All Forum Posts by: Virginia Jones

I looked at a foreclosure yesterday that’s listed for $38,000. 2 bed 1 bath with possibility of making it into a 3 bedroom. The main issue is mold in the basement and mildew on main floor doors and cabinets. Is this something that is possible to fix ourselves or should we hire a professional? In a worst case scenario what would you guess the total cost would be? Once its cleaned up I think I could get $650-700 in rent.

My main concern was that the building was built in 1941. Has anyone dealt with property this old? 

And $600 is actually right at or slightly above market rates for this area. I've seen some as low as $400. 

@David Cruice thanks for the response. I got copies of the 2015 and 2016 tax returns and copies of the water and gas bill. The owner inherited the property recently from a relative who passed away and lives out of state. My main concern was the age of the property but it is brick and seems to be in good shape. It looks like each year a good amount of money is spent on "improvements" and depreciated. 

I've come across a 6-unit building for sale. 5 of the units are 2bd/1ba and rent for $600 and 1 is an efficiency apartment with one room and a bathroom that has random month to month for around $200. I'm just using $3,000/mo since the rental of the small unit is so sporadic. 

Asking price is $275,000 and it appraised for $288,000 in 2014. 

Brick building built in 1941. Owner pays water/trash/sewer & natural gas for water and heat. A conservative average monthly cost for this is $500/mo. The tenants pay $1 per load for use of the washer and dryer so that helps out a bit. 

Taxes/Insurance are $252/mo. 

So, total fixed costs per month totals $752. It has a 3 year old metal roof and new windows. 

The owner is willing to owner finance with 20% down at 4% interest. 

Do you think this looks like a good deal? I have a duplex and SFH that I rent out but have not had experience with this type of building. I'm thinking I would want to offer $240,000. Does the $275,000 seem fair?

I've found that when tenants are demanding like that from the start, they can become a problem. I would tell them you had made a mistake in thinking there was central air, maybe show them the comparable rents in the area, and ask if they want to be released from the lease. If it's a popular area, maybe it won't take long to find a new person. You could also mention the idea of a window unit air conditioner. 

Hello everyone! I'm so happy to see activity from this area! I've considered going to the REI meet ups in Roanoke but it's a bit of a drive for me on a weeknight.

I’ve actually just started a group on Facebook called NRV Real Estate Investors. I’m the only member so far so would love for you all to join and invite anyone else who may be interested. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1898767110212615

As for deals in the area, I think it’s pretty slow right now. I was really interested in the quadplex in cburg but didn’t act fast enough. 

we are in the 22% tax bracket. would you consider that high or low?

I've been listening to the "FIRE" community stating that it's best to max out pre-tax accounts and when you retire early, doing the conversions over to a Roth. This is assuming you will have a low enough income to be in a low tax bracket.

My question is how owning rental real estate can affect this strategy. I've been contributing to a Roth IRA since I was 18 (24 now). My husband has a Roth IRA and we both have Roth 401k's as well.

We also have 3 rental units and plan to acquire more in the future.

Is the FIRE community's conversion strategy for non-real estate people? Am I focusing too much on the Roth and maybe do some pre-tax saving as well?

Maybe I did not explain it well enough. There is currently no railing at all. The height of the porch is just high enough to require a hand rail. There is one wrought iron post supporting the roof.

In order to keep the insurance on our duplex, we are having to build handrails around two porch stoops on our duplex. It is not very high but high enough to not meet code.

Would you put up the rails or haul dirt in to make the ground higher?

The difficulty with the railing options is the current post is wrought iron. I'm having a hard time finding any stores that carry wrought iron. I'm thinking any other material would require the roof to be jacked up to replace the current post.

This is strictly to meet code requirements. I don't care much about the appearance. My husband and I will be doing the work ourselves. What material would you suggest? The cheapest would be wood but I'm not sure how that would connect into the current iron post.

Any suggestions??