All Forum Posts by: Russell Holmes

If he gets divorced, he's going to be showing up to 2 years of bank statements. If he has the $60k already, too late, it's in his asset column. Real estate doesn't make immediate huge profits, so if his $60k in cash changes to a $60k property, the only net change to his position would be any cash flow. If rehab and vacancy were necessary there may not be immediate cash flow, but with depreciation on taxes he won't likely gain income. If he buys it and doesn't get divorced until it appreciates in a few years, that's another story, but the "vanishing" $60k in cash isn't gonna fly in court. My "should be amicable" divorce took 18 months and cost me about $30k in settlement and legal....just a word of caution. I'm the son of a CPA and have paid way too much to lawyers recently, but am neither myself, so consult proper counsel.

If you have carpet at all, or furniture they are on, sprinkle some Borax around liberally. Sweep it around on the carpet to let it settle in and then vacuum lightly. You can also dissolve some in water and spray under furniture cushions etc (it'll leave white residue when dry so don't go crazy with it). From what I read: The molecules of Borax are sharp and will wear through and dry out bugs with exoskeletons (fleas, ants, etc). We have a dog and a cat that we keep on flea treatment, I also have a lawn service that sprays for bugs, but we were still overwhelmed by fleas at one point a year or two ago. Tried everything under the sun, and it wasn't until borax that they went away for good (not immediately, but within a few days). Some products just kill living fleas but don't get rid of eggs. The Borax basically kills them as soon as they hatch and continues to do so enabling it to break their life cycle.

I'm sure market timing and location would have a lot to do with it, however I don't think it'd be a super stable plan for profit. I bought a builder house in 2009. 1910 sq ft 4/2 with a final price of $179k (less than comparable older existing houses nearby, and now worth about $237k). I only had to put $1000 down. The lot hadn't been touched yet but permits had been pulled (so I chose a lot with permits pulled for the house I wanted, they built them 6 at a time). If I wanted to pick the house and lot pre-permit, it was a $5k deposit. The market had dropped 95% of the way to the bottom before I bought, but it did lag a bit more into '11 and '12. I bought house number 35 or so out of about 135, so I was very interested to see the pace of new sales and resales of existing. They sold 4-5 houses a month in 2009. That slowed to 1-2 a month in 11-12 and then sped up to 7+ per month in late 12 and early 13. The builder regularly adjusted their prices to slowly climb along with, but stay a bit below, the market comps, but it never jumped by much, and even when it did increase, they'd add a few features to "justify". It all operated more like a car lot than a free market. While they were building and selling, not a single existing house sold for more than what you could have one built for, the "new" factor made buyers prefer a new one as opposed to "used", even though the houses built earlier than mine had higher ceilings and a few extras as the prices hadn't fallen all the way yet. Buying from the builder, they covered closing, waved the $2500 "lot premium" for my rear brick wall, added a few features with negotiations, etc and I had quite a bit of control over finishes, colors, etc...all things I had to select along the way, far before completion. The moment the last house sold and the builder left the neighborhood, the real appreciation started. The builder held off on increasing prices at the end to move their last inventory, which made for some great deals at that point. That artificially held prices down for the existing homes. The first year after the builder was done, our neighborhood appreciated around 10%+ despite the market I'm in only going up about 5-6%, our homes basically appreciated to catch up with existing comps. Ever since, houses get listed and go under contract in a matter of a few days. Appreciation has been strong since then, on par with the market once we caught up to comps. But until the builder was out, the "builder neighborhood" vibe made for a bit of an artificial market. People seemed to view "new" vs "old" despite the oldest house being from 2008. Basically, nobody would care about your $1000 deposit when they could go drop the same money on another lot and have more control. There were also restrictions on selling within the first year, not that you couldn't, but if you did there was to be no for sale sign, no open house, etc. So selling the option may have even been prohibited, I don't remember. A few people did get killer deals on the last few "stock" houses that had been built and not sold, but the deposits were so insignificant that they didn't do much other than to reserve your spot. It may be worth while if you had a deposit on one of the very last houses, but you could probably make even more buying one of the last complete houses and selling once the builder packs up and leaves.

