All Forum Posts by: Tim Bee

If you have the ability to do it now, do it. I completely disagree that able bodied people are "turned off" by these amenities and if they are, how sad is that. Nowadays, design is so advanced you'd often not even know it's built to be accessible. That said, there is a considerable lack of accessible properties everywhere and there definitely IS demand. I have a vacation rental in North Carolina and I'd say at least once a month I get asked by someone looking to book whether or not it's accessible. And while it's not currently, this is something my husband and I had talked about doing and were planning to do before (ironically and sadly) he got very, very ill. After he became completely paralyzed, I found myself wondering if we'd ever be able to use our own vacation home because it wasn't accessible for him and it made me realize just how limited and unwelcoming the world is for people with disabilities. In the midterm rental community, it is regularly discussed how frequently people inquire about accessible properties, particularly in the highest end insurance placement niche where there is, indeed, a price premium on accessible properties. Personally, I'm sick of the "what's in it for me" mentality. You can be a business minded person and someone who wants to provide opportunity for others. The two can and should co-exist. It sounds like you're at a point in your project where you could make these modifications in a cost effective manner. I commend you for considering that. While few people will ever tell you they passed on renting your property because they didn't like the accessibility features, you'll know for sure when someone doesn't rent it because of the lack of these features.

I can tell you that as a buyer I would not want hand rails, ramps, these weird wide doors to walk through and some walk in bath tub that has a door on it. I'd pass up on an ADA home unless I'm an ADA patient. These days homes can be extremely expensive and I'm not going to spend my hard earned money to settle for a home that has all these funky changes.

It's too bad that physical limitations equate to "funky changes" in your mind. Just wait until you or someone you love becomes disabled and you'll find yourself viewing those funky features with new eyes. May it never come to that for you. I never thought it would for me....until it did.

When I need it I will gladly invest in it. Until then....I'm gonna pass on stuff like that

0 Votes

Napa County, California

The tenant is Sec 8. Here's what it says about that

"
Section 504 applies to housing that receives Federal funds. This
includes, for example, public housing or other affordable housing.
Section 504 typically requires more from housing providers than the Fair
Housing Act. Generally, under Section 504, you must pay for a
reasonable accommodation, and you cannot make the applicant or tenant
pay for it. You must offer reasonable accommodations if you know an
applicant or tenant is an individual with a disability, even if they
have not specifically asked for one."

0 Votes

Just rent to the disabled person with the wheelchair. Please be advised: you might have to widen door ways and lower counter tops and install ramps and grab rails at your own expense if the tenant wont pay. It could run you about 30 grand or more depending. Or don't rent to them and then do the math. See which one provides a better ROI.

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In CA: I have a tenant who, all of a sudden is in a wheelchair. They want widened door ways and God knows what else after that. I'm guessing they might eventually want all the ADA requirements. Changes to convert a whole house to meet ADA requirements and the ongoing nonsense that might keep coming up sounds insane. Thinking about selling this home before I get in too deep. Then there's the issue with doing a 1031 which is fine but my property taxes would go from $2200/yr to $4400/yr for an identical home. Thoughts???

1 Vote

Quote from @Bonnie Low:

0 Votes

Napa County, California

Quote from @Joe Villeneuve:

Quote from @Tim Bee:

Quote from @Joe Villeneuve:

Why would you refi if you can't rent it.Sell it now. You're losing money from lack of income, but you're losing more money because it's paid off.

I used to do re-fi's and get loans early on when rates were low. ROI was great then. I understand dead money but with high interest rates and putting minimal money down or re-fying leaving 80% LTV the margins on SFR's is extremely tight. Can you give me an example of a deal you've done in the last year so I can compare your numbers to the markets I am looking at?

Thanks!

My numbers don't matter. They're great, but they shouldn't matter to you. This isn't a contest where you compare your numbers to someone else's because no two investors have the same financial goals, and plans to get there. One person's junk, is another person's antique. Each step my cash took along the path of my plan was established based on how (strategy used), where (market invested in), and when (cash needed to move onto the next deal (the plan).
Each step required a specific amount of added cash exiting the deal as required by the next step, so I did deals that may have a cash profit that someone else wouldn't have done because they were looking at a disconnected result. I was looking at a specific cash result.
With that in mind I never accepted a bad deal (negative CF) because it served no purpose, and only forced a step backwards. If I walked into a deal, and for any reason (i.e. CAPEX) that caused a NCF, I dumped that property ASAP, took the cash I could get out of it, and moved it forward to a deal where I was making a profit. Sitting around waiting for a bad deal to somehow turn into a good one is stupid (sorry). Any negative money has to be recovered first, and you're not going to do it in a bad deal. So get your cash out and put into a good one, where that deal can recover the lost money and make more.
You wouldn't keep putting chips into a bad hand in Poker, you'd fold. At least I hope you would.

I was asking about a specific example not to be competitive but because that's how I learn. Didn't mean for it to come off as being competitive. Thank you though

0 Votes

Quote from @Joe Villeneuve:

Why would you refi if you can't rent it.Sell it now. You're losing money from lack of income, but you're losing more money because it's paid off.

Thanks!

0 Votes

A lot of interesting replies here. Thanks. Yes it has a PM and about 80% of my properties are leased to Sec 8 tenants. This one is in a small town outside of a very large city. All my others in the large city get rented in less than a month. This was my first (and last) venture outside of a large city. Yes it looks like it's time to unload this one. Thanks for the tips!

1 Vote

I have a rental where market rent for this SFR is around $2000/mo. It's been vacant since June. That's puts it vacant for about 4 months now. I started advertising it at $2100 and steadily lowered it to now $1700. I've gotten a few bites and some apps but mostly dead beats with evictions and bad rental history. Should I keep going lower or should I sell. It's all paid off but rates are high so I'm not thinking re-fi at this time. Purchase price was around 215K with rehab at about 25K. It's probably worth about 290K now. It was rented for 3 years for $2150 and then became vacant 4 months ago. Thoughts??? Thanks!

3 Votes

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

So was the tenant late once and the PM added in the late fee, so even though they are paying on time each month, they never paid the late fee so the PM keeps adding it in and making it worse? eg month 1 rent $1600, late fee $160, month 2 they pay $1600, but PM deducts $160 from the unpaid late fee and then adds another late fee of 10% (and presumably of the rent plus late fee so it increases each month)? If so, that is just wrong especially as they are basically taking money from the rent you are owed.

Yes you are exactly right! Tenant is paying perfectly....except their late fee. So it is just quickly adding up over time. It got up to about $1700 when I canceled their debt. It sucks but another year of them not paying off their late fee is worse than me canceling their debt because I am loosing money every month. Sucks. But that's the contract I signed with the PM company.

1 Vote

Bakersfield, California

All Forum Posts by: Tim Bee

Tim Bee has started 15 posts and replied 171 times.

Post: ADA Units and Their Market Value

Post: Tenant just became wheelchair bound. Who's supposed to pay for the changes!!!!!!

Post: Need advice on wether or not to rent to people on disability.

Post: Tenant just became wheelchair bound. Who's supposed to pay for the changes!!!!!!

Post: ADA Units and Their Market Value

Post: When to sell a bad rental

Post: When to sell a bad rental

Post: When to sell a bad rental

Post: When to sell a bad rental

Post: property manager keeping 10% late fee