All Forum Posts by: Tom R.

I never buy a car I cannot pay cash for.  I paid $150 for my first car but a battery in it and drove it for 3 years. It didn't get me any chicks but I was able to save up for nicer cars because I didn't have payments. This year I paid $11k cash for a fully loaded car that had less than 30k miles on it. I also bought my first rental property this year after saving for only 8 months.

A house listing I was looking at said "This sale will require 45 days re probate attorney." Seeing this I immediately decided to pass on the property but thinking back on it I have no idea what that means.

Can someone explain it to me?

It took me about 4 months but those dream deals do sometimes fall out of the sky. The reason I decided to get into real estate was that I stumbled on one of those deals. I wasn't able to secure the necessary funds in time to close but it got me started in real estate.

I didn't have much to sacrifice when I decided to invest in real estate. I was already very frugal. Before I decided to invest I was making double and tripple payments to my student loans. when I decided I could make more money investing that I could save by making extra payments I funeled that extra money into my savings and stopped contributing to my 401k. My 401k has never preformed well anyway. I have never had an auto loan and I never carry over a balance on a credit card. I did negotiate a lower rate on my satellite tv but I was able to keep the same channels so it wasn't really a sacrifice.

Thanks a lot

In my daily browse of real estate sites I noticed this. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/...

It appears to be a converted barn or a house that looks like a barn for $80k on 3/4 acre. Supposedly built in 1995 but it looks older than that. I dont have anywhere near enough time or money to take on this kind of project but a house this size and age in this area could easily go for $175k.

Its going to need all new flooring, appliances and at least some dry wall work. Reading the description it looks like it doesn't have any traditional bedrooms. The upstairs bedroom appears to be more of a loft and a large downstairs room which could be a family room, large bedroom or workshop.

What I would like to do is convert the bedroom to a more traditional bedrooms with doors and closets, possibly turning the the large downstairs bedroom into 2 bedrooms and adding a bathroom maybe in the loft bedroom area.

What would these improvements cost?

Flooring

Bedroom addition

Bathroom addition

Also there is no paved driveway. What would an asphalt driveway cost?

In my daily browse of real estate sites I noticed this. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/...

It appears to be a converted barn or a house that looks like a barn for $80k on 3/4 acre. Supposedly built in 1995 but it looks older than that. I dont have anywhere near enough time or money to take on this kind of project but a house this size and age in this area could easily go for $175k. 

Its going to need all new flooring, appliances and at least some dry wall work. Reading the description it looks like it doesn't have any traditional bedrooms. The upstairs bedroom appears to be more of a loft and a large downstairs room which could be a family room, large bedroom or workshop.

What I would like to do is convert the bedroom to a more traditional bedrooms with doors and closets, possibly turning the the large downstairs bedroom into 2 bedrooms and adding a bathroom maybe in the loft bedroom area.

What would these improvements cost?

Flooring

Bedroom addition

Bathroom addition

Also there is no paved driveway. What would an asphalt driveway cost?

I've found a house which has some features that are perfect for my friend who I live with and it is priced low enough so that our bills would not go up substantially if we split them evenly. The problem is its pretty rough.

It is a 1080 sqft 2 bed 1 bath with a 2 car garage a large pool and a walk in tub. It has a mixture of tile laminate and linoleum. The laminate and linoleum are both at the end of their lifespan this accounts for about 75% of the flooring. Most of the windows are older double pane and one of the old single pane windows is broken. There are no window coverings on any of the windows. The bathroom has the walk in tub which would be perfect for my friend who is disabled but there is standing water on the ground from a leak. I checked under the tub and it looks dry and the water to the sink has been turned off so I'm sure the leak is coming from the sink. The pool in the back is huge but the pump doesn't appear to work. I've got a friend who runs a pool cleaning service so I plan on having him take a look a look at it if I decide to make an offer. The detached two car garage unfinished. It has a large attached laundry room and there is another small attached room which I wasn't able to get into.

So here's the kicker. The roof on the garage is gone. I can see daylight through the slats. I have to assume the roof on the house need replaced too. 

I know the house is not worth the asking price with all the repairs needed but if I can get the seller to make some of the needed repairs there could be a deal there.

Originally posted by @Amy Beth:

I would never rent to this tenant since she did not provide the contact information of her current or past landlords or her employer’s information. She is hiding something. Those are huge red flags and more important than credit score and credit history. I would immediately deny her based on not being able to verify her landlord or employer and focus my energies on finding a qualified tenant.

Since she is my only applicant in a month I am trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.  I verified her employment through the companies website. I asked about her landlord and she claims she manages the trailer park her house is adjacent to which is plausible. Hopefully I can verify this. I also asked about the late bills and collections. She said that these were due to her divorce from her last husband. Most of those bills have been paid off and she is in the process of having them removed from her credit. This is also plausible so I have asked her to verify this. Most of the collections are medical which I am sympathetic to. I had a medical bill go to collections once because I contested the charges. They charged $300 for a bandage and some gauze. It took awhile but they reversed the charges.

It just seems weird to me. My credit score was just over 100 points above hers a month ago when I bought my house and I have no derogatory marks.