Where does the return draw air from? If it was designed with heat in mind, it may draw from the bottom floor leaving hot air with no escape from the upper floor. If you could reroute the return to intake air from near the ceiling of the top floor, it may help circulate the warm air out much better.

Definitely look into the Apopka market! I live in Apopka and the growth is insane currently. There is continued expansion to the 429 toll road network, the "Wekiva Parkway" that will eventually be a direct shot connecting I4 at the 417 down through Apopka to Disney, the turnpike, airport, etc. I'll make Mt. Dora, Sorrento, Mt Plymouth, and Apopka (previously rural out-of-the-way locations) all prime locations to live for those who work or commute to Orlando, Maitland, or the attractions. It will also route out of state travelers who used to come down I-95 and take I-4 through Orlando to instead bypass the I-4 madness and come through our area. I live in Apopka, very near the 451 toll road (which is a branch off of and connects to 429/414 tolls) and I can get nearly anywhere in Orange Seminole or Lake county in 45 mins or less, typically without using I4. As the toll road completes, that convenience will extend to those who live as far north as SR44 and SR46. It will also complete the "bypass loop" around greater Orlando that is currently missing it's west and north portions. On top of that, there's a huge new hospital campus being built near the 414/429 interchange in Apopka that is driving massive residential expansion, and talks of a Lake Nona type medical city with vacant land readily available. There's a 39 acre "Apopka City Center" breaking ground near the 436/441 merge, and countless other developments and more new builder neighborhoods than I can track. I personally am a year or two off from purchasing my first investment property (thanks to a costly divorce I'm still recovering from financially) but my portfolio will be in my immediate area. I purchased my personal home for $179k in 2009 and identical houses in my neighborhood have gone under contract for $237-245k in 3-5 days recently. Nothing seems to stay on the market for even a month. Rents are climbing quickly, older homes are being flipped, and apartments being built with $1100-1600 Rents for 2-3 bdrm units. With all of the infrastructure and development growth here, the fact that there are still several hundred acre plots of raw land for sale, etc, I see it being a strongly growing market for the next 15+ years, easily. Prices have climbed strongly, but it's not ridiculous like some of the "Orlando" zips. I personally wouldn't live down in the congestion of the city and love the convenience and relative country feel of the Apopka area. Right outside of my neighborhood is a 15 acre lot zoned for multi-family that I'd buy ans develop in a heartbeat if financially able to. I'm no expert, but as a local I say it's worth a look!

Would that downstairs master closet in option 2 be large enough for a half bath itself? If you're already going to be adding that tub/shower on the shared wall, maybe a half bath accessible from the common area would alleviate the "no first floor bathroom" dilemma without a ton of extra work... since you'll already be plumbing. You'd then need to allow for a small closet elsewhere in the room, but guests would have an accessible toilet. Just a thought. If that's too much extra work, what about making the bedroom door enter into the living room rather than by the entrance? it would give a straight shot to the bathroom without going through the whole room and avoid the sometimes awkward feel of a bedroom door right by the front door. Just some thoughts, but option 2 for sure!

I've never scraped popcorn myself, but have some drywall work under my belt. If the issue making it worse is the paint "sealing" it in, could you do a once over with course sandpaper (maybe 80 grit) on either a pole sander or handheld palm sander? The point being not to necessarily remove it all, but more so to break open the sealed popcorn pieces easier than an initial scrape. That way you could then spray and scrape with the water penetrating beyond the paint surface. If the underlying drywall is in decent shape, even a tough scrape job seems easier than re-drywalling. I built a wall (12' wide 8'8" high) with a recessed and arched alcove for the door to enclose an unused open dining room into an additional "bedroom". For such a small job, I didn't care to rent a real texture sprayer, but got great results from the aerosol canned texture. It matched the professional orange peel texture of the rest of the house well. I think I used 3 $9 cans total for both sides of the wall. After scraping, patch any big divots or blemishes and then texture with knockdown or orange peel (they sell cans for ceilings that spray up rather than horizontal)... it'll hide minor imperfections and be far easier than getting a perfectly smooth surface with no texture.

