All Forum Posts by: Mike B.

@Mohammed A. You can ask if the title company has a lawyer to assist you. I just closed an off market purchase using no realtors. This was an AS IS sale that was pretty straight forward though. No liens, house was owned outright already, etc. I’ve heard there’s lawyers who will do all the documentation and stuff for a flat fee to you. Maybe worth it to look into

mold - if it';s a large area, spend the money to have a mold remediation expert do it correctly so there's no future issues

wiring - take it all out and re-do correctly.  Too much risk having faulty wiring in place.  If it were my place, I would bite the bullet and get it done

@Jesse Herndon that sounds like fun and an interesting idea. I'm sure your cost of living is less given you're in the RV, can be mobile (see the country, work remotely) etc. Definitely best time to do it is while kids are young I agree.

@Alyse Oz I would discuss with an attorney to be safe.  I had a friend who purchased a home directly from seller who owned the property.  Seller was asking $40K (retail value, as is, was worth $60K).  Then my friend (Buyer) found out there was unpaid taxes and water bill liens (for approx $20K).  Long story short buyer and seller went back and forth and my friend (buyer) negotiated price down to $30K and he paid off some liens and seller was responsible for the rest.  I'm unsure how deal was structured though (this was a few years back in SW philly; they used an attorney). Best of luck 

@John Hickey - I did IKEA kitchens in (3) rental properties.  No issues with all of them but also I glued and screwed the cabinets together to make them extra strong (wood glue/construction adhesive + trim head cabinet screws in key areas). 

Recently I've been using RTA cabinets because I found a place closer to me that has a very competitive price and for a few hundred more, cabinets are fully assembled ready to go, delivered inside to the kitchen build site; thus I've been using my RTA cabinet person more.

the extra 2amp batteries will be helpful when you're using your flashlight and radio at the same time with bigger drills etc.  Only buy quality tools; makes the job much easier.  Most of mine are dewalt.

@Richard Jahnle I do not, but I have had great success overall, using Liberty Mutual.  I've used them for several properties now without issue.  If you need a referral/contact PM me and I will send you my agents name.

I will also say that I buy properties and most of the time, I assume they have knob and tube, and I plan on doing the rehab.  During my purchase period I let my insurance agent know that there is knob and tube (esp if it's on inspection report) but that I will re-wire and correct those issues within 60 days of close.  That's usually good enough for them and I've sent them the electrical permit/signoff at the end showing everything was updated to code.  Moving forward (long term rentals) it's the smarter and SAFER thing to do (house re-wire).

near 50th/Baltimore area is growing a lot, but other then that I'm unsure.  I invest in 19145 area code instead and have had great success.

@Jimmy O'Connor... @Derrick Lumsden hit the nail right on the head! I've flipped properties and now I solely do flip-to-rent (BRRRR method). Why? Despite being very handy, I work a FT job, I have a family and other commitments, thus my time is extremely limited and I've found that for me, it's more lucrative (mostly in the long run) to do flip-to-rents (using the BRRRR method) on the side (and keeping my full time W2 job). If I had access to a lot more money, would I consider stopping my W2 job to flip properties and do some rentals? Absolutely. But it's "easier said then done" for sure. Thus, decided to continue with my BRRRR rental properties. I'm on #3 BRRRR project now (click here for writeup) in West Passyunk neighborhood of Philly. After this one I might take a break for a bit. 

I think that's what I like about the BRRRs as well.  I'm using OPM to purchase and rehab properties and when all is said and done, I can usually own the properties with a mortgage, none of my money tied into it, and I cashflow from each property.  I do all of this for the long term gain (increasing rents and thus cashflow, along with appreciation).

Hope this helps

-Mike-

Only other thought is if you have a few properties with different mortgages.. change them to one commercial lender, portfolio loan, to access your money easier