All Forum Posts by: Scott F.

I have tenants who will do minimal landscaping at my property.  AKA they will mow the back before they have friends over, but that is about it.  The front probably is a 15x12 area that I typically mulch and weed every year.  I've grown tired of making a separate trip down for mulching every year.   What are solutions you have used to fix this?  I've also heard of using a ground cover or ivy to cover the area as well.  Any thing in particular I should be worried about by using river rock?  The slope away from the house is sufficient.

Thanks for the feedback.  I've been looking at some residential, duplexes and quads, and bite sized commercial properties with national tenants for the possible 1031 or other investment.  

Tenant leases are up at the end of month debating keeping it as a rental or selling.  If I keep it as a rental I might look to refinance.  What would you do?  Data below.

Property I've operated as a rental for 8 years or so. Bought for 225k and have roughly 172k on the loan now. FHA ARM originated in 2010 currently has 3% rate changing in October 1% max increases each year. 1.75 + Yearly CMT(2.06) = 3.81. Rents are $1,440 with a water/sewer as is customary in the market of 180$ Current mortgage w/escrows is $1,090. So cashflow is roughly $170 without reserves for expenses. Real estate agent thinks he could sell it for gross $300,000 after selling expenses commission & prep work proceeds would most likely by $280,000.

I think I can get similar rental rates but in the face of increasing rates eating up some of my cashflow(also real estate tax abatement is starting to phase out slowly)  I'm debating selling and looking at properties to 1031 into.     

Andrew 1 - I'll review and probably update that.  I definitely am skeptical of overly questioning people or people who write LOL a lot.  LOL and excessive acronyms scare me a ton.  

Andrew 2- Great points.  I have a rental property with 12 month leases as that is a true rental in a different city.  The airbnb is the basement of my home and honestly I don't want to live with a long term tenant down there.  Most likely I need to decrease my amount of bookings so as to be able to prepare more for each guest.  Maybe can do this by slightly increasing rate or charging a cleaning fee.   

After 25 4-5 star reviews I've had two consecutive three star reviews.  We rent out a basement unit in Virginia and it is moderately loud downstairs due to thin floor boards.  The most recent dings were for cleaning.  We normally do a good job, but must have slipped up recently.  Should I shut down the listing, start charging a cleaning fee and having a professional clean,  or do some other activity to push these reviews down?  

Trying my best not to be angry, but the amount of snark and turdishness in these reviews have me on tilt.  Also do you find it is advisable to not rent to people who don't have a history of using the Airbnb platform?  I'm wondering if the most recent people had outsized expectations due to minimal use on the platform.  For instance one negative section was our host was gone for three days how could we have figured out anything if something went wrong.  To me this is classic renters thoughts somehow when people rent they lose all problem solving abilities with lodging.  I've never stayed at an airbnb the host was at maybe my expectations are different then others.......

Whewwwwwwww  

Mike I'm in the same situation with an FHA ARM that has adjusted to 2.375 now. Got an agent to give me comps and he thought anywhere from 260-300 and I have 175k loan on it(purchased for 225. I'm out of PMI after doing a large payment. Problem is I would have to refi into a true rental mortgage instead of the owner occupied it was originally purchased for. I'm just going to let it ride for the next year or two and reevaluate after seeing how rates move.

I'd definitely call a broker and get a quote on rates for the refi to see if it would work.  

Looking to acquire what I thought was a triplex a couple blocks from my house.  Turns out it is zoned single family and may not be operating "legally"(which is not surprising because the entire neighberhood is single family).  Projected rent would probably go down by a third making it a horrid acquisition if the county enforced this.  Listing price recently dropped from 900k to 800k I'm thinking directly related to this issue.  

Love to hear peoples thoughts on the subjects for how they have dealt with properties like this.