All Forum Posts by: Tyler Brown

I've got a (legal) 2 family house in Queens.  Right now, the electric is split and the tenants pay for their own usage, while I pay for the water and gas for the whole house.

All the water bills for 2018 added up to about $600, so I'm not really concerned with that.  However I spent about $2,000 on gas.  Has anyone ever had the gas lines split, so that each tenants will have their own account with the National Grid and pay for their own usage?

I'm sure it won't be cheap, but even if it's $10k, that'll pay for itself in 5 years.

I'd also be interested in splitting the water too, if it was really cheap to do so, but I'm assuming that at a savings of only $600 a year, it'll take an unreasonably long time to pay for itself.

I have a single family home that's rented out to three college students.  They're all on one lease, jointly and severally liable.  They're Person A, Person B, and Person C.

The lease is up on April 1st.  I recently reached out to them to see if they were interested in renewing for another year.  Person A and Person B would like to sign another year long lease, although Person C is only looking to stay until around June or so, at which point he'll move out and Person A and B will have a new roommate move in, who would be Person D.

This is all fine by me.

However I'm not sure how to handle the lease renewal.  I'd typically just send them another year long lease, running from April 2018 to April 2019 to sign with all their names on it, but then that'd lock Person C into staying all year.  It also leaves nowhere to add Person D.

I also don't want to create a lease that just runs from April to June because that would give Persons A and B a chance to change their mind at the last minute and decide to move out as well in June.

Thanks for any suggestions.

This isn't a situation I have at either of my current properties, but I'm looking to purchase a two family home, and I'm seeing some on the market that have a driveway that is only wide enough for one car.  While it may be long enough to fit several vehicles, the vehicle in front would have to be moved to get any vehicles behind it out.

If you have a property like this, how do you handle it?  Does your lease give the whole driveway to one unit, and instruct the other to park on the street?  All other things being equal, I assume you would charge a premium for the one with driveway access?  If one unit is a 3 bedroom, and one is a 2 bedroom, would you give the larger unit the driveway by default?  Would you not address it at all, and just tell the tenants to work it out amongst themselves?

Can't say without more info.  What's the cash flow on the property you're interested in selling?  Is it paid off?  What's the interest rate on the mortgage for your personal house?  Are you struggling to make ends meet with that mortgage payment?

 Hard to say without knowing some specific numbers.  If you can get a used one at a huge discount, maybe even with a warranty, it would be something to consider.

However if a used is only 10% less than a new, then I'd say just go with the new.  Depending on the unit, you may be eligible for tax credits rebate incentives.

Feel free to get some more quotes, but that doesn't sound too unreasonable.  I recently got two quotes (one at $8k and one at $8.6k) to replace my air handler, condenser unit, and all the ductwork on my central AC system in my home.

It's just something you have to factor into your expenses. Like how you may set aside $X amount every month for CapEx, some months you may not have any costs at all, other months you may run into a big one. The good news is the new unit should last you a couple of decades.

 I wouldn't even consider that as "losing" $1,000.  Rather, you invested $1,000 in an inspection, and that investment paid off handsomely as you were able to walk away from a potential money pit.  You spent $1,000 in order save God knows how many tens or hundreds of thousands.  Sounds like a pretty good return to me.

I manage my mother-in-law's irrevocable trust that owns two rental homes.  I'm interested in acquiring a third, and would like more information on the process of obtaining a mortgage.

There's lot of information out there about purchasing a rental home via an LLC, but I don't see much regarding trusts, and much of what I do find is for countries other than the US. I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong, that an LLC needs a commercial loan to purchase a property, as opposed to a traditional mortgage. Does a trust have the same requirement, or can I simply call up any bank and start shopping around for mortgages in the same manner that I did when I bought my own home?

Also, I've heard that many lenders want to see at least two years of your other unit's rental histories while evaluating your loan.  This trust generates about $75k a year gross income, but was only formed 8 months ago.  Does that mean I shouldn't even bother attempting to get a loan until it hits the two year mark?

You can consult with an attorney, but by and large, take this as a lesson in why you never let a code enforcement officer in, or even return their phone calls, until you're severed with legal documentation forcing you to.

The 30 days rule applies to the time you have to return the tenant's security deposit in most states (in Minnesota, it's actually 21 days).

Since you no longer have a deposit to withhold, your proper recourse is to sue.  There may or may not be an issue with the amount of time you've waited.  A quick call to a local attorney would clear that up.

If you properly documented all of the damage, and preferably documented the condition of the unit when she moved in as well, you should have a fairly straightforward case.