All Forum Posts by: Russ B.

One thing that still comes to mind is, if your sump pump gets really active while it's raining, then water is somehow flowing directly to the foundation area. There's probably still something outside that you may be able to fix easily, that would get rid of most of it.

116k gallons in 12 days is about a gallon every 9 seconds. 

407k gallons in 28 days would be about a gallon every 6 seconds.

That to me sounds like water running full blast somewhere - like an unconnected pipe where it just sprays out. I don't think a typical sink faucet (with an aerator) would flow that fast.

The water meter should be spinning like a top at that rate, assuming it's the mechanical type I'm familiar with.

If the property is three houses with one meter, I'd say there is likely a broken pipe underground somewhere between them. Not sure what kind of ground you have, but it has a lot of sand or gravel, you'd never see the water... even normal dirt could hide it. It takes quite a bit of water to be "a lot", when it comes to forming wet areas on the ground. 

I personally tend to avoid any company whose name ends in "4u".. But that's just a personal pet peeve of mine. :D 

When water is getting into a basement, the problem is usually in the yard. Does the ground slope away from the house? Are the downspouts connected to functioning drains? Did something happen to the foundation drains (their outlet got buried)?

Does this just happen when it rains, or all the time?

I don't know that it's possible to clear up this type of issue by "waterproofing" the foundation. You need someone who is going to look at the bigger picture / treat the disease instead of the symptom.

 I'm wondering if someone could put me in contact with a more investor friendly lender as well?

What I'd like to find is something similar to what a regular bank will do (this is for a buy and hold), but with a little better LTV. Any improvement at all over the standard 25% down would be great.

Hi all,

I'm in a situation that's probably pretty common (and where the person in my situation is likely wrong).. maybe someone has some input?

I was looking into refinancing a SFH that I have, in order to purchase another property, but the appraisal came back really low. Most of the time, this situation is due to an unrealistic expectation of what the property is worth, but in this case, I think it might actually be wrong. The house appraised at roughly what I paid for it back in 2011, even though I've improved it greatly (got rid of a hot-pink kitchen, lime-green carpet is now beautiful hardwood floors, and it has a brand new roof). The market in the area should also be stronger today. In fact, it appraised for 20k more back then!

What I think may have happened is that the comparables they show aren't really comparable. All three are smaller than my house, and only one has the same size lot (this one happens to be about 2/3 the size of my house). While it could use a little more polish (small things, like maybe interior paint), it has some major features that those don't have - brick and stone exterior, great fireplaces, etc.

The question is, how variable are appraisals? How much are they based on the appraiser's opinions vs. actual hard facts? How likely is it that a second opinion would come back significantly different (instead of just running the same numbers again)?

This is what popped into my head reading through this thread (or at least most of it).. not sure if this is right, but it's how the info in the thread looks to me..

I think the 50% rule is coming from the laws of economics, but our point of view (as landlords trying to evaluate potential investments) has us looking at it backwards. 

Obviously, the gross rent does not determine the expenses. However, the expenses for a typical (well-managed) property of whatever type / in whatever area are a major part of what determines the market rent. The 50% left over is what we care about - it determines the value of a particular property, as a rental. If that amount is lower than what the seller can get for it, it means that either someone else made a poor investment, or the property is more valuable for some other purpose (ie, owner occupied).