All Forum Posts by: Toan Hoang

First rehab in NJ. Im realizing its whole different ball game than Philly when it comes to L&I. Im all about doing things the right way and i have skilled and licenses people in PA. However none in NJ and they charge sn arm and leg and EVERTHING needs a permit. With that said could i save some time and money by having an non licensed electrician do the rough wiring and just have the licensed electrician pull the permit tie it in to the box ? Or will the licensed guy want to run all the wires? To me it seems like easy money for the licensed electrician. Anyone have any luck doing this?

@Mark Wilson I think that a bedroom has some legal requirement such as window and a closet. So if its a walk out basement than it probaly would be easier to do it. If not you would need to build out windows somehow. A quick google search will define legal requirements for bedrooms in your area.

@Michael Ablan Unfortunately cant be a bedroom. Its below grade and the windows are too small. I think windows need to be certain size to qualify for bedroom due to fire code. But i really wish it could be a bedroom. That would be a real money maker.

@J Scott Got it. I will probably just finish it since its all ready has all the studs and is a limited investment. Thanks for the input.

Bought SFR at auction for a buy and hold (brrrr). I need to rehab so I can pull out my money in a refi. Previous owners started framing the basement to finish. Question is for a rental should i finish the basement? Or does this upgrade not really matter. I am more interested from the sppraisal perspective. Does a finished basement count as added sq footage vs unfinshed.

@Meredith Fox Lets say i let them do 7 properties since thats all i have. Can i add more one at a time as i aquire them (up to 10). Or do they only do the loans in a group and therefore after i bundle 7 i need to aquire several more in order to do anofher portfolio type loan. Thanks so much for your feedback so far

@Meredith Fox Ohh. Ok. Got it. They will want to take all my properties as collateral in order to do a cash out refi on just one. So to your point it works better for by and hold (which im doing anyway). Thanks

@Chris Martino Thanks! Does a quick Google search locate these types of lenders in my area? Or is it networking or both?

@Femi Ibrahim This tricky. It all depends on what he is actually doing and his qualifications. I tried to farm out some property management to a friend but in the long run i was still more involved than i needed to be. Also rehab management is another job in itself. I had a different friend who is a project mgr and carpenter by trade. He took on the role for me and i gave him 10% of rehab cost to manage subs and negotiate. He also has the option to bid on the work himself and thats paid seperate

To date all my loans have been conventional loans using a mortgage broker. I have heard this term (portfolio loan) on BP but not quite sure how it differs from other loan types. Is the interest rate the same? Qualifications similiar? Lastly does anyone know of these lenders in the Philly / S Jersey area? Any input is appreciated