All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Were you looking to move into the duplex and that's why you want to sell? You would have to run the numbers but it might make more sense to keep the home, cash out refinance, and use that money for the project. From there, you would rent the home if you're planning to move into the duplex and use the cash flow towards your income/profits. 

It might be worthwhile to grab a sheet of paper and speculatively write out various scenarios in which you sell the house/keep the house/refinance/etc and see which one works best for your situation. Let me know how it goes!

As previously mentioned, the primary concern is the amount of weight/stress being put on the roof. The weight is not static either due to people getting in and out and the water sloshing around. Figure you'll have people hanging out around the hot tub as well. It's a cool idea and can certainly be accomplished with the proper lifting device but please make sure the structure can support it.

While I don't have a definitive yes or no answer which only you could truly decide, I'll throw a bunch of thoughts out there. If I'm reading your post right, it appears you'll lose 800/month in rental profits but gain 95K cash in hand. With the 95K, although you don't have a house in mind, what type of profit do you expect to gain from using it? Could you get at least 800/month and now balance your risk? Instead of having all of your cash flow in one location in which one "issue" disrupts it, you now can spread the liability of "issue."

Having the 95K available for an investment as liquid cash is always a good thing to have. Let's play devil's advocate and suppose rates go to 6% or heck even 8%, would you have wished you taken the money at 5%? Another way to look at it is this, albeit a bit different:

Providing my math is right, you refinance and take out 95K cash and "lose" 800/month in immediate monthly cash flow. Take the 95K and divide by 800/month giving you a little over 118 (months). That's 118 months you are still "receiving" your 800/month, with no appreciation of course, but is readily available to deploy into an asset or investment opportunity. Again, there are many ways to go about this but these are just a few thoughts on it.

When you say all of the basics of real estate, are you specifically referring to investing, being a licensed agent, or something else? If you're talking about investing, there are many options to choose from and almost all of them have something to take out of them. I don't think one book serves as a complete primer for everything you'll need to know to start. Read as much as you can until it becomes repetitive, be the expert in your field through study and application. Books that I loved:

Building Wealth One House at a Time by John Schaub

Finding and Finding Great Deals by Anson Young

Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: The BRRRR Rental Property Investment Strategy Made Simple by David Greene

If you're looking for books on becoming a licensed agent, lookup an "essentials" or "guide" book to becoming a real estate agent in your particular state along with the state requirements listed online for testing purposes. Many of the books may be available at your free public library or otherwise online. Good luck with the study!

@Trey Prince My gut says no to this. You could bring in a structural engineer to see if the foundation is still usable but being that it's almost 100 years old and how far technology has come in building practices, it doesn't seem to be the best option. 30K for a new foundation is a lot better than a whole new house when the old foundation can't handle the new stresses upon it. From strictly a home buyer standpoint, I wouldn't purchase the home for my family if it was built on the old foundation.

@Jon Robinson That sounds like a pretty cool project to add to the property. Is there any way to support the beam for the extra load that is added? A load of say 500 extra pounds (chair and people) isn't a static dead force but instead will be increased with the swinging motion that occurs on the seat pressuring the beam above. What is the maximum allowable span with the double I joist you are using and what is the static load limit on it?

@Chakri Dew I did some research on CA and couldn't find a definitive answer. Some articles said you did and some said you didn't. IMO, a necessary function of the door that I could see is that it acts as a temporary shield against fire in the home. I have personally observed fire scenes in which a standard interior bedroom door kept a room from getting destroyed while the remainder (outside of the closed door) was heavily damaged. This could mean the difference between someone getting out of the home through the additional egress or succumbing to smoke inhalation.

I think the easiest way to answer it is to give a quick call to the Code Enforcement Office and ask them. I'm sure they could answer the question quickly.

@Dominick Marschall Sorry to hear this is happening. What does your realtor think about the situation?

You mentioned this line, "Buyers agree they can still perform on the closing of **my home address** on 4.1.2022 using traditional lending. My gut thinks they will claim they cannot close because the wording could be twisted to say that their agreement was only based on using traditional lending which they actually cannot get (whether true or not). Was the agreement vetted through attorney review? If not, I'm sure somehow it can be claimed that there was a clause to get out albeit I don't know what it would be. Legal guidance sounds like your best course of action if you want to move forward but it definitely sounds like an upcoming battle. 

Playing devil's advocate, the buyer could say they aren't buying it regardless and to take them to court. After a very long drawn-out battle, they still haven't purchased it and you could have sold it to another party months before without the headache.

Welcome to BP! I'll start by asking a bunch of questions to "answer" yours. What are your specific investing goals? Do you have a specific market in mind? Are you looking for a "traditional" STR like a condo outside Disney for example or do you want to do an "experience" one like a floating mini house on a lake? Do you want to focus on Airbnb stuff or perhaps setup for traveling professionals?

While I realize this doesn't inherently answer your question, I think it can provide guidance if you did a 15 minute notebook brainstorming session. From there, you could more accurately pick your path. In terms of immediate resources, check out the BP bookstore for many good works.

As previously posted, having adequate management is essential especially when you start to scale up and still want your time/sanity!

Being in a similar family dynamic myself, the most important thing you can do is have your spouse on board AND understand all of the numbers. She can't just be on board but also fully educated and knowledgeable on each deal you do, at least in the beginning if she chooses not to scrutinize later. As the saying goes that I'll butcher here, "a confused mind says no." IMO, taking the time to ensure everyone understands the benefits and risks will create a better platform to move forward. If possible, search for deals that wouldn't require you to completely disrupt your family. Maybe save more, work more hours for a period of time, pull equity, etc to make it less jarring when you take the plunge. Market conditions pending and as long as you follow sound calculations, it will work out! Just make sure everyone is on board to go for the ride.