All Forum Posts by: Robert Arquilla

Quote from @Wesley W.:

I would still make sure you are allowed to vet the tenant, disabled or not.  You need to protect your asset and that starts with proper tenant screening.  As it sounds, the company's owner will be on the lease, but they will not be occupying.  I see that as a critical disconnect, and it also can be tricky if things go sideways - you now have this intermediary/guarantor between you and your tenant.  Anyways, that would be my primary concern in this situation.

Thanks for the comment.  That's exactly my concern right now. I'm not sure if that would create any type of loop hole legally that could end up coming back to haunt me. 

@Diana Costta

What part of Cleveland?

So my first tenant is moving out after 9 months. I put my add out to fill the vacancy that’s coming up and have been getting a lot of interested and good quality tenants lined up to come look at the house.

However one case I have some questions about. I was contacted by a company who helps disabled people find homes to rent. They have care takers and a person who will come cut the grass and do tenant related maintenance.

My questions are (1) does the lease need to be through the owner of the company? She said she’s willing to do that and she pays the rent on behalf of the tenants. (2) I’m just wondering if she’s on the lease could that cause and issue since she’s not living in the house the disabled tenants are? (3) Is there extra insurance I need? (4) anything I’m not thinking of?

I understand I have to allow them to make the house accessible if they require that and I’m not discriminating against them just not sure how that whole process would work as far as doing a normal screening.

Thanks for the help!

Quote from @David B.:

Any feedback on this progressed-based payment schedule for a $450K remodel project?

Should there be more specific milestones like flooring, appliances etc? Possibly withhold a little more for job completion? Maybe 15%.

_______________________________

2.5% upon commencement of schematic and engineering design ($11,250)

2.5% upon completion of schematic and engineering design ($11,250)

2.5% upon completion of construction drawings ($11,250)

2.5% upon obtaining all necessary approvals of plans ($11,250)

Total: 10% out ($45,000)

5% upon commencement of demolition work ($22,500)

5% upon completion of all demolition work ($22,500)

Total: 20% out ($90,000)

10% upon commencement of foundation work ($45,000)

10% upon completion of all foundation work ($45,000)

Total: 40% out ($180,000)

10% upon commencement of framing work ($45,000)

10% upon completion of all framing work ($45,000)

Total: 60% out ($270,000)

5% upon commencement of plumbing work ($22,500)

5% upon commencement of electrical work ($22,500)

5% upon commencement of insulation work ($22,500)

5% upon commencement of drywall work ($22,500)

5% upon commencement of tile work ($22,500)

5% upon commencement of roof work ($22,500)

Total: 90% out ($405,000)

10% upon completion of customer punch down list and job completion ($45,000)

David,

As a commercial GC we normally bill based off of a schedule of values and percentage of work completed each month. A schedule of values is basically what you have spelled out above.  So for construction you would have Demo, framing, plumbing, electrical, finishes, drywall, roofing, foundations. 

Another way to do that is to break out plumbing or larger cost categories into separate categories such as plumbing rough in, plumbing fixtures, plumbing finishes. Then when you have a plumbing rough in inspection that passes you can release those funds.

One thing to watch out for is "Front Loading" where the contractor will inflate say the demo category to have more funds released up front to help them fund the job.  

Lastly in my experience the owner holds a 10% retainage for the total construction cost until all the work is completed and the final inspection is passed, the architect or contractor does a final walk through and any close out documents are submitted.

Hope that helps

If the rental needs any work done to it I would suggest you get a contractor in there ASAP to look at it and give you a price.  Most contractors are really busy right now and are booking outs weeks to months and material availability is all over the place.

Okay I'm not familiar with those areas.  

I would start by learning as much as you can and listening to the bigger pockets podcast.  Once you have a good understanding of how to run numbers and what to look for then start researching your market and seeing what kind of houses are available.  From there I would start practicing running the numbers on houses on the market to see where the numbers are coming in at.  Bigger pockets has a lot of tools that can help with that such as rental property calculator as well as a rent estimator.  That should give you a good idea if the rent will cover not only the mortgage but also the Cap ex items, repairs, vacancy and leave you extra for cash flow.

As far as getting a loan if you're not working I'm not 100% sure but I think if you're on SSI you should be able to.  Others may be able to speak to that better.

Where are you looking to purchase a rental?

@JD Martin

Thanks for the input. I was thinking the same thing about contacting them and seeing what the deal is. Again they paid in full for this month but I don’t want to wait until the rents late to address the issue.

Quote from @William Broxson:

Quote from @Robert Arquilla:

@William Broxson what are you hoping to get out of this?

 Well hopefully if someone wanted to purchase they would let me write the offer for them. But if anything, ill be familiar with that listing moving forward.

Okay I'm not looking to sell my rental.  I wasn't sure if you were looking to try and place a tenant or get investors together to see how other people are finishing their rentals or something else.

Good luck

So I recently purchased my first SFR and everything has been going great, for the last 5 months or so and things are still going well. However this last month the tenant paid all but $90 dollars of the rent. I thought it may have been a typo because of the number, so I texted to see if there was something wrong. She mentioned her and her fiancé had a rough financial month and I would get the remainder shortly. Which I did and it was before the 1st so all good.

Well today I decided to check out their Facebook profiles and saw that they are no longer together.  One is working 2 hours away and according to her profile she moved (she was the main source of income).  I believe the guy is still living in the house because his job is close by. (Substitute teacher)

So I guess I'm wondering how I should handle this?   Also this may be helpful in determining the advice you provide, this is a pretty low cost of living area so rent isn't crazy high and she is a new veterinarian and according to her previous employer she makes really good money and easily makes 3x the rent.

Thanks for your help!!