All Forum Posts by: Leonid Sapronov

@J Scott It's awesome that you replied because I was thinking about just messaging you directly.  So a couple follow up questions:

1) Local building regulations - do you mean just the HOA's regulations?

2) If there's no HOA, which building regulations should I check - county? state?

3) Permits - which ones do I need and who issues them? Again, does this happen at the city or county level?

I know it's difficult to give specific advice, but I don't have all the details fleshed out myself. I don't even have a county yet - could be  Montgomery, could be Howard or even something else.

Also, who can I approach with such a project? Should I just find a local modular builder, show them the plans and ask if they'll do it? Would a regular builder be willing to take it on?

Thank you!

There is a modular house design that I really like - small, efficient, stylish. Having never done new construction, I want to figure out what it would take to build it. Problem is, it's designed by a company in Russia, which entails a long list of logistics challenges. Assuming I can get the house stateside, I have no idea what approval processes I have to go through in order to be able to build it. I know every county has a planning department, which I probably need to go through. But what about if my plot of land in an established subdivision? I assume subdivision-level approval would also be needed. Also, how much of this can I go through before actually buying land?

And then there's building code compliance - how hard is it to do, especially for a foreign-based design?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as well as contact info of any MD/VA modular builders who might know something about this.

Great idea! Very interested to hear what people have to say, especially from someone who's already done it. Tiny houses rock!

My guess is you might be able to simplify the process by starting with land zoned for a mobile park. But I know nothing about this...

Thanks all! Some great ideas here. Another super valuable brainstorm from BP.

Guys,

Thanks a lot for the advice, but I think you misunderstood my question. I took a look at ezlandlordforums.com, but I'm not doing tenant screening. My survey is a bit off the beaten path, so I was hoping to get some input as to what information would be valuable to collect from tenants. I guess you could think of it like this: if you could ask your tenants questions to help you run your business, what would you ask them?

Having recently closed on a small apartment complex, I'm putting together a survey for the tenants. My goal is to a) get their background information to better understand my target market, b) learn more about potential maintenance issues (e.g. have you ever had frozen water pipes?), and c) identify areas for improvement in the units and on the grounds.

What would be some good questions to ask?

If you are curious about incentive - you get a $25 Amazon gift card for completing the survey.

Thanks all!

 @Cody Barrett I tried to get what I could from the seller, who was pretty forthcoming about giving me various documents. He supplied a copy of the insurance policy (which showed a higher premium than the pro forma) and three years of tax returns. I also had a trustworthy property manager walk the property and give me her analysis. For the rest, I did my own analysis. One thing I would recommend is get an independent professional appraisal. I got one done, but it was late in the game and it was through the bank. If you are serious about the property, get an appraisal as early as you can to give you more time to negotiate with the seller. It'll cost you, but if you think you have a good chance at getting the property, it's definitely worth it. Just make sure you are working with a good appraiser.

I invested the $100 in @Michael Blanc's analyzer and, while not perfect, it's much better than anything I could have put together in any reasonable amount of time. It's already paid for itself many times over. Highly recommend.

Not that I have the money to help you, but that's a really creative proposition. Way to think outside the box! Mind if I ask why you can't go the conventional mortgage route? Is that not an option for a short sale?

I feel like everyone is talking about different things here, comparing gross rents, NOI, cashflow before and after P&I, etc. It's like the tower of Babel. It sounds like the seller is talking about net cashflow after P&I and all expenses. So, estimating his debt service to be at ~$8.3k based on the info provided, we can guess that, if he was realistic in his analysis, the gross rents to be around ~$23-25k. His downpayment would be $350k. Consequently, his ROI is more like 10% and the CAP is also close to 10% (whether it matters or not is a separate question). Yes, cashflow/door is small, but debt service eats up a large chunk of it. Once it's paid off, he'll cashflow ~$12k/month or more. Is this really such a bad deal?

What he didn't mention is whether there's any built in equity at this price, which is also kinda important. There very well may be.