All Forum Posts by: Tom Wallace

I am looking for a structural engineer to do a residential structural inspection on my home in Plymouth PA. Any suggestions? 

Quote from @Matt Devincenzo:

Inspections are to identify problems yes, but they're not perfect and in your own words you assumed the sagging was a normal older home issue...which is a totally reasonable assumption for you and the inspector to make.

Now for the course of action, get the structural they will be your objective analysis of the situation and what needs to be done. They may very well tell you the $40K scope is truly what you need...the other component is can any portions be done in phases? Maybe company 1 scope can be done now, and then the additional work company 2 mentioned could be done later when you're more financially prepared. 

Also use the time you have right now to explore a HELOC to fund the repairs. Obviously you need to be careful to not overleverage, but getting this done right and right now will ensure you have a saleable asset to pay off those debts when you need to.

Thank you for your advice. We are going to get the structural engineer inspection and decide our course of action based on what they say. 
As far as HELOCs go… correct me if I’m wrong but you can only get a credit line based on the equity we have in the home right? Because at the moment we don’t have much equity at all yet.

Quote from @Lien Vuong:

Congrats on your househack. Likely given your commute and distance to your home/work you can write a Hardship Letter and househack again with 5% down. These are extenuating circumstances but you fit the bill in having to drive that distance each day. 

Thank you for that suggestion! I did reach out to my lender and I can qualify for a second FHA as long as the new address is at least 100 miles away from current one. That would put me about 25 miles south of my job which I don't mind and is much better than the 75 miles now.

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Bret M.:

That's tough / may need to reach out to an attorney 

An attorney for what ?  no way will a home inspector be liable for this.. houses settle especially 100 plus year old ones.  next one of this age the thing to do is hire the structural engineer on top of the home inspector if your worried about it.

Thank you. What is the general cost of a structural engineers inspection? Is $1500 too much? I'm always afraid I am being overcharged because i'm new and have no frame of reference.

Quote from @Nathan Harden:

What type of inspection did you do? Did you do just the generic inspection and home the inspector crawled under there? Did you get a 5 point?

Honestly, I think you don't have a case either way. It's been a year. ALOT can happen in a year and is there really anyways of proving that the foundation issues happened more than a year ago? It would be hard to make a case for that.

Wish you the best!

General Home Inspection not a 5 point I don't believe

I purchased my first duplex in Plymouth PA December of 2022 via FHA financing as a house hack. It is an old home built in the 20s and we have some sloping and sagging floors that were reported in our initial inspection but was wrote off as "probably due to long term settlement" so I didn't do too much more looking into it as I felt anything major would have been reported in the inspection (mistake #1) We have since been living there, and planned on BRRRRing and hold the property long term. We did some rehab.... new paint throughout, new carpets in upstairs, and a brand new bathroom in one unit. My contractor had helped me support the sagging flooring in the middle and seemed to work well. We were also about to put brand new LVP flooring throughout the downstairs when we noticed this issue....

Recently, we had noticed the slope in our upstairs bedroom getting slightly worse, our window wouldn't close and it feels like some floorboards underneath the carpet are starting to come up so we contacted a foundation/basement company to come look at the issue. The company had found some serious foundation issues in the back of the home and recommends installing two PushPiers as well as a handful of smartjacks throughout the basement and one on the first floor. Our quote was for $13k and that depletes my entire cash reserves (mistake #2 not having proper reserves). We got a second opinion but that company wanted to do even more work basically gutting and replacing every supporting beam in the basement and was quoted over $40k.

It was recommended to me that I get a structural engineer on property to do an inspection but that costs $1500 so I'm not sure if I should spend that money or just get the work the original company suggested done. As of now we have a date set for them to come do the $13k of work but we have till March 19 before we need a down payment and commit to the work.

I have a few questions....

1. Has anyone experienced a situation like this and what is the best course of action to take.

2. Shouldn't major foundation issues be something that should be reported in home inspection at purchase? I thought at the time that a home inspector is there to go through the home with a fine tooth comb and bring up every issue. There is nothing at all mentioned about the foundation. Was there negligence here and is some sort of litigation something I should be considering? I'm not looking to sue people and get tied up in expensive litigation fees but is it something I should consider?

Basically I am asking.... what should I do?

Any advice or input is greatly appreciated!!

Hello everybody!
I am a husband, father, and full time poker dealer and rookie real estate investor currently living in my first house hack. I introduced myself here a few years ago when we relocated to Boston MA and was intending on starting my real estate journey there when life (and covid) happened. My family and I did A LOT of moving around and job hopping over the past 5 years but we feel like we're finally settling down and focusing on our financial future and our real estate goals. We are currently house hacking a duplex in Plymouth we purchased in December 2022 with an FHA mortgage and will be looking to purchase our second investment property sometime this year. We will be looking at small multi-family properties as BRRRRs and/or long term holds in both WBS area and Allentown area because I am currently commuting to Bethlehem for my job 4 days a week (not a fun or cheap commute).

I would love to connect with any agents, contractors, lenders, or other investors in both the WBS and Allentown area! 

@Mark Terry

Thanks Mark!

I heard nothing but good things about this area other than traffic and cost of living . Once we are settled and know what our schedule is going to be like I will certainly be looking for meetups.

Hello all! 

I'm currently a poker dealer in NEPA but as of 06/03/19 I will be living in Peabody MA and working in Boston. My wife and i have been dealing poker for 10 years now and while we do love doing it, having our first child recently has us yearning for more out of life. Reading books such as Rich Dad Poor Dad has motivated me to get out of the rat race for good.

I've been researching REI for the past few months now and am very eager to get started! We do own one property (our current home but not much longer) and will be renting it out once we move but will be breaking even on the deal (at best). Our plan is to work and save money in Boston and begin purchasing rental properties back home in NEPA though 'house hacking' in the Boston area is certainly an option as well.

I will spend the next few moths grinding and learning as much as I can. My short term goal is to have AT LEAST one small MFU purchased with cash flow of no less than $200 per unit per month by January 2020.

I look forward to chatting with you all! If you're in the NEPA or Boston Area hit me up! I will be looking for a great agent to work with as well as a property manager in PA. Cheers!