All Forum Posts by: Ben Skove

Depends on your area. Low income renters can have a hard time finding and tying up 2x deposit.

If they go into the last month with the intention of not paying, you should post & file for UD without delay. If you're fortunate enough to live in a jurisdiction that moves quickly, you can get it the whole thing done before the month's over. That's sometimes enough of a threat to get your rent.

If they don't take it seriously - accompany the 3 day with a note explaining how the consequences will follow them for a long time to come. A quick google will find some good sample letters.

I do W/D hookups. In my C class neighborhood, though, I have been thinking of making different rent packages for including washers, dryers, and the like.

After watching the Rent-A-Ripoff truck unload at my SFR, I figure I can provide decent W/Ds for those who need them, make a small profit, and steer people away from exploitative companies.

Walking through a vacant house today in which the squatters had kinda-sorta-mostly moved out, I looked down at the kitchen floor and saw a dozen bullets scattered around. Evidently the "Do Not Enter" sign with "We will shoot" written beneath it wasn't a bluff. If my guy from the neighborhood hadn't told me they were out and knew I was coming, it would have been interesting.

The way that I know that RE is starting to become ingrained is that the long-term leak around the chimney in the room bothered me much more.

Even better is when there are multiple layers of wallpaper, sandwiched with paint - which does a good job of keeping the wetting from dissolving the paste.

My solution for one truly FUBAR wallpaper disaster wall was to put heavy duty wall liner paper up. It actually looked decent when it was finished. Doing this for an entire house may be beyond what you want to tackle, though.

I grew up in a college town, and live close to an urban university now. I haven't marketed to students (yet), but one thing that I have seen in both places is an explosion of new townhome/condos, all pretty high-end with all the bells and whistles. This appears to be siphoning off all the more affluent students (or students with affluent parents, I should say.) Also, there are also a lot of new apartment complexes geared towards students (free wi-fi, shuttle transportation to campus, etc).

This seems to be pushing the SFRs in two directions: high-end and low-end, with not much in the middle. Because of the new properties on the market, SFR rents seem to be somewhat stagnant. There are certainly a lot of decrepit properties of the kind you describe; on the other hand, a recent fire in which two students died has put a spotlight on these practices.

What I see in my hometown is what appears to be major overbuilding. It's a big state college, and they're not building any more on-campus housing, but the amount of student-oriented apartments/etc being built is unreal - it's as if the last five years never happened. Personally, given that I feel that universities are going to go through some major challenges in the next decade (facing online competition, MOOCs, student-debt challenges, etc.) I'm hesitant to get into any student-oriented housing that wouldn't be strictly short-term.

With that being said, if you're looking for quiet student tenants - market to grad students. They still will do dumb things, but generally they're past the wild party stage, they're more responsible, and appreciate quiet. I can speak from experience, though, that their income is low, so you'd have to have an appropriate property.

Rocky, I'd suggest a high-deductible plan coupled with a HSA. Take the money you save from having a high-deductible plan, stash it in the HSA and leave it alone. I believe you can each contribute $3,250 a year, but that's off the top of my head. Watch also for total annual out of pocket costs - it's different from your deductible. Once your HSA exceeds the out of pocket, you know you can pay for anything...at least that year.

Dental is rarely worth it - look at what it covers (and at what percentage) and what it doesn't. You're paying many times the cost of the biannual clean and inspect, and the amount it pays towards actual dental work is a joke. If you don't have an employer footing part of that bill, it usually makes more sense to pay cash. Our dentist gives us a cash discount.

As far as plans go, shop around. I used an independent agent who found a good plan; he also shops me around again each time there's a threatened rate increase. His knowledge of the system saved me money over using some of the online insurance shopping sites.

Put another 5 to 10 years on you guys and see what your rates are like, healthy or not. :)

$30,000 would cover purchase price, back taxes, and what renovation would be necessary to get it rent ready. Once I get a chance to scope the inside and the roof I'll be able to firm up the estimate.

Definitely - just a post to the artist community to judge interest. Not going to advertise any phantoms. :)

Winston Risser You're right about pulling comps, both rent and value-wise. Rental comps in the area are for purely residential streets, which run about 5-600 for a 2/1 duplex. I'm not worried much about resale/appreciation though, as this would be a buy and hold cash flow. My back-of-the-envelope math gives me in the range of a $30K all-in rent-ready price. My initial look at rent prices for artist workspace in the city and the residential rent in the area leads me to think that I can ask $800/month. With an all cash deal and the caveat that all the assumptions might go south, using the 50% rule gets to a $4800 NOI and a 16% cap rate based on the all-in. I suspect vacancy may be a significant concern.

You're also right about having a limited tenant pool. An art shop wouldn't make it there - inconvenient for customers, plus there are several already, all right next to campus. I'd have to target the market pretty heavily; on the other hand, the rent price should be attractive.

Bill Gulley The steel fab place looks to be mostly M-F 9-5...they were quiet today when I drove past. I'm wondering if I should do a Craigslist test and see if anyone bites....

I've found a property with an owner who is tax delinquent. I've made first contact and he seems to have some interest in selling. The property itself is located in a old manufacturing part of town that also has a sprinkling of rowhouses and bar/restaurants here and there. It isn't far from downtown and universities.

Back taxes are 4.3K. I don't know interior repairs yet; he's done work on the outside under the city inspector's flogging, and it appears to be at least stable.

The building itself has what was once a retail area on the first floor with two stories of living space above it...around 2000 sq ft in all. Current owner is using it all as living space. The zoning in the area is manufacturing. The neighboring buildings house a sheet metal fabrication shop and a truck accessory business.

Given the factory/manufacturing character of the neighborhood, the opportunity for a normal tenant seems nil. Same with trying to put a retail tenant. Too small for commercial use.

My thought is to set it up as an artisan/craftsman/artist manufacturing and retail with living space for them above. There are places around town that rent out space for arts and crafts, but very few in which it's integrated with living space. Given the industries around them, it seems it would work well for a metalworker, sculptor, blacksmith, etc.

The university nearby has a well-regarded design and art department and there are several other art academies. On the other hand, this place is isolated from the other hip, happening art "communities".

Please, poke some holes in this! :)