I wish I would have had the financual ability to have bought more than just my house in my builder neighborhood when I did. I bought a new construction 1910 sqft 4/2 block home in Apopka FL (about 20 mins NW of Orlando) for $179k in 2009. Distressed houses of similar size were going for more and needed roof/ac and more (I looked at plenty), and the builder had developed the land pre-crash, so they kept dropping prices to move houses. The market fell a bit more through 2011 (could have got my same house for $165k or so then) and they sold the last new house of 135 lots in 2012 or early 13. Now every house that has sold goes in a matter of weeks for nearly 2007 prices. An identical house to mine just sold for $237k and was listed for a few days before going under contract. The slightly larger floor plans are going for $250-270k quickly. Existing older houses in the area sell much more slowly it seems as each is a little different. Now that the market is better, most new builder neighborhoods nearby are 3500-5000sqft around here, but there are still some "starter home" type builds further north and west as expansion is rapidly heading that way. I skipped all the options, negotiated out of a lot premium, builder paid closing, and used the $8k tax credit and FHA loan to move in with literally no money down outside of my $1000 deposit to "hold" my lot and a $175k mortgage, getting most of the tax credit back in my pocket. The HOA is reasonable too, only $46/mo and they stay out of your business unless you paint your house pink or let the yard die, but they keep the neighborhood park and entrance nice and keep people from letting their houses go. Around here, the older homes are on much bigger lots (more maintenance) and many are from the early 50s through mid-70s, either needing lots of work or commanding higher than new prices after high-end remodels. I don't know that buying new from the builder would always be the smartest move for a rental, but buying in a newish builder neighborhood may be. The "new" may not mean much to a renter, but if you get one without any options, they can be perfectly basic. Warranty or not, you know everything is new. A few homes in here have foreclosed within the first few years and people picked them up at a discount despite not being "distressed" at all. Also the builders would sometimes choose a funky color or somewhat ugly "elevation" on a house that wasn't pre-sold, and it would sit empty while the owner occupants chose other lots to build on, renters don't care as much as owners if their lot isn't the best or their front columns could have looked like their other neighbor. It isn't in the same realm of buying at a huge discount to brrrr or flip, but when compared to a turn key property it may be better than a freshly remodeled one with hidden problems. I'm getting my finances in order to invest (after an expensive divorce), and will likely use my equity gain on my primary house to jump start into a brrrr, but I'll definitely be comparison shopping some of the starter home builder neighborhoods against existing houses. Builders want to sell product and move on. If there's an undesirable lot or funky house they can't move, they'll negotiate on it much easier than an owner occupant who has an unrealistic expectation and can't afford to discount. There are several houses in my neighborhood owned by investors, a few of which actually live in the neighborhood themselves. Advertised rent has jumped from $1300-1400 when I moved in 8 years ago to $1800-1900 and climbing. Our area is growing massively with new toll road systems, new hospital, new large retail developments, etc, and everyone seems to want to buy or rent close to it all. The newest apartments built here advertise rents from $1200-1700 so I'm sure sfh values and rents will continue to climb.

