All Forum Posts by: Jennifer H.

Hmm how do you guys do the @someone and it is linked?

@SteveBabiak

I think they are Vinyl windows maybe. You guys are right it's pretty dumb to get stressed out so easily over this. I am over it now. :) I called a bunch of contracting companies and they pretty much said it's a small job to fix a window leak. I shouldn't get freaked out and should welcome these bumps as learning experiences that will help me be more prepared for more serious stuff that might happen later on. I panicked because it's my 1st investment, just closed, thinking if it was a good move or not and beginning to have buyers remorse from panicking.

No one can come out to look at it till end of this week since it's Christmas so I decided to investigate myself took off the vinyl siding over the top of the window and see a slit above the window under the siding. (Picture below.)

That's probably where the water is getting in. It looks like a nail is poking out or something puffy under the house wrap This was a home built by Ryan homes. Unfortunately I hear they build houses super fast and a lot of them are not quality. It is a 2005 house so not even that old and its leaking. Don't know what could be poking out and cracking the window.

One guy suggested to just caulk that and then put aluminum flashing over the top of the window and that should fix it....but I know water is evil and can find their way through anything....do you guys think I should replace the window or do what the contractor suggested?

I just closed on my VERY FIRST investment property last week and got painters in there quickly to repaint the walls and trim. Today was the first big rain we had since we closed on the property and I noticed one of the window sills inside the house had a HUGE POOL of water!! :( INSIDE! The pool of water took up half of the window sill. It started on the outer edge and pooled all the way to the middle of the sill. I can't figure out where the water is coming from! I wiped it up and don't notice any water seeping back but also the rain let up a bit. I felt along the upper part of the window but it didn't seem to be wet just the bottom of the sill towards the wall.

I am guessing at this point it's too late to get any money back from the evil sellers right since I already closed? :( Shouldn't they have disclosed something like that to us before we bought the house?! How can someone NOT notice after 7 years of living in a house giant pools of water on the window sill every time it freaking rains. No wonder all the caulking along that window was horrible.

The worse part is, the window that is pooling was the window that had termite wings when the seller had the termite inspection. The seller did a termite treatment and we didn't see any visible signs of damage when we initially looked at the house and everyone said termites are very common. It also wasn't raining then when we looked at the house before closing. :( ARGHHhhhhhh so stressed. :( I'm afraid we might have to replace that whole entire window or wall! Have no idea how much something like that costs but that was not in the budget!

Has anyone else ever experienced leaking windows? Or problems that come up after you buy the house and you have buyers remorse?

Any advice is appreciated. :'(

ugh.

@Glen Love
I probably don't have as much tips as the seasoned people on here since i literally just closed on my house a week ago haha! But what I have learned is reading bigger pockets every night before I sleep has given me TONS of information. Also when you get a place and have people doing work for you, get at least 3 different quotes. The 1st quote you get you won't know if that's good or bad. The second one you can see okay, it's better or worse and get more questions answered. By the 3rd quote you would have already an idea of what they might charge and answers to most of what they are going to tell you. Then you can even negotiate to get the one you like to come down on the price since you have had other bids. :) Yes it's work calling around and finding 3 places to compare for everything you're getting done but that could save you hundreds of dollars. If we were lazy we would have paid 2,800 for a painter (1st painter) but we ended up going with a much cheaper one that fit our needs and could even do other stuff for us we needed done.

Hi everyone!

Just bought my first official investment property! Whooohooweeee! Closed on it and am looking for tenants now. From what I am reading December seems to be a crap month to rent and I should try to get someone to sign a 16 month lease so it ends of June or July. Feeling stressed during this whole process of choosing a good tenant in but I guess you will get use to it.

My strategy (at least this is what I'm thinking) is buy and hold forever till i retire. Right now starting with townhouses since it seems the least scary then moving on to single family homes when I feel more brave.

Before I found bigger pockets I felt so alone with my thousands of questions! SO glad I found this site. It really is like a goldmine! :) Hoping to make some good friends / find a good mentor from here.

Justin B. did you have problems with those types of tenants in the past? I guess we felt bad for him since he said his wife ran up his credit cards and he wasn't aware of it. And his income is 100+ so seems like he would be able to pay for rent.

What are your thoughts to renting to a tenant who went under Chapter 13 bankruptcy? Tenant that applied has a very low credit score of 545 and is under Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Credit check reported bankruptcy on 03/07/2013. It is now 12/16 and not sure of the risks to renting to someone like him.

Here are the other details:
- Told me up front that he had low credit due to his marital issues and he filed bankruptcy but is working that out. Is in middle of getting divorced from her now.
- He makes 100,000/year and I was able to see that in his paycheck stub. (rent is 1275)
- Has had same job for 6 years and I saw on paycheck stub a bankrupcy amount of around 300 being auto deducted each paycheck.
- 3 other mortgages showed up on his credit check and he said those are being rented out.
- He has 2 daughters that would live with him who in college in town.
- He says he is looking for inexpensive place to live and help pay for kids college and is able to provide me with 2months security deposit.
- Left bank account / checking information blank though on our application so dunno how much money he has in the bank.

We like him but are just scared to rent to him due to his bankruptcy and low credit score. Thoughts?