All Forum Posts by: Steve Volk

A friend and I bought an investment house together but he wants to move on so I'm buying his half out. Do I need to file new a deed with only my name on it or can I do a quitclaim deed simply removing his name from the current deed? We're in Pennsylvania.

I'm scheduled to close on a REO SFR that I'm planning to remodel and rent out. I called my insurance agent to arrange for home owners insurance and a few days later he informed me that State Farm looked at pictures of the house online and they declined to insure the property.

There's some peeling paint, drywall damage and a few shingles missing but the house is far from falling down and I should have it rent ready in about a month. 

I'm not sure what my options are on this, I'd like to close next week. I'm paying cash for the property so I'm wondering if I even need insurance on it to close. I certainly don't want to buy the property and not have it insured but I also don't feel I have time to call every insurance agent in town to see if they'll insure it, only to get turned down again.

Any advice on what to do in a situation like this?

Thanks!

I should be closing on a SFH in early December and having it rent ready about a month later after my planned renovations are complete. My plan is to use the BRRRR strategy for future buy and hold investments to start my portfolio. My question is how long should I wait or, will a bank make me wait to refinance the house. Will they want to see a steady rent income of a few months from the property or will they base the equity solely on the value of the house and the rent history won't come into play? I'd like to refinance as quickly as possible and I'm hoping that it can be done in a short amount of time.

I'm looking at buying a foreclosed triplex that uses a natural gas hot water boiler to heat the  building. I was wondering if it's possible to call the gas provider and get a statement of the prior few years gas usage so I can estimate the bills that I would have to pay if I buy it. Has anyone else done this with the utility companies on an investment property? Will the utility companies release this information to someone who doesn't yet own the property?

Thanks!

Just finished The Richest Man in Babylon, I highly recommend it. If I didn't know better I'd swear it was written specifically for real estate investors.

I put an offer in on a Fannie Mae owned property this week and it was rejected. The situation is that the house is in a section of town where I would consider it a C class area. The listing price is $14,900 but the house needs a new roof, total interior renovation, a new sewer main (so it would comply with our new local regulations) and extensive plumbing repair due to thieves stealing the copper pipes. I figured the total repairs would amount to $13-15k with much of the work done by me. In the end the house would have an ARV of $22-25k with the local comps taken into consideration.

My bid was $5,000 cash which I thought was, and still, is an honest price for this property considering all of the repairs that are needed. I may be willing to raise the offer a few $1000 but nothing more than that.

Am I being unrealistic with this offer or should I just walk away and let this house become just another blighted, uninhabited property that my town has become too accustomed to?

Thanks for the reply Stacy, sounds like we're both facing the same concerns. I've also considered splitting the utilities to make this all possible. Right now I still think that it makes sense to do the split and maximize the property.  Good luck!

I have the opportunity to buy a 3/2 SFH that has a full basement that was once a downstairs living area for a family member. I'm thinking that my best ROI with this property would be converting the basement into a legal separate apartment and renting it out as well.

My question is, has anyone had any experience in doing this? Is it as easy as just registering the new apartment with the post office for an address after it this space has been inspected and passed code as a livable space? Has doing this been a nightmare for anyone? 

I know the answer may depend on where I'm located (Johnstown, PA) but I wanted to throw this out to hopefully get some feedback.

Thanks! 

It's really family that keeps me living where I currently am. My and my wife's parents are here and we have a 13 year old daughter that wants to graduate from the school that she attends. My wife and I have talked about moving but wouldn't want to for at least 5-6 years.

First post to BP and I'm looking for input on where seasoned investors look for their investment properties in relation to where they live. I live in a small city in PA where the economy isn't great, jobs are few and all of the bad things that accompany these things are happening (crime, unemployment, low incomes, bad housing market etc). However, I'm two hours away from Pittsburgh and many parts of Pittsburgh are experiencing great growth and revitalization due to a lot of tech companies coming to town (Google for example) and some great colleges located in the city. I'd like to start investing in buy and hold properties but it seems as though I'd be crazy to buy anything where I live and not in Pittsburgh but I'm just afraid two hours is too far away from where I live to make these feasible. I'm a hands in kind of guy with a lot of construction and remodeling experience so I'd like to do the sweat equity work on my properties myself but the two hour one way travel time to the city would be a burden for sure. I know that there are property management companies that I could use but I'm afraid just getting started, this would be leaving money on the table on my end. I guess my question is, what's too far geographically from my residence to buy investment properties and still have some sort of life?