All Forum Posts by: Russell Howes

that makes sense (at least for why they had the data in the first place), thanks for pointing that out!

I know that Utah is a non-disclosure state, but I assumed a trend toward more openness when I saw recent sales prices on Zillow a few months ago. That was really helpful for me in understanding market trends, etc. and I was sad to see that Zillow stopped showing those prices about a month ago.

Does anybody know what changed (in the MLS or otherwise) to give Zillow (and I assume Redfin, realtor.com, etc) that access early this year, then take it away a month ago? Mainly just curious.

Disclaimer: I have an agent who is great with getting me information about a property when I ask, and who has several alerts setup with the Utah MLS. I'm not advocating for or against non-disclosure here (though I do have an opinion on it)

I'm inclined to agree with Dustin--if you were to pursue this and the tenant fought it, it would be very hard for you to prove that the tenant was negligent. Opinions on whether a tree trim was bad or not can be very subjective (every time I get estimates from tree trimmers their opinions are all over the place), and unless the tenant was a professional tree trimmer, 'you get what you pay for'.

I'd take the lesson learned, and use a professional in the future for tree trimming or do it yourself.

Thank you Will! That helps a lot.

I'm under contract for a duplex (in Salt Lake) and the zoning rules allow me to add another unit of up to ~500-600 square feet.

Unfortunately, the house is on a narrow lot and is pretty close to the neighboring buildings in both directions. The gate is about 4-5 feet wide; not wide enough to let a car into the backyard, let alone a construction vehicle. Is this a dealbreaker for building an ADU? Is it likely to make construction slower and more expensive?

IANAL but when I lived with roommates a few years ago, our landlord had a clause similar to the one in this article:

https://www.landlordology.com/...

'jointly and severally liable' should work out well if your tenants are responsible/professional. For example, our landlord let us send her rent via paypal--joint and several liability meant that if one of us didn't get rent in on time, all of us were technically on the hook for late charges...so we got pretty good at reminding each other to pay on time. Similar benefits for upkeep/deposit stuff, or issues where one of the tenants moves out or stops paying for whatever reason.

Thank you!

I just had an offer accepted on an old (vintage ~1910-ish) house in Salt Lake county and am looking for an inspector who's familiar with the things to look out for. Should most competent inspectors be familiar with old homes?

If not, any recommendations of people to call or places to look? Thanks!

I'm considering an offer on a triplex; when I called the city to ask more about the zoning I was told that the lot is only approved for two units (one of the units is violating). They say an owner (not sure if current or previous) had tried to get a variance but for whatever reason it wasn't doable, and that any future construction would be difficult to get approved.

I'm evaluating whether to proceed with an offer, but this at least impacts the price I'm willing to offer. I'm curious how a zoning issue like this would affect an appraisal. Would an appraiser typically know the city/zoning rules well enough to be aware of this issue? In either case, would the property be appraised as a duplex or a triplex? Any other factors I should be aware of? Thanks!

Thank you for asking--it's an investment property; I updated my original post.

I spoke today with a lender who explained to me that the 25% down requirement is tied to Fannie Mae rules. Does that mean I'd need to look for a lender/loan that isn't backed by Fannie Mae? Is that basically a hard money loan, or is there anything else out there?