All Forum Posts by: William Taylor

@Michael Plaks I’m most worried about the ramifications of this contractor having an open permit, as well as me firing him before the job is complete. Given that I would only hold back what I hired another company to remediate (less than 3-4k most likely), should I just send a formal “you have 48 hours to respond”? Would you be worried about being taken to court for breach of contract?

I initially hired this contractor ~4 months ago. He has been doing great work, and we are close to the end (last 10% probably). I have only paid him ~35%, as we had an agreement due to tight budgets, and he would be repaid after I was able to refinance.

A few weeks ago we had our permit inspections, and there were some things to fix, plus the rest of our punch list for the general remodeling we were doing, but I haven't been able to get a hold of him for the last week and a half. I have tried email, text, and calling (voicemail box is full). I just cannot get a hold of him!

How long should I wait until moving on to another contractor?

Some notes:

• * We have a pretty loose contract. Literally just specifies the scope of work (but not materials or anything), or a completion date. It does specify pay dates, but that was based on finishing on time (we're a month behind schedule)
• * Communication has always been bad with him, but I usually can get a hold of him within a few days
• * Plumbing permit is in my name, but building permit is in his name
• * I really don't think he's avoiding me specifically - several of his tools are still at the house, and I tried calling on a another phone and he didn't answer that either

Not really sure what to do here. Do I call up the contracting board? Lawyer up? Or just hire another contractor and subtract whatever they charge me from the amount I owe the original contractor?

Thanks in advance.

@Thomas Baylor

I mean for us, we saw obvious issues when we visited the home. We naïvely thought that we knew about all the issues. We even had a great home inspector who pointed out a ton of things. It’s a whole ‘nother beast when you actually own the home and start opening up walls.

For us that entailed running entirely new electrical, plumbing, and the furnace is crapped out mid winter. Since we couldn’t be over there to check on things every day, that led to pipes bursting.

We also had thoroughly vetted, or so we thought, several contractors before we even closed on the home. We had a game plan, estimates, and gave our contractors their start date.

What ended up happening was that some contractors stopped responding, others started but we’re doing awful work. I feel like as investors, if we are trying to play general contractor, we need to be over there every day. That was just my experience though, your mileage may vary.

As far as finding the right contractor, we never did. We spent way too much money jumping from one Contractor to the next, thinking that we had the right person. like I said we are almost done, but it certainly took some heartache to get there.

@Thomas Baylor

Hey Thomas! I actually bought a home for $40k several months ago and we are just finishing up rehab. Same deal with ours— long time on the market, no interior pictures, etc. I thought maybe I could offer a bit of advice.

It sounds like this property might need some significant repairs. The rental we bought was about an hour away from us, which turned out to be a huge PITA. There are so many barriers you have to consider, and I just want to point some of them out:

- how do you get on site to let contractors in to give estimates? (We used a lockbox, but a lot of contractors want to walk the property)

- how do you stop squatters/break ins? (We had a few during the first few months)

- what happens if there’s a water line burst and no one is around to check on things for a few days? (Also happened to us)

- how do you check on quality of work being done? You should be going down to check things out at LEAST every other week.

Now don’t get me wrong. We’re on the other side of this finishing up, but it has been just an awful ride to get here. We will cash flow >$1k/mo on this fourplex, but knowing what I do now and how much time commitment it takes (even when hiring things out), I would not have done it as my first investment property.

You might be willing to take it on, but I just wanted to give you some perspective from someone who has just gone through it. Happy to answer any questions you have.

@Steve LeBlanc are they still doing investment property HELOCs? It seems they’re still listed on the site.

@Patrick McGrath was this a multifam? Owner occupied?

I have a NOO 4plex owner outright and I'm beginning to look around for financing.

Here's what I found calling in (for folks in the future who are looking for the same answer(s) I was):

• they WILL lend for multifamily investment, but only HELOC (no mortgage)
• appraisal is required (for SFH it may not be if the loan is <250k)
• no seasoning requirement, but they're running ~2 months to get to closing
• up to 80% LTV
• rate would be prime + 1.5

Hope this can help someone else!

Would normally just call into PenFed, but I believe their financing department is closed on the weekends.

Just curious if anyone has insight into either of these questions. The property in question is a non owner occupied 4plex if it matters.

- does PenFed have seasoning requirements for HELOCS?

- does PenFed do HELOCS for investment properties (I’ve seen posts on BP indicating they do and some saying they don’t)?

Hey Trevor! I was actually in a similar position as yourself a few years ago. I'm also in central VA, and an engineer. After a few years of research and analysis paralysis, my wife and I closed on our first multiplex last month! Would love to connect!

Yeah each panel has its own 100A service. The units are all under 800sqft, so I really didn’t think they would need 200A, but I was concerned that 100A wasn’t sufficient. Seems like most folks would leave it as it is, at least for the present. I can always come back and upgrade service later!