All Forum Posts by: William Price

I would definitely get an electrician to give you a quote on replacing the knob/tube.  I recently walked away from a deal because the inspector found knob and tube wiring in the attic and then confirmed it was throughout the house.

I did a lot of research here on Bigger Pockets and learned that most people either walked away from the deals or got a significant price reduction.

My inspector also told me that a lot of insurance companies won't insure a property that still has the knob and tube electrical.  While there may not be any immediate problems, at some point down the road you'll have to upgrade so I would definitely get estimates on the amount to upgrade and then get a price reduction.  I would also make sure your property insurance isn't going to cost you an arm and a leg.  Good luck!

I would ask the seller to see the tax returns for the duplex.  The income should be on schedule E or Form 8825.  If they don't want to show you the tax returns, it means they didn't claim all of the income and are cheating the government (which would make me question what else they may not be telling you) or the tenants are not paying.

Good luck!

@Catherine Brennan I would suggest getting an umbrella policy for the short time you have the property in your own name.  You can get $5M of coverage for roughly $1,000/yr.  Well worth the cost in my opinion.  Good luck!

@Chris Taualii  - I have heard good things about upwork.com, although I have not personally used them.  They were mentioned on a recent podcast as well.  Good luck!

@Anthony Angotti - Looks great!  You can't beat the price.  Nice job!

I have some of the same flooring in the kitchen of a rental and it has held up very well.  

I'm not familiar with Section 8 in LA, but in my experience with Sec. 8 in D.C., the rent the tenant pays is determined by their voucher, not the size of your unit.

I have 4BR units and I have had many applicants say that they currently have a 3 BR voucher and they will soon be getting a 4BR voucher and I always pass on them because I have found they want  a larger place, but are unable to pay the increased rent.  I think a lot of times they are hoping to get an extra BR voucher, but in reality they don't end up qualifying so you are stuck with the reduced rent.  They may offer to pay you the difference between a 3BR and 4BR voucher, but be careful because that is illegal in D.C. and even if was legal, if they stop paying the difference between a 3BR and 4BR voucher, you are stuck with the lower voucher. 

Unless the current tenant can show you paperwork that shows they have been approved for a 4BR voucher, I would evict this tenant and try to find one with a 4BR voucher so you can start collecting a much higher rent!

I like the way you think. What if you got a HELOC on each property and could tap the equity when a fantastic deal came along. That way you're not forcing it, but you're ready to pull the trigger whenever the perfect deal comes along.

There's a lot of great information to be gleaned from "county websites".  You can find out the current owner, when they purchased the property, the price they paid, and the current tax assessed value.

One tip is that if the current owner has a different mailing address from the property, they are an absentee landlord or inherited the property and live elsewhere.  Both of these situations are good targets to mail a letter to find out if they are a motivated seller.  

Usually you can tell by the property transfer code if the property was inherited.  There is also probably a "0" transfer price if the property was inherited.  

Another good idea is to look at when the property was purchased.  If it was purchased a long time ago, the owner likely has a lot of equity and may be an older person who is getting ready to sell or perhaps a candidate for owner financing.  

Each county is different so you may want to go down to the courthouse records section and ask someone to help show you around on the online system.

Good luck!

I thought it would be fun to start a discussion on some of the best practices of landlording.  What do you do that makes you a successful landlord or makes your life easier when managing your properties.  Are there things that you wish you knew when you started that could save people a lot of time and headaches?

I'll start with the first tip.  I used to meet repairmen and my property in a 2-4 hr window to fix whatever was broken.  This required me to either take a 1/2 day off from work, figure out how to get the key to the company, or arrange for the tenants to be home - a real pain!

Tip #1)  I put a Master Lockbox on all of all of my units ($30 from Home Depot).  Service people can let themselves in without anyone having to meet them.  This has also saved my tenants a call to a locksmith or me when they have locked themselves out.  I change the combination periodically. 

What's your best practice or tip?

Does anyone have an attorney in Virginia who can set up a land trust?  I have spoken with 2 attorneys and they had never set up a land trust so I was hoping to get someone who had some familiarity with land trusts.