I own a business in which I actually NEED half ton trucks (a mobile detailing business I founded in 2007). My fiance and I each own newer half ton GM trucks. Mine's a 14 Silverado and hers is a 15 Sierra and both have beds that are thoroughly abused, scuffed, and scraped inside. We each carry 1250 lbs of water and equipment in our trucks on a daily basis to make a living. We only bought our current trucks after thoroughly killing a paid off 04 Colorado and a paid off 04 Envoy which pulled a trailer. Both vehicles had transmissions blow out from overworking. Before my Colorado, I had two different used SUVs that I towed a trailer with and killed before their "time". Our $500 truck payments are holding us back from real estate investment at the moment and we are working to pay them off early to make REI a possibility. But those same truck payments are the lifeblood of our ability to operate our current business, support our family, and service customers for years to come (as well as making the strong income that will allow for investment!). I've only ever sold vehicles when they are worth less than $4k, well over 100k miles, and the transmissions fail ($3k+ repair). At 24000+ miles per year driven, the inflated price of used trucks, and the fact that we use them for business AND kid hauling/family duty, buying used didn't make business sense after running numbers on a long term cost/year basis: we would simply kill higher mileage used trucks before they made up for their cost.... and I know since I killed three used vehicles running my business before, kept good records, and examined what they truly cost me to keep on the road including diminished value when they were traded in broken. Even still, both new trucks are V6 doublecab 2wd work trucks and we are hoping they last beyond 250k miles. My truck is similar to yours @Omar Cantu but with way less options. With year end discounts and zero options, they were each $29k out the door, all included, the cheapest possible price on a new vehicle that could carry kids and work equipment. I would have loved a Z71 4x4 crewcab, but that extra $13k wouldn't profit me any more so I never even considered it. In less than three years I have nearly 60k miles on mine, I'm 20k miles into my second set of tires, and I've been rear ended and had it repaired twice. My fiance has 33k miles on her 15, and has luckily avoided idiots running into her! The two trucks are what allow us to bring in a six figure gross income and those truck payments are 75%+ of our operating expenses, when they are paid off our business expenses drop to nearly nothing. We drive them as a business decision, not a status symbol. They are decked out with 17" steel wheels, manual cloth seats, rubber floors, and reliability. If I didn't drive the mileage I do or haul the weight I do, I'd be in the cheapest used econo car I could find. We don't own "personal vehicles", we drive our branded work trucks everyday. So coming from someone who actually NEEDS to have a half ton truck to make a living and still hates the payment, be happy that you don't need it. I look forward to the day (soon) when both trucks are paid off with lots of life left in them and we lower our DTI to make investing possible. We are saving and preparing to dive into investment when that point comes...its all in our plans. Keeping our business running and profiting is a priority for now and I hope to replace the income with REI down the road, but making a living with the trucks is the only reason my truck payment ranks higher than investing as a priority. Unless you tow or haul for profit, you seriously do not need your truck or it's payment. I'm 31, have two kids, three step kids, a house with about 60k in equity, a costly divorce behind me, a super cheap beach wedding ahead of me, and still make sure that every single financial decision is thoroughly planned. You're young, single, and have options. Driving a $41k truck before even owning a primary or investment property is a choice you made. If it's a choice you want to stick by, pay that truck off as quickly as you can and keep it forever. If you want to invest sooner, sell it now and get a 10 year old Ranger or something.

I'm not sure how much your car is worth or what you need to get out of it, but try wells Fargo auto finance. In 2012 I had an 04 Chevy Colorado pickup that was paid off and I needed a few thousand to invest in my business (which I ran with that truck). I explored unsecured business loans and credit cards, all with double digit interest rates. The truck was honestly only worth about $6k at that point, but they loaned me $8k on it at 6% for 48 months. It felt "wrong" to go from a paid off truck to intentionally being upside down, but I put that $8k into my business (local service business, not RE) to fund some beneficial growth, and at a rate about half of any "business loan" I could find. The only downside was that it showed as personal debt rather than business so I couldn't write off the interest, but $8k @ 6% is better than $8k @ 15%. If you still owe something that may throw a wrench in it since I had the title to offer. I ended up wearing out the transmission on that truck before the loan was paid off, but by then it was paid down to about even with value and then got a $1500 trade in bonus towards a base model 14 Silverado with nearly $6k in additional year end discounts since 15s were crowding the lots. Vehicles depreciate but sometimes you can milk some low interest money and value out of them to put into lucrative endeavors if timed right, and not wasted on unnecessary things, haha. Now I've got a new 2.95% interest loan to pay that's holding me up from RE investing (increased DTI compared to the initial paid off colorado) for the time being, but was a great cost/year investment for my business at low interest and has helped reliably increase my LLC income..... it's always a juggle, but you have to run numbers on all options!