All Forum Posts by: Pat Needham

https://www.nj.com/politics/20... 

That article mentions:

Avail doesn't state that they accept cash or checks. Neither does Cozy / Apartments.com, TenantClound, or TurboTenant. However, RentRedi mention:

That has me leaning towards RentRedi as I'm preparing to list an apartment in the next few weeks. But I wanted to ask here to see whether any other similar services exist with that cash-or-check acceptance capability.

@Kenneth Gore I actually ended up doing an FHA streamline refinance at the beginning of the year, which reset the 12 month owner occupancy requirement but it dropped the monthly mortgage payments by ~$250. I did coincidentally speak with a potential mortgage broker within the past week and they confirmed the minimum down payment for another 2-family would be 15%.

Had I not done the refinance, I still wouldn't have had enough saved up for that down payment a few months ago given the price range I'm targeting, so everything turned out pretty well.

I bought and moved into a 2-family duplex about half a year ago now, with a FHA mortgage and 5% down payment. In the next 6-12 months I want to attempt the same thing, but of course with a conventional mortgage this time due to the restriction of having only 1 FHA loan at a time. A couple things I'm curious about:

Is there a general rule of thumb regarding the minimum down payment percentage? For example, before I chose the lender I went with earlier this year, I had discussions with a mortgage person from Chase who mentioned it would have to be 15% down payment after I told them I was looking for a 2 unit multi-family. Are there any lenders that allow 10% down payments for a conventional mortgage on a 2-unit house, and does the fact that I'd be keeping my current residence after moving into the new one affect that in any way?

And second, if I plan to convert the unit I'm currently living in into another rental after eventually moving out, would I still be able to keep the FHA mortgage despite the house no longer being owner-occupied?

@Joseph Ryan that sounds like a reasonable request from your tenant, I'd probably let him install it. The only thing I'd mention is for him to make sure the original doorbell still works upon move-out (in case he's putting the Ring in the same spot as the original one).

Neither of them expressed any privacy concerns but I did consider that as a possibility. I used to live in an old 30 or 40 unit building which had a few security cameras inside and outside the main entrance & in common areas like the basement laundry room. So if they expressed any concerns I would have explained that situation. And if that still wasn't reasonable I guess I would have went with a non-video doorbell.

My main goal is the convenience. Ultimately I want to add a smart lock as well & indoor security camera facing the door that gets activated / starts recording when a specific combo is entered (one that would only be used for USPS/Fedex/UPS deliveries - to mimic the functionalities of Amazon Key for in house deliveries (so a delivery person can drop off a package in the common area hallway and there would be a recording between the time he/she opened and closed the door). Of course that's more of a privacy concern than a video doorbell so I would have to thoroughly plan out safety precautions & demonstrate its effectiveness before even proposing it as a possibility.

Sorry I forgot to mention that part. So I added them as shared users and yes I was originally getting the notifications when their doorbell rang. Although I was able to change the settings in my app so I don't get those notifications anymore while they still do.

Whenever they decide to move out, I would just remove them from having access as shared users.

I ended up getting a pair of the Ring Video Doorbell 3 Pros, both are connected to my unit's WiFi currently. And I coincidentally just ordered a spare pack since one doesn't properly receive power from the wired connection and was running low after a couple months. The odd story behind that is my unit's Ring doorbell used to utilize the wired connection power just fine but the mechanical chime no longer in use was continuously creating this loud buzzing sound. So I tried following the steps in this YouTube video but ended up just keeping off one of the screws holding a wire there because when attempting to tighten it with the resistor attached to it, there were some sparks flying which I didn't want any part of. Successfully made the buzzing sound disappear but at the expense of the doorbell no longer receiving wired power!

@Account Closed thanks for the prompt response, and sorry I forgot to better describe the home setup. It's a shared front entrance door with 2nd floor unit's door up the stairs. The unfortunate inconvenience is that since the bottom doorbell is lit up, visitors or delivery people for the 1st floor unit assume that is their doorbell (when it's actually mine). Just like I'm getting false positive doorbell chimes now, I wouldn't want the opposite to happen where 1st floor tenants think someone knocking on the front door is for them if that's not the case.

Although I do like that (contrarian?) viewpoint for not having any doorbell, my preference is still to have a working doorbell for both units. Also found out during some research that the Ring chime can be set to snoozed / off, up to 12 hours.

Hi all,

I moved into a duplex recently (tenants in one unit and I'm in the other). One existing issue has been with the doorbells, where the bottom one rings the top unit and top doorbell rings the bottom unit, as well as one of the doorbells not being lit up.

I had an electrician over today to hopefully fix it so that so they're no longer reversed, but it has something to do with the wiring - long story short I'm considering getting more high-tech doorbells like Ring to replace them. I've never had doorbells like that before so I'm unsure how exactly it would work for a multi-family. For example, assuming it's possible for tenants to log into some Ring mobile app to see who rings their doorbell from a smartphone, what would I need to do the ensure if/whenever they eventually move out and new tenants are there, that the former tenants no longer have access to that specific doorbell? This section on "Controlling Ring Devices With Users and Roles" makes it seem like I can have an Owner role while giving tenants a Shared User role. But suppose I require their doorbell to be on their unit's WiFi connection - would it still be possible to set up those roles before it is WiFi connected? Because within 1-2 years I want to move somewhere else & convert my current unit into another rental.

The electrician gave two options when suggesting Ring - to have them either wired or wireless. I'm assuming the wired option will be a more expensive installation due to drilling being required (as the existing doorbell wires are messed up / reversed to begin with). Are there notable benefits to going with the wired option, besides not having to recharge the internal battery every X number of weeks or months? That to me isn't a downside as I would just get an extra battery pack (like this one Ring offers: https://shop.ring.com/products/quick-release-battery-pack?variant=56549464587).

Hi fellow BP members!

I'm considering buying a duplex mid-next year within the 400-500k price range to begin my house hacking journey. I'm aware of FHAs being 3.5% down payment compared to 5-20% for conventional, with the downside being a mortgage insurance premium requirement. Say I were to purchase a property for 500k (it will probably be less, I'm just using this as a round number easy for math), where FHA downpayment would be $17.5k compared to conventional anywhere between $25-100k. I have enough saved up for that lower FHA amount, but for conventional, by around April next year I'd only be able to cover roughly $40k after withdrawing from a non-retirement investment account.

Suppose I were able to find a 10% downpayment conventional mortgage where that 40k becomes the amount necessary, what are the typical decision-making factors for which to choose? The thing I'd like to optimize for is being able to purchase a triplex or 4-plex 2-3 years later in a nicer part of town. I'm not trying to be cash flow positive; my bigger goal is long-term wealth. Right now I'm paying $1500/month rent, so even if whatever I end up purchasing next year results in a few hundred monthly cost (if monthly rental income doesn't surpass mortgage + insurance + property taxes etc.), I'd still be very glad about eliminating over two thirds of my current comparable living expenses!

My main frustration over this FHA vs conventional mortgage decision is not knowing which would be best long-term given my aspirations of acquiring more property down the road. Because say I go with conventional next year, that's around $25k that can no longer be kept in index funds which could return 5% on average, but the benefit would be that I can then choose FHA couple years later on a more expensive property. Could anyone else who has gone through this type of decision making shed light on what factors became most relevant?

Thanks,

Pat