All Forum Posts by: Sean Haardt

Hello BP community. Thanks in large part to BP, I purchased my first duplex this summer in Western Maryland. I look forward to helping others on BP reach their goals as I have been helped. But I urgently need advice and help again. My mother in law has a home in South Houston which is in one of the worst areas in terms of total rainfall and her home had a foot of water in it. She did not have flood insurance. She is staying with us in Maryland helping to raise our 14-month-old daughter and has not been able to get a flight due to airport closures. We finally were able to get someone over there to take pics today. It is indeed inundated with mold and a bad smell everywhere. It is going to have to be gutted. I'm trying to help her decide if it is worth rehabbing the place or selling. I hear FEMA has individual assistance of up to $33,000 but I don't know how much she will qualify for. Does anyone 1) know how much FEMA may help her, 2) have any advice on how to proceed as far as the speed and order to gut and begin rebuilding and still qualify for FEMA assistance? She needs to gut the place quickly as mold is growing daily. I also need contractors with references.

I bought in Hagerstown. I used a commercial loan to purchase and plan to refi with a traditional 30-year residential soon

Welcome Jackie! I started about a year ago and thanks to BP have my first duplex. I have the same plans as you do. Good luck.

Hello BP community,

Thanks to BP I recently purchased my first duplex and am now trying to help my mother out. My mother has recently fallen on hard times and needs to either sell her property or do a reverse mortgage, which I feel should be a last resort. I was hoping to use the knowledge I've gained over the last year from BP, over 200 podcasts, and several books that have been recommended to help her out by buying the property myself and just renting it back to her. Her townhome is worth $240K and she owes about 105K so she has about $135K in equity. She needs to access about 50K quickly, and reduce her $1,100/month PITI mortgage payment to about half that. The home is in a hot location in Frederick Maryland and similar models rent for $1700/month. Is there a way I can buy the home from her and structure the deal to keep her in it but reduce her mortgage payment and cash out about 50K? I'm just trying to keep from losing the home by doing a reverse mortgage. I hope I gave enough info for a suggestion. Thanks BP for any help.

Just wanted to say thanks to @Joshua Dorkin and @Brandon Turner and the BP community for helping make my first deal a reality for me after so many years of inaction. I have wanted to invest in real estate since Carlton Sheets days and I even have his VHS tapes still. But I found and joined BP as a Pro last July 19th about a month after my daughter was born, and during my summer off from being a high school history teacher... , and yesterday, less than a year later, closed on a nice cash-flowing duplex in Maryland. I started listening to the PodCasts from both ends, the beginning with Episode 1 and also from the most recent and working my way backward to stay current. I have listened to almost all of them now with about 30 in the middle to go. I have also read about 10 books/audiobooks I heard recommended over and over on the Podcasts and use the videos, calculators, forums and community tools like the forms. I am a late starter and don't have time for a long learning curve. I'll be 49 in less than a month and have a one-year old daughter close to Rosie's age, so this is huge for us. BP and their guests and members have helped me not only take action, but showed me how to get a good deal and run the numbers correctly. One of my favorite video episodes was Brandon's row of 4 homes that he put on 15 year notes and plans to use to fund his daughter's college by the time she is old enough to graduate high school. This is only the first of many buy and holds, with some flips along the way. Thank you again Josh and Brandon for the confidence to finally take action. 

Thanks @Rick S.! This is a big help.

Thanks @Paul Ronto. I'm trying the under 10 free Rentec since I only have two units. Hopefully I'll have reasons and properties to upgrade to Pro soon. Thanks for the encouragement. Need it right about now. I'll check out turbo, too.

Hello BP community,

Just want to say thanks to @Joshua Dorkin, @Brandon Turner and many of you. I have been on this site for one year now as a Pro member and ended up cancelling Sirius because all I've listened to is BP podcasts and audiobooks in my car for 1 year. Thank you to everyone for your help along the way, especially Josh and Brandon for making it easy to learn and always taking the time whether it's Podcast #10 or #210 to stop and explain things again and again. It makes a difference. I am closing on my first deal, a duplex, next week here in Maryland. I would not be here without this site.  Thanks BP. My wife and 1-year-old daughter say thank you, too.

For the forum readers, my question is this: Where do you find a lease other than on the BP files page and one that is tailored to your state? I am inheriting a tenant on a month to month who has been there for 3 years and pays on time, so I haven't been too worried. Now we are a week out. I've been looking on the BP files pages for leases and have something coming together thanks to Marcia Maynard and others and addendums, but I don't have the main document. I have joined the local landlord association but they don't meet again till August which is too late. Any suggestions would be appreciated as always.  Thanks BP!

I decided to go with Rentec in large part due to your message. Thanks for taking the time to help a rookie, David.

@Dan Schwartz. Thanks Dan! Appreciate it.