All Forum Posts by: Stephen Yablonski

 I completely agree with you here.  Even before this all began I was saying that I'm renting it to a new tenant, but part of me wants to try and find a way to keep the original tenants.

It is definitely too cheap.  This is only the 2nd time the unit is hitting the market as I lived in it for 4.5 years prior to putting it up a year ago. I've listed about $100 -$150 under nearby complexes which have additional amenities, but there a very few to no comparable 2/3 family homes to base off of.

I was originally planning to list at least $100 more, but I have 5 straight weeks of travel upcoming and if I didn't get it rented for May 1st, I have at least a month of vacancy.

Hi all,

This is for a 1bed/1bath unit in 2-family home in the greater Boston area.  I believe I know what the general recommendations will be, but I'm curious to get other people's opinions here.

My current tenants are non-US citizens, and have been working in the US for 5 years now (at a US based company).  They are being relocated internationally (back to their home country) for a short term assignment between 7-12 months.  This was completely unexpected (they recently bough all new furniture, and occurred 2 days after I sent the lease renewal), but came with a promotion.  They will find out the exact duration over the next week.  They've been renting from me for 1 year and have been perfect (literally perfect) tenants during that time.  Extremely grateful, take excellent care of the unit, are loved by the the neighbors and the tenants in the other unit.  They would love to keep the unit and are considering floating the rent for the duration but just can't quite make it work.   They have been trying to find a friend who would be willing to lease the unit from me for the duration of their assignment without luck.  One option they floated past me today was keeping the lease in their name and sub-letting to a friend for the assignment duration.  The current tenants would continue to pay the rent as this friend cannot afford it (the friend would pay some rent amount to the current tenants).

This is a great unit, and very easy to rent. In the 7 days since I've found out they are being relocated. I've listed listed the unit, done two sets of showings for a total of 14 groups, and received 12 applications of which 10 meet my criteria.  This is at $150 higher rent than I had sent over in my lease renewal.

If they weren't such great tenants I wouldn't even be considering it (even with raising the rent to the higher amount), but my gut reaction is that too many things can go wrong with them out of the country and someone living in my apartment who can't afford it.

I would be crazy to renew the lease with them and have a subletter, right?

Could you have the new tenant take over the lease/sublease with a rider stating as of date XX the new tenant is in good standing?  You could potentially have a verbal agreement in place to followup with a year long lease after the original lease ends.  I have no idea of legal ramifications, but just a thought.

I wouldn't worry about 6 months of searching.  It took me 2.5 years and 12 offers.  I ended up with the property that best fit my needs and was able to get a very strong feel for the market, laws, etc.

Thanks for the reply @Joe Villeneuve, 

It seems that no matter which route (or combination) I use, the $ will still be coming from cash flow. Its just whether I defer those payments and invest in the mean time. The way I'm thinking currently, is eventually I'd like to have a capex reserve fund sitting around $5k and using the HELOC.

I am saving for vacancies in addition to my capex savings. While living in the house (which i plan for at least 5 years), I can have a 10% vacancy rate w/o taping into my capex funds.

The biggest hurdle for me mentally is getting to a point where I'm comfortable with my reserves. Purchasing the property basically wiped out all my cash, but if i really needed I could use my ROTH IRA in a pinch. I originally planned to use these funds for the purchase, but opted not to last minute.

From what I've researched, I like the concept of a HELOC for major capex, but wanted to get other people's opinions.

I've recently bought a 1910s duplex in the greater Boston area for a little more than $600k as a house hack. With the age of the home I need to consider major CapEx. Right now I have on the following on my radar:

• $3k (immediate): W/D and hookups
• $15k (~2 years): 2x heating conversion to natural gas and baseboard heating for 3rd floor
• $15k (~5 years): House siding

I've budgeted $500/month for capex and am putting it into a savings account.

Down the line, once i'm under 80% LTV (5 years w/o appreciation), I'm not certain if I should consider using a HELOC for capex or try to rely on a savings account. Obviously there is an opportunity cost to that money and I should have some amount of cash available. The decision will partly depend on my risk tolerance.

What's everyone's thoughts on a HELOC vs savings for CapEx? Pros vs Cons? Other thoughts?

@Domenic D'Aurora I've just spend 2.5 years looking for a house hack in Woburn, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Melrose and recently closed and moved into my property in Wakefield.  I have a pretty good understanding of those markets and can recommend you to the agent I used.  

That being said, my personal opinion is that we are near the top with regards to the values of properties, but the market is still in a good spot to buy.  You just have to do your due diligence and take your time w/o overbidding.  I had a very good rent situation, so I didn't need to rush into any purchase.

I would recommend looking in the area that you want to live and will be convenient to for work.  If you pick the right property, house hacking can offset a lot of your costs and put you in a good position even if you needed to hire a PM at a later point