All Forum Posts by: Robert S.

@January Johnson @Douglas Knupp A home like this can be purchased with 10% down using a mortgage product that is geared for clients who wish to buy a second (read vacation) home, provided their income can substantiate the purchase. As long as the buyer doesn’t sign anything stating that they will not rent it out, no fraud has been committed.

@Matt "Roar" Gardner @Zachary Clements Gentleman, thank for your responses. Matt, I received your DM, thank you, and we will be in touch.

@Matt "Roar" Gardner Hey Matt, thanks for providing some good info for the new investors on here. Bringing up Destin brought up some questions for me as well. I currently own a vacation rental in Ocean City, MD, however FL has always been in the back of my mind. Do the vacationers in Destin primarily fly or drive there?

@Qamar U Islam Good day, this is an easy one. Ask to see his license, business permit and insurance. Any electrical contractor can produce all of those within 24 hours, and you can go on the state website to confirm everything. Takes less than 2 minutes. BTW, I’m a licensed electrical contractor in NJ.

@Stephanie Grady Good day, I’m a licensed electrical contractor in NJ and would be glad to help you out anyway I can. First off, this is an electric panel that uses fuses to protect the circuits in it instead of using circuit breakers, which is what you are accustomed to. The differences between the two are as follows, a circuit breaker functions like a switch, each time the circuit it protects experiences an overload situation(too many appliances using the circuit simultaneously) the circuit breaker automatically switches to the tripped (off) position. When a fuse experiences an overload situation, it shuts off completely and needs to be replaced with a new one.

Also, Installation is different as well, let’s say a circuit trips because a tenant keeps putting too many appliances on it. If your property has a panel that uses circuit breakers, the entire panel cover needs to be removed, this exposes a lot of live electric parts, and the tenant has to remove the existing circuit circuit breaker, disconnect a wire, and then reconnect the wire to a larger circuit breaker and then install that circuit breaker. This is kind of a pain to do and unsafe for the inexperienced, however if a tenant wishes to upsize a fuse that keeps blowing, they just unscrew the fuse and install a larger one.

Now, please note, this practice is highly illegal because circuit breakers and fuses are sized based the size of wires they protect. If a tenant were to upsize the fuses, it is a major fire hazard because the wires can not handle the extra amps and now the fuse will not protect the wires anymore. Worst part, you as a landlord would never know a tenant did this, unless you kept a log of your electric panel schedule, and I have yet to find a landlord who does that.

If I had an electric panel that uses fuses in a property where a tenant had access to it, I would change it out to a panel that uses circuit breakers.

If I failed to address any of your concerns, or any of this post was confusing, please contact me via DM and I can provide further clarification. Best of luck.

If you can’t make your mortgage payments on your investment property(ies), and a foreclosure takes place, can your creditors come after your primary residence to make up the difference?

@Austin Dickey Good day, this situation can go a lot of different ways. All of which depend on the sub code officials governing each trade in the town. Since, you mentioned you have no knowledge of permits and how they work, let’s go over that first.

The purpose of the building department is to ensure that the construction of any structure within their jurisdiction is performed to a minimum set of standards. These standards were written in the best interest of safe construction that will last for years, i.e.- the foundation will hold the structure above it, the electric is installed in accordance with the National Electric Code, etc.

When a property owner decides to renovate a property, inspections are performed before the Sheetrock installed. These are called rough inspections, and they are performed by sub code officials that govern over the framing, plumbing, and electrical. Upon approval after these inspections, the owner then gets Sheetrock installed, throws up some paint, install cabinets and then the various trades come in and perform their finish work. The sub code officials then come back and give the owner approval after their respective final inspections.

This is where your issues will arise, since you completed the job and you did not file permits for any of the trades that performed work. You are at the mercy of the sub code officials governing your jurisdiction. The only tips I can give you without being hands on in the situation, is remain respectful and professional at all points in time. They might tell you some things that you do not want to hear, when they do, remain calm, and always ask for the best way to work with them.

Please keep us posted on your situation. Best of luck.

@Erica Kriegl Good day, I’m from Bergen County and my business is based out of Central NJ. The investors I work for use some creative methods to acquire properties. They are showing strong margins in desirable areas. Most recent example, $150k acquisition, approx. $50k investment, will be listed for over $300k with similar unrenovated property two doors away under contract for $350k as a comp and other recent sales in development at or over $300k. I literally began finishing touches yesterday, and will be complete by next week. What areas are you looking to invest in?

@Brandon Ellis Good day, I’m a licensed electric contractor in NJ. In 2017, I did the electric on a new construction 4 bed 2.5 bath home in Northern Bergen County, NJ. The final bill, came out to just north of $16k if I remember correctly.

@Jacob Rzewnicki Good day, what type of house is this? If there is a basement, is it finished? How far is it from your current residence? Let me know, and I would be more than happy to point you in the right direction on getting over some of the obstacles you listed.