All Forum Posts by: Sam C.

@Julian. Apex

If he agreed in the AOS to provide you with a clear Certificate of Occupancy, then you can void the agreement if he refuses to do the work or pay you to do the work by adjusting the sale price. Your stated expenses were your decision and not required prior to inspection completion. May I ask why you did the title work and appraisal before the city's report came in?

"My tenants are little old ladies on Social Security"        

You threw that in there pretty casually. I personally would have trouble passing the burden on to them. But that's me.  Many landlords would cut off their left pinky for 15+ year residents. Were you aware of the utility structure/costs when you bought the building? Do you calculate the turnover costs as these older residents move on?

I will assume your rents are not below others in your area. Leave well enough alone. Your in Michigan!! While counting your nickels, dollars will fall out your back pocket. At the most increase the rents some to offset heating cost. 

Example: (500/800 x 6= 3000/4800) (25 x 12 x 14= 4200)

With some tenant training and controls and a small investment in efficiency improvements, you could even come out ahead).

My gut ( after lots of reading, viewing and connecting the dots ) tells me that there are 100's if not 1000's of small/mid-size cities like Cleveland that are really not needed anymore. There has been little to no real economic growth in many of them for a long time. Many of them barely get by with the number of low paying jobs created and most likely survive through government incentives and various tax schemes to build anything. I may be wrong. But ask yourself "why live in Cleveland or Detroit or Gainesville or Buffalo or Allentown or the many others like them). I live in the Allentown area. If it wasn't for a small stadium built downtown and the huge tax breaks giving by the state/local government to build downtown, we would have imploded long ago. Sadly though the graft and pure corruption ( our mayor is facing felony charges and goes to trial late this year or early next BUT is still running four reelection!) to get it done will come back to hurt the local population in a few years. That is solely my opinion and I truly hope I am wrong.

What does "During the period in which you are a part of our program" mean?

Are you permitted to do a police record check?

Is there an inspection required?

GCing for other people will be frustrating at best and unprofitable. Unless you're willing to invest in the equipment, constantly look for even somewhat skillfull people and hire an experienced manager (since you have none), I would focus on your own projects. And keeping crews together in-between jobs is a job in itself. You don't need a license to GC (manage) your own work. I manage all my own projects ( keeping the crews moving, picking up materials, clean outs, clean-ups, doing all the little things contractors ALWAYS leave undone, authorizing changes along the way that reduce costs and increase value, etc). I've saved 10,000's with this strategy over the years. I know that your thinking sounds good on paper but decide to either be in real estate or in contracting. 

What do you have that you want managed? Depending on your portfolio, there are a couple of good companies I could suggest.

You need to be a really seasoned investor and hopefully with strong relationships in the area you're looking to purchase without visiting and knowing the area. My first question is: would I live there? Then value to me is based on that answer. 

Is that the only radiator in the room? We did one with a full bath/shower-only in the corner as in the remodeled pic. If you can work around the heater all the better. 

I have 5 SFR in WB. Never even considered flipping them for the first 5-10 years. I listed all 5 a couple of years ago. 200K, some owner financing and a cask flow of net cash 20+% after ALL expenses! No luck except a couple of tire kickers. With the high cash income, i really don't need to sell them and they don't take much time to manage. All with long-term residents. Would have used the money to buy something else at the time. Moral of this story; know your market.