All Forum Posts by: Shawn York

@Monica Johnson was correct on trash and sewer costs.
As to your your comment of "...how much will utilities typically run me since I will have to pay"... that's kind of your choice on whether or not you are paying those costs. I don't pay utilities for my tenants. My leases stipulate that tenants pay their own and every duplex I've seen has separate electric meters. However, it IS quite common to have only a single water service to the house so that's typically a cost for the landlord since there's no way to accurately determine the amount of water usage to each unit. If the water is metered separately, then they pay water also. 
Electric is far more expensive than gas... so if you ARE paying electric, then the biggest determining factor on how much your bills would be are going to be based on whether or not the properties are gas furnaces or electric baseboard heaters.
Sounds like you already have a specific property picked out... if that's the case, then this is a question you should be getting answered in your research. You should be asking for profit and loss statements in your due diligence which will (better) include historical utility costs. 

@Jaron Walling
oof!! I get it. I hate electrical. If a pipe is leaking, I can see that and know it... that wire lying there... it may be dead or it may be live... can't tell by looking at it. Deceptive bastard!!
Good luck!

Hi @Jaron Walling
You looking for a dedicated electrician? Or will a handyman do? Kevin has done some electrical work for me.

That's more of a personal preference I think. Personally, I think 2/1 is fine, so is 3/1. I try to stay away from 1/1 but am ok with everything else. 

@Mary E Copas
It's residential but the lease does not say all occupants must be on the lease. As I mentioned, this is an inherited lease... the next one will say that. But again, the problem is classifying "occupants" since they aren't staying the night. I think it's her grandchildren and their friends (all young adults, not kids) In all honesty, I think there my be some drug activity involved, but I can't prove anything. If I could, I'd go that route. It's sad, I think they're more or less taking advantage of her kindness.

@Nathan Gesner
"...the number of guests has never been a problem. It could happen but I wouldn't spend time worrying about it until it does."
It IS causing problems now... that's why I asked.

@Patricia Steiner Thank you!

Does anyone have any language they use in their lease to limit the number of "guests"? I can't imagine that I'm the only person that's ever come up against this situation, but I've looked fairly extensively and I've seen a lot of information regarding occupants, but not guests. In a nutshell, I've got like 6 people "living" in a 2 bd unit... one person only on the lease. (inherited lease/tenants from when we recently purchased the property) There's only one or 2 people actually spending the night and therefore "occupants" but all day, every day (or the majority of days) there's closer to 6-10 people that are occupying the unit.
Probably a sticky situation legally where a landlord CAN limit occupancy but since they aren't spending the night... are they technically classified as "occupants"? In my opinion, it's overbearing, as a landlord, to say "you can't have any guests" or limit the number to a restrictive number like only one or two... I mean c'mon, how many of us have a few friends over for dinner or to watch a football game etc.? I would think you'd run into major legal issues if you even tried to enforce a lease clause or an eviction for too many guests. But every day (or close to everyday) is excessive.
Plumbing, appliances, water heater, doors/hinges, flooring... all these things (and more) suffer decreased lifespan when there are 6-10 people in a unit designed for a maximum of 4 (2bd/1ba) This is not even taking into account that the extra people in the unit are "harder" on the property than the tenant. This unit is in the mid-west... security deposit (being equal to one-month's rent) is woefully inadequate to cover pretty much any damages that occur.
Thanks for your input/thoughts.

@Josh C. said pretty much what I was going to say. Inspector inconsistencies and lead time for all the paper work is a pain, but less evictions/hassles is a bonus. One thing to also consider, because there is such a long waiting list for people waiting to get on to the S8 roles, the tenants will do most anything keep their vouchers. So (I've found) you will have much less issues with tenants and when you do, the issues are corrected almost immediately. I think I've been able to rent at a *slightly* higher rate with S8, but the biggest thing is that I usually get a much larger pool of tenants that are able to "afford" that higher rent.

@Richard Olshove ahhhhh, my misunderstanding. I thought this was for a purchase, not a turn. I've never had an inspection on a turn.

Is there a difference between inspecting for a renal? What different things are typical inspection services looking for that you wouldn't want to know about for a rental? If you're a buy and hold investor, I would think you'd want as thorough of a report as possible. I've always just used a "typical" inspection company.