All Forum Posts by: Gordon Olson

@David Barnett Even though you're out of town do you know if the requirements apply only to the city proper or the suburbs too?

Before I choose any duplex properties in Minneapolis it looks like the recent reversal requiring (I'm putting it delicately) landlords to house Section 8 tenants was reversed.
I'm not keen on the idea of being forced to accept tenants just because they receive Section 8 vouchers.
Any current landlords in Minneapolis out there that are dealing with this? Doesn't this also necessarily force landlords to automatically have to renew their leases as well? And is this only for the City of Minneapolis proper or for the surrounding suburbs as well? I think it's only for the city proper.
If I'm going to be forced to house tenants and not be able to ever evict them or factor in cost of living increases due to improvements I'm just going to avoid the City of Minneapolis altogether.
Thoughts? Thanks.

Thank you all for the great feedback!! I was told by a real estate agent I'd have to hold on to the stuff for 6 months hence my concern regarding this. Good to hear it's really only a month.
@Tim Swierczek   I think I'd like that. Financing may be an issue for you and I'd like to know what you have to offer. I'll look up your site and contact you next week. Thanks too for the line by line breakdown, that was helpful.

@Tammy Ziegler

Thanks especially for the landlord/tenant manual tip. I'm going to get a copy of that as well.
@Oscar Brooks Thanks for the article, I did read it.

I live in Minneapolis and am looking to house hack for my 1st property ever! My concern is, if I buy a duplex 1)am I required to allow usage of a garage on one side and 2) in the case a tenant leaves without removing their belongings from the garage do I have to hang onto it?

If I specify in the lease that any leftover items will be discarded of the day after moving am I allowed to do that in MN? I want to avoid having to put the tenant's stuff in storage and paying storage fees, etc. I'm also concerned that even if that is the case I would continually wind up getting stuck with paying to dispose of tenant's stuff.

Can I charge a monthly rental fee for the garage as well even if it's already attached to the property? I mostly want to buy a duplex in a way where if tenants leave I won't get stuck paying to store or dispose of their stuff. Thanks.

I am new to REI and here's my situation:
I have been renting for over 34 years (ouch!) and I want to get out of this situation. Most of those years I've paid cash for everything so until after recently taking out a business loan I have had no credit history.
I'm currently attempting to get pre-approval for a mortgage. I'd be a 1st time home buyer so I'm considering an FHA loan with down payment assistance from my state (MN). But I've heard concerns too about the effects of living in a property for a year or at least until there's some equity established before I can refinance as a BRRRR, such as being liable for the life of the loan for mortgage insurance. But I think that's only while I'm still in an FHA loan rather than a conventional loan.
So here's what I want to do: I want to start out with either some rental properties like a duplex and/or do some wholesaling. Mostly I'm looking for what is the best way to use a 1st time home loan for leverage to invest. I don't really have any $$ for a down payment at this point either. But neither do I want to continue to pay $950+/mo in rent with no equity like I'm doing.
I'm looking not only for advice but a wholesaling mentor in the Mpls/St. Paul area as well.
Feel free to ask ?s for clarification. I'm excited about getting going as I know this will make a great success story WHEN I succeed both for myself and hopefully as an inspiration to others. Thanks.

Thanks Frank, I appreciate that. It's good to know that even though money was lost on your 1st property failure the 1st time around should be a learning curve, not an excuse to quit.

I actually had pretty good balance when I first started riding a bicycle so I never fell over but that's beside the point. ;) Drove into a swamp yes, but never fell over, lol.

I've been renting for more than 34 years and I KNOW  I need to get out of this situation! 

I would say my greatest fear is making a mistake and having a deal fail miserably, i.e. a Fear of failure. This has caused me to get stuck in the 'paralysis of analysis' in the past- a lot of activity with no action.

Right now I'm just trying to learn good ways to generate leads to be able to research.

Thanks.