Fixing Up Rental Property

[Jewel Coleman]

I have a rental property that is doing well. Now I would like to replace the whole roof of the house. There are a few areas that need immediate attention and instead of doing patch jobs, I'd rather take care of the whole thing. What are different options for getting funding for this project without using my own funds? I am trying to avoid pulling out equity I have invested in the property. I have also been thinking about starting an LLC to increase my buying power and building credit in my LLCs name. Is that a good idea? Other ideas?

[Andre Taylor]

Hey Jewel! If you do not want to use your own funds and not pull equity out of the property to replaced the roof the last option is sweat equity. Unless you have a good relationship with a roofer where you can do a barter system. For instance I bought this Bosch refrig for $400 from lowes and reason I got it for a discount...it was a special custom order and the person never picked it up and i actually negotiated the price down from $800 to $400 from the manager that day but fast forward. I did not need the refrig for any of my rentals so I gave it to my plumber in exchanged for $1500 worth of labor. If you have a good relationship with a roofer try to see if there is something else you can trade him for their service. Now me personally i am the type to just get the whole roof done. When a roof start showing areas of attention its best to just redo the whole thing. A roof is one of those expenses you love and hate because it cost so much but not like you going to see the instant gains in the rental income; as a tenant not going to pay extra for a roof that expect should already be in good condition. Another thing you can get a Business Credit Card with a zero percent interest for about 12 months to pay off the expense of the roof over time.