All Forum Posts by: Stevie Kim

 Thanks Melissa, I really appreciate it! I will try them out 

I snowbird in AZ and WA and when I'm home in WA I Airbnb my Tucson place. It's an older place that needs some upgrades but every time I get anything done it's a half-*** job. I have almost an acre and would love to get some upgrades done on the electrical and start specking out an ADU but because of my experiences so far with everyone from electricians to handymen to landscapers I'm holding back for a while. I'd love to have a solid list of folks I could trust. Anyone on this thread still have any luck?

Yes Ramsha you need both if you are in Tucson city limits. If you are in unincorporated Pima County you don't. Airbnb should have this information as well as other sites via google search

https://www.bizbuysell.com/ has reports and educational articles for understanding the various metrics for their listings. Such as EBITDA averages for industries, etc. I've found it super helpful and if I recall they have a report for laundrymats.

Hey! Sounds like a nightmare come true, sorry you had to deal with that mess. I have a couple of questions as a newbie:

1. Did you use background checks initially and if so what did they miss if anything?

2. Are you now using one piece of software to help with your newer due diligence process or are you ad-hoc performing "deeper tenant screening, verifying payment histories, and cross-checking financials with third-party records."?

Thanks in advance! Right now I house hack, but am looking to properly get in the game by end of next year, so I'm trying to be prepared.

Thanks for the checklist and suggestions for negotiations. That's where I really need to firm up on. Funny enough, the house I made an offer on before the one I closed on I did go through multiple inspections: electrical, plumbing, and regular inspection and I ended up walking away from that one. But, the timing was harder on the next one where I was out of state and negotiating my employment contract with the company that acquired the startup I'd worked at for over 5 years. I only did a regular inspection and since I wasn't in town during it, I wasn't able to see first hand what was referenced in the report. Since this house is one I Airbnb part-time and live in part-time it's more painful because I have to experience and see all the issues myself! Again, thanks for taking the time to write down your experience and thoughts, I appreciate it!

I keep thinking about tools that can help me reduce risk by catching errors or red flags in seller disclosures and inspection docs, but that's likely because I've had a bad experiences with both.

A simple and obvious example is a seller checking "No" for pests section, such as Scorpions and Snakes in Arizona when the property is in the desert, so obviously, there will be snakes and scorpions. 

A costly example could be remodeling information claiming a permit was issued when there wasn't any in the county's records. Or that the remodel wasn't performed by a licensed professional. 

While this is regular due diligence, mistakes can be made when the market is hot and you have to move fast. I recently watched a BiggerPockets podcast on YouTube where both folks made flood insurance mistakes from not noticing something in the disclosure. These I think are considered rookie mistakes, but I'm all about finding ways to reduce risks from human error.

Has anyone else considered technological solutions to help the due diligence process? Maybe agents don't care about these issues, but it can be painful when it impacts ROI as a buyer.

I won't get into too many details since the list would be long, but in 2021 I bought a house in Tucson for a part-time escape from Washington state winters while Airbnb'ing it the rest of the time. The previous owners did a do-it-yourself remodel which had tons of red flags if I had taken the time to cross-reference the sellers disclosure with the inspection report, but at that time the market was hot and I had to move fast. Over the last 3 years there has been everything and anything that could go wrong with the house due to the remodel and because it was built in 1960. While many appliances and the A/C, water heater, etc were updated they didn't update plumbing or wiring. It's turned into a money pit, but at the same time it's on a beautiful .90 acres with a view of the mountains and a pool that I had remodeled. I definitely don't make any money off the place, but the airbnb rentals pay for maintenance and my gas driving to and from WA :-) 

Question: Have any of you missed some either obvious or not so obvious red flags that would have caused you to negotiate or walk away from the deal and if so what were they? I want to create a checklist for myself next time!