All Forum Posts by: Andy Webb

@Ana Coello - If you are holding the property as a rental, you want that tax assessed value as low as possible to keep your fixed costs down. Not sure about other states, but here in TX you can protest the tax value each year (with marginal success of late I might add).

If you are negotiating directly with a seller, keep in mind that a lot of ill-informed sellers do erroneously associate their property value with this tax value...so that may give you an argument in support of your low-ball purchase offer (below market value anyhow).

Andy

See you there!

Andy

It is not unusual to see them outside. I have at least one rental house where the panel is in a bedroom closet - when it comes time to replace it, we will flip the panel to the outside as well (it is located along an outside wall already, just inside the closet).  If you are renting to your friend, you might check to see if there are any rental registration requirements in the city, and if so, will leaving the panel in the kitchen be an issue for getting your certificate of occupancy in any way.

Andy

@Pierce Fonville - no experience with adding a mother-in-law type suite. Just with dealing with code enforcement in general, especially as it regards rental inspections and COs.  A buddy of ours had a rental in Arlington with a backyard suite. The city did give him some grief and if I remember correctly wanted to see related people/family in each unit.  

The cities will often find out about tenant situations when those tenants call to set up water in their name.  Some landlords will circumvent that by keeping water in the landlord's name and billing it to the tenant or absorbing it in the rent.

Ultimately, you should call the city you are interested in and talk to them. 

I believe @Pierce Fonville is talking about a Certificate of Occupancy (CO), and @Aaron K. is talking about a Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector...at least the first round of posts.

In any event, to find out about the Certificate of Occupancy, call the city in question and talk to code enforcement / building inspection department. I have a few around the mid-cities. Hurst, Richland Hills and NRH absolutely do a CO. Bedford and Arlington do not.  Not sure about Euless. But that does not mean they will permit residency in a back building if they catch it.

Andy

Great neighborhood - I grew up over there and have a few rentals around Hurst.  Tax rolls have it at 1600 sq ft, if the enclosed porch makes up the difference, be careful as it needs to have heating/air pumped to it and be done well to be considered as true additional square footage.  Fixed up well, that ARV is doable. But I would not buy it as-is for 230k - you are paying retail or higher for a house that needs work.

Also, it has a slab foundation - if the house still has cast iron plumbing, you will be in for some major headaches down the line, or may even need to repipe now before putting in new flooring.  In any case, it is worth a hydrostatic test.

I would pass at that price.

Andy

@Victor Williams Jr. - if you have not done it before, give it a go yourself. You are probably in Dallas County, which I find has been pretty hit or miss the last few years, but I still do religiously.  

You are not really protesting the tax amount, rather the property value that the county appraiser assigns your house (which drives the tax amount).  

I am not sure about a "$2k refund" - do they mean they can lower your value $2k? if so, that is peanuts and amounts to a $40 tax savings.  To get an actual $2k reduction in the tax bill, they would have to lower your  tax assessed value about $80k...I doubt that.

Andy

@Amir Khan - Propelio is sourcing directly from the MLS. I am an active agent in DFW, and do subscribe to Propelio as well. I use MLS for my local DFW market, but Propelio for their out-of-town (San Antonio and Houston) or out-of-state access (MO, FL).

Andy

• Make sure your bathrooms have proper ventilation, especially on older homes.  If possible, tie the vent into the light switch so that the vent must come on with the light. I have seen too many bathrooms with poor ventilation and the resulting mold/mildew/paint flaking from sheetrock, etc.
• Again on the older homes, I typically wind up adding a turbine or two to the roof to improve the air flow and lower the temperature in the attic. This helps with the tenant's electric bill, and should help prolong both my A/C and my roof shingles. We will sometimes go in with blown-in insulation as well.
• We stopped adding/replacing garbage disposals and remove them altogether.  Tenants abuse those things and they wind up leading to too many maintenance calls.
• SPC/vinyl plank flooring has come a long way and looks great for most low-middle priced rents.

Andy

I do neither - we send an e-mail with the info at lease renewal time.