All Forum Posts by: Ryan Tessier

Hi Dan, I'm an investor in Ansonia and Derby as well, I may have some contractors I can recommend for your project if you'd like to DM me. I haven't fully gone through the permitting process myself but in the past I was looking for architects, not lawyers, to draw plans and get town approval, they aren't cheap. You can do this process yourself and town hall will walk you through everything they need once you start your application, the software I was trained on and a lot of professionals use to draw up plans is AutoCAD Architecture or Revit. Both from AutoDesk, they are not cheap and usually take some training to use effectively but they work very well.

Most listings have their own agents and in CT they can help you write your own offer and walk you through the transaction(Dual Agency). But do you really want your agent and the sellers agent to be the same person? It is usually considered a conflict of interest, having your own agent represent you usually pays out dividends when negotiating an offer and actually getting it accepted, plus their expenses are paid by the seller so its free for buyers. 

Your agent should be helping you identify these properties and contact the listing agent on your behalf once you're interested in seeing them. Your own agent should be your main point of contact in the transaction so you can get the most value out of their services.

 Yes I meant more in a technical sense that in an eviction if his name is on the paperwork and he resides at the premises then he would be the one named on the court order for the execution and not the mother. But that's a question for my lawyer I suppose. Still great advice and thank you.

@Lori Williams I really like this idea, but I wonder if it will cause issues as the son is rent the other apartment from me and if I have to get and "evict" him from the third floor unit when he's living in the other unit still paying. (Worst case scenario of course).

@Jill F. That is correct, she claims in both evictions the landlord was paid in full. First by herself and second by a state agency. Two different landlords. She's been seemingly upfront and honest with me but if I'm moving forward I will verify this information with her past landlords.

@Nathan Gesner I agree 100%, Rent is 60% of the income (not vice versa) but some of the family member make significant amounts and are willing to cosign.

@Mat O'Grady Yes they are, and if I move forward I'd plan on verifying all income and screening anyone I haven't already.

Thank you all for the great responses. Definitely providing some fresh perspective and a big help in the decision making process.

One of my investments is a 3 story house with an apartment on each floor. A vacancy opened up on the first floor and the tenant on the third floor is moving in there. She's my favorite tenant, clean, pays on time every time for the last year I've rented to her. She's taking the first floor unit immediately so I have no vacancy or rehab costs and her fiance's mother wants to rent the third floor so I wouldn't have any vacancy or rehab costs there aswell! Background check the mother in law and what do I find? Two evictions in the last three years and her income is 60% of the rent.

Now, every part of my conscious as an investor and landlord is telling me absolutely and categorically NO. But my sense of morality is pulling me in a different direction. Her son, daughter in law and the DIL's family are all vouching to support her financially so that the rent is no issue. She has an opportunity to live close to her son and put her life back in order. Looking at the mother in laws application there is no landlord in the state that would accept her in their right mind. She has no options whatsoever and she's still living in the house from the most recent eviction (state agency came in paid the back rent in exchange for withdrawing the eviction case, yay Connecticut) according to her the current landlord is a slumlord and a tyrant.

Currently where I'm at is the only way I can accept the MIL as a tenant is if the income earners from the family cosign their lease to guarantee payment AND agree to pay a year upfront in rent, with hope that her situation is better at the end of the lease term. This seems like a reasonable request but am I an idiot for even considering it? I've had some ugly evictions the last few years and really not in the mood to deal with another one. Have any landlord given someone a chance and had it work out in their favor?

@Tecsia Evans what are your investment goals? If you want to maximize passive income $24k/year is a nice additive. However if you can sell and reap $400k profit that would be over 16.5 years of rental returns immediately available with the added tax benefit that Bill discussed. You can grow your portfolio quicker if you roll those gains into your next investment.

@Amar Sinha @Max SkorykI've been investing in multi-family real estate in the greater New Haven area for the last four years.I'd be more than happy to share some insights on the local markets. Please reach out with any questions!

So I have a tenant in a multi family building who insists I come and pick up her money order in person every month. The problem being that the property is a 40 minute drive each way from where I live and every other tenant I have has no problem paying through apartments.com. This tenant is section 8 so the payment I’m going to pick up is less than $200 each month and it seems like a waste of time and gas to collect in this manner. I’ve offered to allow her to pay through PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, or to even mail her money order directly to me but it doesn’t seem like she will.

Has anyone else dealt with this before or have any obvious solutions? Can I charge late fees/evict if she refuses to pay in the manner I prefer if she is still offering cash in person? It seems very tedious to go out of the way for this one tenant who refuses to pay like everyone else. Any advice is appreciated.

@Martina Viteri

If you're 19 you're in a good position. But I wouldn't expect a bank or a partner to finance 100% of your deals since you wouldn't have a lot of experience, skills, or connections to bring to the table. (As a first time homebuyer FHA will finance up to 96.5%) on up to four units however) I think what's most important for you right now would be to become financially savvy and learn to budget and save the money you do make now, so in a year or two you'll have enough for your own down payment. These skills will also be immensely valuable when you manage your own finances for your rentals as well. I was able to buy my first three family at 20 by doing just this and working a construction job out of high school and saving everything I could for two years.

Best of luck in investing.

Happy Sunday all, I'm going to start a renovation soon and if it goes well it may be something that I'd want to do more of. I want to manage the project myself for the experience, I have a background in construction and know a lot of subs. However here in CT I know that homeowners can pull their own permits. Will homeowner permits suffice for me if I don't plan on using the properties as a primary residence or if I purchase the property under a Sole Proprietorship with my name on it? The HIC license is extremely easy to get but I've been reading that because of the low barrier of entry it has almost no value unless you're selling your service to a customer which I don't plan on doing right now. I'm planning on owning every property I work on and subbing out the vast majority of the work. Does it make sense for me to pay the licensing fees or to pull permits as a homeowner?