All Forum Posts by: Andy Thomson

The other shoe waiting to drop in condos is a special assessment. A friend of mine kept his condo for a rental after he moved to another state. Since he no longer lived there he did not attend the board meetings (he had been president) and was not there when they voted to vinyl side the buildings. They must have taken the highest bid they could find because it cost him an extra 9K that year.

Turn on the a/c and set it down around 70 and turn the fan switch to fan instead of auto. This will leave it running all of the time even when the a/c isn't. The a/c is a dehumidifier. Another one in the basement may help but may not be necessary. Also as suggested earlier extra fans will help. Sealing/painting the floor without making it look like you did it for decorating puposes likely would bring attention to the problem. Finally if you have to show it with the odor present, then admit that the leak happened, and that the smell is lessening with time and drying out. (if it really is) What ever you do, DO NOT say the word "mold". Don't lie about just don't bring it up. Mold is everywhere and I see alot of "suspected mold/fungi growth" on home inspector reports. Much of, if not most of it is not a problem. But many of my clients get stuck paying some one to "remediate" it. This is one part of the real estate punch list business I have elected to stay away from. Some of it is for real much of it is hype. IMO

Also I hire my son and daughter to work on my properties or work it through by repair business.

Contrary to popular belief, your time is worth something. Also let them know if the deposit doesn't cover the costs you WILL expect them to pay the additional costs. If they don't report them to the credit agencys. I have seen people come in 5 years later and settle a $1500 old debt so they could qualify for a mortagage when they finally grew up enough to buy a home. I now qualify my tenants through NTN before renting. A vacant unit is better than a bad tennant who will tear up the place and then skip.

Jon
Here in the south east there is a grass called centipede. I don't know about your area and the high/cold but the stuff is very tuff seems to choke out weeds and grows slowly so it does not need mowed often. It can be plugged and will spread over time. The seed however is higher than a cat's back, so would be costly to seed an entire lawn. If you are rehabbing it would take to long.

I have been giving this very thing a lot of thought lately. I have come to the conclusion that we ALL take advantage of other people. If you work for someone for a wage you take advantage of their need for help in their business. Your doctor takes advantage of your need for good health, the grocer your hunger, a mechanic your broken car, the farmer supplies the grocer, the handyman (me) fixes the house you can't, won't do your self. And finally when your time is up the morticians take advantage of the need to inter your remains. We all need each other for something. The real estate invester takes the property off your hands that apparently no body else wanted that bad yet. Is that unfair? I don't think so. You might suggest that if you gave what your dad thinks is a fair price for your investsments, you likely would soon be asking if your old room is still empty. I'm not trying to say be mean to him. It is just if your going to take a risk of buying a property on speculation, then you better have some room in the deal for the unexpected. Try explaining the deal from the end buyer you hope to sell to back to the person you bought from. If you pay too much you HAVE to sell for too much or go out of business. Or run for congress.

I spent years in property management maintenance. We would inspect units soon after the notice was given and have all work planned before they moved out. We pre leased before the move out. But that means if their plans changed, sorry but it is leased to someone else. You have to go. When I bought my last house moving out of the "free" apartment that came with my job, the manager kept asking when I was giving notice. I told her that I would give notice when I was actually in my house. I had seen a resident's home purchase fall apart at the closing table and they were in a bind because their apartment had been preleased.
The longer you wait the more it costs you with the cash going the wrong way.

There are concrete products made for troweling on like you suggest. If you're going to do it your self just look at the bags in the cement isle and read directions. Also you can get concrete coloring agents in the same isle (Lowes or home depot). I am not a mason but I do numerous types of home repairs for real estate closings and have used products like this for patching previous work and also for coating dry stacked piers. It is not complicated to do but it is work. Hope this helps.

RBH B.
This is my first post I'm new here. I am a repair contractor who works almost exclusively in real estate inspection repairs in the Raleigh area. I would be glad to look at the property and talk about it. I am just starting to look at rehabs. Maybe we can figure something out.