All Forum Posts by: Paul B.

Thank you everyone for the advice!

John, as Matt suggested, the sidewalk that was modified is indeed owned by the city, but we did pull a permit to modify it. Cosmetically it looks really good and does match the rest of the sidewalk, and neighbors have come by and complimented the driveway and sidewalk and thanked me for my work on this house which used to be one of the ugliest in the neighborhood. It's more the legal aspect that I'm worried about. 

Wayne, I'm going to look through the ordinances in my area and see if it says anything about sidewalk modifications.  That's a good idea.  

Hi everyone, I recently had a stamped concrete driveway installed at one of my rental properties.  The renovation included repairs of the sidewalk that connects to the driveway, as it was ugly and in disrepair.  

My contractor who installed the driveway had extra material leftover from the main portion of the driveway.  In trying to something helpful, he create a nice, textured, sidewalk-colored stamped concrete pattern where the old sidewalk had been, instead of replacing it with bare concrete. Unfortunately he did this while I was at work.  

The issue is this:  The stamped concrete is textured and sealed with a slip resistant sealer in order to avoid slip hazards; however, it is still slippery when compared to the bare concrete on the rest of the sidewalk, especially when it rains.  

Am I at risk of being sued by someone who walks along the sidewalk and then slips on the stamped concrete sidewalk?  Would it be the smartest move to just demolish the stamped concrete section, and put in bare concrete, rather than risk an expensive lawsuit?

Thanks for any insight or tips anyone can provide; this has been a very tough issue to find any information on.  

Hi Peter,

I had a similar situation recently, and I had my lease written up such that the "quality" tenant was responsible for the full lease amount regardless of what the other tenant was able to pay. He was responsible for getting the other portion of the rent from the other tenant himself. It worked out fine.

However, not paying rent is a pretty big red flag in my opinion. If there is an explanation for the unpaid rent such as a recent layoff, that might be more understandable. I think you are justified in requesting an explanation.

Keep in mind that the "ok" rating from the previous landlord could really be, "This might turn out ok for you, but it sure didn't for me. Please just take him so I don't have to deal with him."  

I have a coworker who has bought two investment properties he found on craigslist and swears there are deals to be had, although he buys in more depressed areas that I personally would be very reluctant to get into.

Don't know anyone who's used an ebay auction though. I've seen a lot of "too good to be true deals" on there and it just has a suspicious vibe to it.  Also I believe the vacant land offers are sometimes a scam or located on unbuildable land.  

Curious to hear what others have to say on this...

 Great tip, Sydney!  Thanks, I'm reading all about the industry now

Amazing. This gives me a bunch of other topics to educate myself on. Coincidentally I have a friend who has been asking me if I was interested in investing in a small medical housing/commerical office center with him. As an engineer I don't have a background in a lot of this stuff, so it's great to learn.

I'm going to check out that book as well. Thanks Trevor!

Hi Everyone,

This is my first BP post, although I've been a longtime reader and listener to the podcast. After a pretty rough start to my investing career (which probably could have been avoided if I had known about BP), I now own a couple of condos, a house and a guest house all as long term rental properties that are cash flowing positively.   

One question that I've wondered about for a while that I've only been able to get limited information on, is what type of REAL ESTATE assets tend to perform best during a downturn?  As in, not only do they lose minimal value, but ideally they continue to rent and cash flow decently even when downturns do occur?  I'm of the belief that one is overdue in my area, so I would like at the very least like for my next investment to be of a safer variety if this does occur.  

For example, my agent I worked with on my last home purchase was telling me about some very small condos (~400 sqft) in a built-up area near me that tend to do very well during economic downturns, as they simply don't have any competition in their price range.  In one case, they actually increased in value during a recession.  I'm wondering if there are some other types of real estate assets with similar recession protection that I'm not thinking of.  

Thanks in advance for anyone who has good tips or resources that I missed that I could take a look at!