quickly as possible. First, I would like to be taking home $4,000 month in real estate income to feel comfortable going part time. I have thought about paying off the property as quickly as possible to have higher cash flow and I could pay off the property in the next 5 years or less. 

Even though managing the property would cut down on costs, I'm not interested in managing the property. I like that I have a PM to answer all the calls and deal with repairs. Plus, I'm not in MD that much, I am a travel nurse and have been taking contracts outside of the state for a while now.

@Miguel Del Mazo love that you brought up the sunken cost fallacy. Great way of thinking about this. 

If you would be willing Sharon, from an educational standpoint, I would love to see how you are doing your numbers on the properties outside of Towson. 

And I agree that some of the areas outside of Towson are good areas!! 

I guess I should have called it a “turn key with repairs budgeted.” Haha. I thought I could get tenants in quickly and start cash flowing.  I’m obviously still learning the lingo and the processes of real estate investing and this wasn’t a turn key property. 

@Julius Chinn this makes sense but, I haven’t heard this as a rule of thumb. 

@Daniel Suarez I am from MD and lived in Baltimore on and off for 4 years. 
 I bought because of cash flow and I thought the neighborhood was/is improving. The house is in what I would say is a C neighborhood but, very close to an A neighborhood (Towson). Houses in the neighborhood have been flipped and I thought that would bring up the value of my house. Also, new restaurants were moving into the area. To me signs of Improvement.  Schools are not great and crime is an issue. The house is right on the cusp of a crime ridden area but, that’s Baltimore. One street is Uber nice then you turn a corner and it’s terrible.  

As for repairs I kinda did/do have a list and a budget. Here’s the story on that...I knew when I purchased I would need a new roof in a few years, electric could be an issue because it is knob and tube, hot water heater could be a problem because it is 9 years old and the pipes going to out to the street are cast iron so if they burst I would be screwed.  Also, saw some water in the basement but, was told that was just when it poured. I budgeted for waterproofing the basement when I was running my numbers before purchase. Additionally I had about $10,000 in savings and have a means to making extra at my w2 job so I thought okay let’s purchase. I waterproofed before the first tenants.Then I had electrical issues right after purchase. The basement continued to leak even after I waterproofed and It actually ended up being a roof issue. So I had to replace the roof. I have already budgeted this year for a new hot water heater if that goes and still have some savings. 

I think what it comes down to is that I need to figure out what my goals are and how quickly I want to achieve them. Additionally, I need to figure out how much risk I want to take. 

Thank you all for your input and questions they have definitely helped.