All Forum Posts by: Marcus Auerbach

Congrat's Cody for being bold, can't wait to see the book and yes, you will be in good hands with a KW agent ;-)

I always knew it is just a matter of time until I would have to deal with the worst case plumbing issue - a broken sewer lateral under a rental property. So, I was mentally prepared for the big bill, but it still was not fun to actually go through it. For those who have not had "the pleasure" I thought I'll share...

I got a text on Thursday night from a tenant informing me that there was sewage in the basement and it was comming out of the floor drain. Fortunatley our drain contractor was able to get out there next day Friday morning right away with the big snake to clear out the sewer lateral. I had a bad feeling, because as a standard procedure we always have the entire sewer snaked before we put a new house into service and this one was just done half a year ago. (most of our Milwaukee housing stock is built in the 50s and many sewer lines have never been cleaned, so we do it as a precaution...) So I was expecting bad news..

The snake did not go through and after sticking down a camera they informed me that the line was broken and the front yard needs to be dug up. Fortunatley the problem was located outside the house and not under the house (so we did not have to get inside the house and bust up concrete!) I was lucky to get an excavator out there same day on Friday afternoon and 3 hours later we had access to the line and could inspect the problem. 

They had to dig up a massive trench, about 11 feet deep to get to the line. The individual drain tiles were in really good shape, but two of them were disconnected, because 60 years ago they had been supported by some leftover construction lumber over a soft spot (instead of crushed stone, as supposed to). As the wood was rotting away over the decades, the weight of the dirt pushed them down and diconnected them eventually. 

If I would have had the sewer line scoped as part of our purchase inspection we would have probably found the issue. I started to remember that when we had snaked the line the first time the plumbers told me they were pulling out clay, but eventually got it to work. As the tenants moved in and more water went through the line the wood started to rot out and the ground got softer from all the leaking water making the issue worse quickly until the line collapsed and filled in with dirt.

The crew worked quickly, bute very careful to not tear up the water line with the excavator - usually burried right next to sewer. Once located they had to hand dig the last foot, remove the individual tiles and the solid content inside, clean everything up and install a new PVC sewer pipe. 

Of course the remainder of the line back in the house was filled with solids, as the tenants had used the swer line for weeks despite the fact that less and less of the liquids could pass. Remembering the guys cleaning out the 15 ft slud of fresh solids helped me a lot writing the check later on... yuck! By Friday night the line was replaced and back in service.

The crew came back on Saturday with a load of gravel to propperly fill under the new pipe, we passed city inspection and then the trench could be backfilled. The remainder of the dirt had to be loaded on a truck an hauled away. The total bill came in for just over $6600 and was a little bit higher that normal, becaue they had to work on a Saturday. Understanding how much work it was I think the bill was reasonable. In the end I was glad we could do it so quickly. The tenants were glad too and relieved that they were able to use the shower and bathroom within 12 hours of reporting the issue - they had already started calling family, because they expected it to be a several week long issue.

Lessons learned? We still buy properties and will not scope the sewer lateral before the purchase, it's simply to expensive and involved compared to the probability of this happening. So we will play the odds. It's just one of those things that you have to deal with when they pop up. And in the end it really was not that bad, just a little expensive...

Here you can see an old sewer tile in the right side of the picture. Also shovels and standing water.

Keep the miles low.. 

I wonder what Hank Moody would say to that?? Starts with an F.

@J Scott Ha, yes I am sure! And once you got used to the feel of a German car it's hard to switch to anything else, right? Can't wait for the the new X5!

@Rich Weese

What a pleasure to read your response! Isn't that the reason why most of us are here - lifestyle (and cars, of course)?

The sad thing is that we don't have the roads nor the drivers to enjoy our cars here the way the Europeans do. When I was still living in Austria I had a little BMW Z4 with a nice engine and rear wheel drive, not even half the HP of your cars, but enough for narrow roads. My daily commute was 20 minutes of winding mountain roads, down in the morning and up in the evening. What a joy every day after work to bolt up the hills and pass cars in the short distance between the switchbacks! I would always count cars passed and then drive against my own best lap. The Z4 was an excellent drifter and very easy to control on the throttle with great stiffness in the suspension. That was 10 years ago, today I live in Wisconsin and drove to the office in my Q5 TDI on a straight road doing 55 miles and hour. And if I would pass a car every day I would probably get shot by some angry person before the end of the year...

I might need a toy in the garage again though some day ;-)

The probelm with dream cars is the excitement wears off very fast, after a year you will be thinking about getting something more practical.. it's like that hot GF, who is actually a complete bi$#@!

Buy and hold out of State is not easy but doable, flipping out of State is a recepie for desaster. The good news is that you can always flip close to home, even if your market is too expensive for a cash flow rental. The grass just looks greener on th other side! Good luck!

Mindy beat me to the punch - wholesaling is actually one of the most difficult fields in REI. So you'll need osmething else. Have you looked into house hacking? Pleanty of posts here to explain. It's probably the best and easiest way to get started. The good news is you are already on the right path: 1.) you are getting a new SSN. 2.) You are reading on how to fill your credit report with positive entries (to offset the negative ones) 3.) You are on BP. Next thing you know is that you are in the position to buy a duplex with a 3.5% FHA loan, stop paing rent, learn how to landlord, fix up a house, continue to build your credit, grow your income, safe up some cash and are on track to buy a second property down the road. It's not going to be easy, you won't make $100k a month (LOL) and it will take some time - but you can do it! Many have been down this path before you.. and succeeded.

"Most people overestimate what they can do in one year, but they underestimate what they can do in five years!"

@Jordan Epping order the MREA (Millionair Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller) - the more I learn about working as an agent the more the book blows me away. It's literally the blueprint to success. 

@Cenddie Alaban start with people: while it's always good to find an agent investor for a house hack you can work with any good agent. $50 in production is a cracy high number - you want someone who has some time for you and can make you a priority. Someone who does 30+ transactions a year and you have a good chemistry with. Open houses are great to interviw and pick up an agent. Second you need to find a good mortgage lender. A good agent will know good leders and will hook you up. You need to be pre-approved before you go look at properties, so you are ready to pull the trigger. Good deals go within hours, so if you are not fast you are left with what others did not like. As far as properties don't take on too much rehab - if you do this the first time you want to limit yourself to cosmetics (carpet, paint) and maybe one project (like a new roof or heater). A full blown fixer may take more time, energy and money than you have - for a rough idea of the scope use this: $35-$55 per square foot will give you a rough idea of the budget. Then you divide the budget by $5000 that will give you the number of weeks it will take. So, let's say a $60,000 rehab will take you 12 weeks. (again: just a very, very rough idea - just so you get an idea of the scope, numbers will vary depending on the condition and type of property). Good luck!