All Forum Posts by: Sudhanshu Singha

@Michele Velazquez

Is your PM accepting Zillow applications? A lot of potential tenants who use zillow are only going to use the Zillow application since you just need to pay the application fee once and you can apply to as many properties as you want in a certain time frame.

If the “competition” in your area is doing that and your PM is not accepting Zillow applications and instead charging an application fee per adult it would make sense why your leads are not converting into applications.

@Teho Kim

There is a startup I read about recently. The company name is roam. They have a lot of listings with assumable mortgages but right now it’s geographically limited.

@Patrick McKain You are probably not going to find any existing zoning to build a 4-plex and if you want to build one you will have to try to get a special use permit. Trying to get a special use permit for a 4-plex is probably not going to be successful either. It's really tough to find existing "By Right" zoning for duplex, triplex, quadplexes and you are better off looking at other area's for existing multi-family properties. You should check out the Richmond or the Hamptons road area for quadplexes since they are not that far away from NOVA and you should have better luck finding what you are looking for.  
 

@Isaac El I definitely think the eviction moratorium will get extended but I also think some kind of rent relief program will also be in place nationally to bailout small landlords. The more important question is whether the eviction moratorium is a "black swan" event or if it will be a policy which is implemented any time the economy goes south. 

@Juan F. Saa You should definitely shop around since you will definitely be able to find cheaper financial/accounting services. Also you may want to search for CPA's outside of the NOVA area since NOVA CPA's probably have higher billing rates due to higher cost of living. With the ease of doing business online now you should be able to find a cheaper out of area CPA that can handle you financial/accounting needs virtually. 

Also you should check out the tax forums on Biggerpockets if you end up having some questions related to real estate tax concepts like 1031 exchanges, tax treatment for flipping houses, deprecation rates etc. since you may be able to find your answer there. They usually have a few CPA's who give really good advise there can probably answer any questions you have which have not already been asked.  

@David To I think you should go with option A since I really do not think the your tenant your tenant will follow through on a payment plan that especially if they have completely stopped paying you completely. I also think the new administration is going to implement another national eviction moratorium right after inauguration. With the amount of losses you have had it might be a good time to try and offer a Cash for Keys deal for the tenant to move out and just cutting your losses while there is uncertainty about what is going to happen in 2021. The last thing you want is for a national moratorium on evictions for 2021 to become official and your tenant taking advantage of that. 

@Samuel Choi Have you considered Manassas? You will be able to buy a decent sized house for the price range you mentioned and you wont be crowded together as much especially if you are planning to have 3 roommates. It might be harder to find roommates but the demand for rent by the room arrangements should still be there. 

@Rachel Mutts I think the first thing you should do is join your local Real Estate Investors Association and start attending meetings in the Hampton Roads area. You will find like minded people there and they will be able to recommend lenders, investor friendly real estate agents, contractors, title companies etc. They will also probably be able to tell you specific area's to avoid and what area's to invest in.   

The hardest thing is to actually pull the trigger and buy your first property because you want to make sure it is a good deal and you don't lose money but if you do happen to lose money then just treat the loss as you paying tuition to gain education.  

@Kristin Caras 

This is really popular in Northern, Va since basements are almost standard in most of the newer construction townhomes which basically have a front or rear garage on half of the first floor and a recreation room/basement on the other side. It's usually the other way around though where the owner is living on the top two floors and they have a tenant in the basement to help subsidize their mortgage. 

You will also find people who basically rent out their townhome by the bedroom and that is where you can really start to run into some issues with limits on non-related individuals living in a single residence and with HOA's. I feel like you will not really run into an problems if you just lease out the top portion to a single tenant/family and the only issue is that you will have to share the kitchen which may or may not be a problem depending how how large the family is upstairs. Some people just to just create their own "kitchen" in the basement to respect the other tenant's privacy but that is easier to do with a basement in a SFR rather than a townhome.

@Aj Parikh Congrats on your purchase! I saw that you mentioned that you are from Northern Virginia and know the struggle to find decent cash flowing properties there for a reasonable price. You should check out Central VA and the Hampton Roads area. You should be able to find deals in a similar price range without having to purchase a property so far away.

Also whether your experience is good or bad you should really treat your first few properties as a learning experience and not get discouraged if things go south. If anything just treat any potential losses as tuition for a educational experience.