All Forum Posts by: Tanya S.

Hi @Esete Berhane. Congrats on purchasing your condo!

I have a company I would recommend. PM me and I will connect you. 

Hi Tiffany, I'm here in the DC area and have cash flowing rentals in San Antonio. Happy to share my experiences.

Hi @Arthur Deburgo PM me with your email address, and I will personally connect you with the owners of a boutique property management company in Capitol Hill that specializes in DC. 

Welcome to BP @Vernal Douglas  I'm in Arlington too and invest in Maryland, though not in Baltimore. I would recommend @David Holland. David is an investor and MD real estate agent who invests in Baltimore. He has multiple properties there, including a commercial building and knows the city well. Plus, he's just an all around awesome guy too. Happy connecting!

@Sergio Santos

There are no issues with renting out rooms to separate tenants in Arlington. Not sure about the condition of your parents home, but if they've owned it awhile and don't have a mortgage, if it is the typical, older Arlington home (small, not renovated, original sewer and plumbing pipes from the 1930s and 40s), you might actually do the math on tearing down the old house and building a new single family home in its place. Once that's up, sell in the $1.2 million+ range and potentially pocket several hundred grand. Rinse and repeat!

There is a reason why most developers are doing this in Arlington with older homes in prime locations, as that's where the money is. The people who are making money off of rentals in Arlington have owned their homes a long time and bought when homes were a fraction of the price they are now. These people don't want the cash, but a steady, stable income. 

I personally have rentals in Arlington not for the rental cash flow, but for the appreciation and the quality of the tenants there. If I was in your situation, I'd probably do a tear down, new build, then take the proceeds and buy more homes with that, maybe even a multifamily building if you can swing it.

There was a recent presentation on ADUs at the public library last month. Here's a list of the presenters, so you have some names at the county offices:

 Eric Brescia of the Arlington Housing Commission 

Allison Cook, Commercial Fast Track and Residential Plan Review Supervisor, Inspection Services Division; Community Planning, Housing and Development 

Blake Bowen, Associate Planner (Assistant to the Zoning Administrator), Arlington County Government | DCPHD, Zoning Division

And a link to their presentation:

https://arlingtonva.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/up...

Arlington County recently relaxed the regulations on accessory dwelling units, and there is a process in place where you could request to build an in-law suite. The one catch here is that the dwelling must be owner occupied - so if your family lived there, the in law suite could be used as a rental. 

If you wanted to rent the property, per county regs, you could not rent to two separate tenants - one tenant would have to occupy the whole house, incl the in-law suite.  Also, it would have to be a basement conversion, as the county does not allow stand alone dwellings (for ex, a garage) to be converted.

https://building.arlingtonva.us/project/accessory-...

@Francisco Escobar  If you are in Huntington, don't sell! It's the last area left in NoVA that's relatively affordable and so close to metro. Since WMATA plans to improve the blue/yellow lines for Amazon, demand for homes close to metro can only go up. There is still a lot of potential development for that area that is untapped. If your house is the typical 2/1 duplex type house in Huntington, my advice to you would be stay where you are - spend some money putting a bathroom and a window egress and make the basement into a space for your mother-in-law. Then save some money and buy your neighbor's house instead! :)

@Sergio Santos  Check the Arlington County zoning for your parents' house. Generally, where there are single family homes in Arlington, multi-units are not permitted. 

https://gis.arlingtonva.us/Maps/Standard_Maps/Plan...

@Balaram Owens I use Basement Waterproofing International based out of Bel Air, MD. They have installed sump pumps in two houses in Arlington for me and their prices are fair and their work is very high quality.