All Forum Posts by: Will C.

@Chace Fraser @Sam Jurgenson @Colton Sharman I second @Chace Fraser advise. Find a realtor and look into their recommendations for lenders. Agents and lenders who have history are like a well oiled machine. It makes your purchase much less stressful. Once you find out what your approved for, you can start to really look for properties. Multi family will be the best investment but you can also house hack with single family. Along with higher return potential, MF allows you to separate your living space from your tenants. There is a lot to learn, BP is a wealth of information.

@James Marshall What is the monthly PMI? Sounds like a big can of worms to open to save a little $.

@Marisa Rowe Those numbers look good. What's the kitchen look like?

@Ricky Sabogal My contractor just did a kitchen for me with cabinets from Green Forest Cabinetry there in Chesapeake. Chinese kits but seems to be good quality. No complaints so far.

@Javier Blanco Don't buy anything with family. Let your brother help your parents if he wants, whether renting or purchasing within their budget. You start your investing with multi or whatever but separately. You can take some of the CF from your investment and give them a gift card to grocery store or something similar on a monthly basis. You would be getting your start and helping them at the same time.

@Kerry Baird Sounds like your doing somewhat of the nomad strategy. While moving on from one primary to the next, during loan qualifications for the new purchase, have you been asked to have reserves for any of the previous properties?

@Lara Fobian I've had good results scrubbing with a mild solution of Simple Green then latex Kilz. I did two coats of latex Kilz, maybe with oil you can do one. Like someone mentioned, the greasy brown nicotine was already dripping down the wall, when I applied simple green it was left night and day. Luckily the wall had eggshell finish already and it was easy to scrub. I would smell test the slab after pulling the flooring back. If you smell smoke, go ahead and paint before flooring goes down. You don't want to replace the floor only to smell smoke down the road.

@Sarah Buchanan Depending on how bad the flood was and construction of basement I'd be extra cautious on how the remediation was carried out of moving forward. Where walls opened up because It takes awhile to get the moisture content down in the structure. Also, if this is a rental prospect, every heavy rain you will be worrying when that call will come from the tenant that the basement flooded. Correcting drainage issues can be very costly. To your main question, it would bother me to find out that the sq/ft was off by that much. My guess is part of the basement is questionable, guess it depends on what was considered living space like others mentioned. Was the basement permitted? You have to be careful with listings as agents with walk a tight rope as what is fact from grey area. I see it alot with bedroom count also. You need to decide if you want to put effort into this now mediocre deal or wait for something that fits your criteria.

@Sarah Buchanan Is the basement finished and what was the cause of the flood? If finished and flooded do to heavy rains I'd walk just on that. The house probably doesn't have proper drainage and can be a reoccurring issue.

@Samantha Miller Alot of great pointers here. Definitely go month/month lease so it will be easier for both parties to get out of a bad situation. Like someone mentioned above, you can weed out alot of bad apples just in the inquiries. Bad grammar and short incomplete inquiries will be red flags like, "Is this room still available, I need a place asap" = I'm being evicted or kicked out most likely. Or "When can I move in" that's it, no hello or introduction. I like TransUnion Smart move for background and credit checks. Make them pay, it shows that their serious. Collect a deposit when you find someone. If you get pushback on deposit or background/credit fees move on, they probably can't afford to live there, save yourself a headache. Once I narrow a couple ppl down after showings, I'll actually set up a Meetup individually for a coffee. It's a chance to hopefully get a picture of someones personality since you will be living together. As several mentioned, have a list of all the expectations available or at least cover them to save awkward moments after someone has moved in. All in all, treat this as a normal rental. All paperwork, screening, whole 9 yards. Screening is KEY in this situation. If you screen well and are a good judge of character, you should be ok