All Forum Posts by: William Sing

I'm not sure if this is for just utilities or for the mortgage payment/repairs. You'd have to expand more on the details on mortgage payment/repairs. 

There are two common ways to split utilities. 

- Split the utilities by sqft - This is more common when you have separated spaces where the sqft is clearly defined for each party. 

- A flat fee - This is where you include the cost of the utilities in the rent. You can look at the past utilities and then project them out for the year. Note that energy costs have risen a lot and you will need to take that into consideration. 

If you have more questions, feel free to DM me. I noticed you are in Oregon so there are some laws you need to be aware of if you do just charge the tenants with the split utilities. 

Owner Financing is probably going to be your best bet but know that you will need to do work for it to find off-market deals. If you can find someone who needs some help and see how they do it, that would be ideal. That way you can learn a lot more and see what to avoid and not. I highly recommend going to a local real estate networking event as well!

Congrats Eric on your first House Hack!

Based on how I'm reading this it sounds like this is a multiple-floor home. When it comes to heating and cooling with multiple stories, there is always going to be some degree of difference between each of the floors. I'd recommend just using space heaters for the time being. They usually are more energy efficient than baseboard heaters but are a shorter-term solution. 

The only thing you could potentially do is install a ductless heat pump (mini-split) in the cooler room. These are usually the best way to heat a house uniformly since you can have multiple heads. I have seen a lot of them on the top floor since the main HVAC system doesn't cool down an attic space well. 

I would just build in the cost of the electricity including the space heaters. It is completely up to you though!

This is a great opportunity for you! I think that the only major factor I'd be worried about with the second option is holding costs. Dealing with the city can be a pain sometimes but may be a better long-term play if you are looking to stay there for a longer period of time. 

Only thing I'm unsure about is the interest rate. I'd also make sure I'd talk to a couple banks to see if they even do loans under 100k. They may or may not need a 25% down. 

HELOCs have a couple of different flavors to them and running them through a lender might be helpful. If the HELOC is interested only and can be fixed this might be helpful in different solutions. Otherwise, I think you did answer your own question!

This is a good reference!

Hey there! Recommend Emily Baldwin for insurance needs. Hope she can help! https://paynewest.com/colleagu...

Might want to look at the HUD Site for your area. It gives more preference for non-cash buyers. If you are competing against cash offers then purchase price is really all you can do besides waiving inspections but I don't really recommend that. You will take an initial loss but there will be a point where it doesn't make sense for the cash buyer. 

Hi Roy, I usually just use apartments.com since it is free and does a lot of what you are looking for. If you start to get 5-10+ units it might make more sense to use rentredi or something else that you need to pay for. I also found a property management company that does a la carte activities like lease-ups, etc. This helps me not focus too much on the small stuff.