All Forum Posts by: Thomas O'Donnell

Is there anything near the property that would make it work as a medium-term rental? Such as a hospital with traveling nurses, or a big company down the road where some employees might need temporary stays?

Personally, I think the best way to get into the game is by house-hacking. Especially if you are looking to buy multifamily. You can do this with an FHA loan (3.5% down, 30-year mortgage). The idea is that you will live in one of the units while renting out the others, and hopefully the other tenant's rent helps to lower your cost of living, or eliminate it completely. If you decide to house-hack, this also helps you to learn the ins and outs of property management which can be very important to know. I purchased my first house-hack duplex a few months back and I have learned so much from doing it all myself. Mistakes were made, but mistakes allow for learning and improving your processes! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want to talk real estate. Happy investing!

Hey Beau, I'm currently getting ready to take my home inspection exam for the state of Ohio. I am currently not a licensed home inspector, but I have been through the schooling/courses and feel confident enough to offer some assistance. I'd love to try and help you out. I would 100% address the CapEx items such as the Roof, Water Heaters, Furnace, Foundation, Plumbing and Electrical issues. Some of these can have very small and simple problems, but some could require a lot of money to fix. Without seeing your actual report I can't really recommend too much. However, be aware that home inspectors cannot directly say "You need to fix this" or "this needs to be replaced asap". It is a limited visual inspection, and they are there to document things for safety and functionality, and if something looks wrong, they will recommend you have a licensed tradesperson come oiut and look at it before closing (such as an electrician, a roofer or a plumber). These tradespeople are specialized and can tell you if something 100% should be replaced or fixed and exactly why. Adding contingencies to your offers where you can have these people come out and look at stuff will help you address them with the seller. You definitely want to be able to understand this report as it will help you to negotiate the price of the home, or negotiate for repairs to be made before buying it. If you want to DM me and maybe send over your report I can try to digest some of it.

I would not. The other tenants may not like the smell of smoke which will follow him into the house. It is also really hard to believe that a smoker is willing to leave the property multiple times a day at different hours to go smoke, especially if the weather is bad. Best to be safe rather than sorry, but also remember that other people live there too and it may affect them. Good luck!

I currently own a duplex that I used  a conventional loan with (0% down). If I wanted to buy an additional property this year, what would be the best financing option and how should I go about it? 
I was planning on purchasing another2-4 unit property using an FHA loan and moving out of this one to house-hack the new one.

What obstacles would I face if I went this route? Would there be any debt issues associated with my current duplex that would keep me from qualifying for an FHA loan? Would I be able to use an FHA if I'm still living here since I do "intend" on moving into the new one?
Also, I’d you have any other finance strategies I would love to hear them. I’m a little limited on capital but I really do want to add another property before this year is over. Thanks!

 I do wonder if maybe this could also keep a tenant from wanting to make a maintenance call? If they do not want to pay $50 for each repair. Have you ever experienced that?

 Awesome examples, thank you!

 Some good stuff here, thanks!

 Yes, but once you find out that they did, how would you go about the situation in having them pay for it to be fixed? One would think they would accept responsibility but some people do not. What if they refuse to pay? Evictions are not cheap and threatening an eviction could get them to cause more damage.

How do you determine who is responsible for repairs/maintenance? 

Obviously if the furnace or AC goes out, or you have leaks coming from the roof or upstairs bathroom, it seems that it would be the landlord's responsibility to address and fix these issues. But what kinds of other issues could be caused by the tenant, that they should be responsible for paying for? And how would you structure this in the lease so there is a rule that states that a tenant must pay for certain repairs if things are their fault? We all know there can be damage, leaks, etc. that are due to the neglect or actions of the tenant. How can we protect ourselves as landlords and make sure we aren't the ones eating the costs?