All Forum Posts by: Avery Heilbron

@Michael Stockwell I don't know about in IL, but in MA it is the owners duty to come into compliance within 90 days of ownership on the topic of lead paint. It doesn't matter if you "don't know" or play dumb. If someone gets lead poisoned in your rental you are on the hook. If you played dumb and did nothing you pay for medical and other expenses. If you knew and did nothing you pay medical and other multiplied by 3. This is at least true in MA. Not sure about IL. However, if no young children live in your rentals then it does not matter. But you can't discriminate when it comes to renting to families with young children

@Noah Barba The type of abatement the abatement contractor does (removal,encapsulation,covering) will all have an affect on the price. As long as it's compliant I would go with whatever less expensive option gets you there. If you're already ripping out walls, however, doing lead abatement may be easy for your carpenter/contractor to do if they are certified.

@Jennifer F. if you say yes and they place a family with children under 6 you will HAVE to get it deleaded. This alone could be a reason you may not want to go down the path

@Noah Barba You can always get an inspection, but the less you know can sometimes be better. I would disagree with @Lynnette E. a majority of homes that had lead paint in 1978 still have lead paint. There are probably less in the midwest than the east coast

@Owen D. The price discrepancies are also highly dependent on the type of work the contractor will do. One contractor might do whole component removal (removing an entire, door & door jamb) and the other might remove the door. There is still lead paint on the door jamb, but these are now both compliant. The term deleading is misleading because it is lead abatement not no lead. So the difference in price might be because someone wants to scrape and someone wants to cover the lead up. If they are scraping then they would also need to fix the wood that they have scraped so it still looks good (unless they are a bad contractor). You can see how some ways of making the home compliant can be vastly different in labor.

Also when you are in compliance you can fall out of compliance very quickly. Chipped paint that was covered with joint compound and is no longer loose is compliant. If it becomes chipped again you're out of compliance and once again liable.

@Nino Alfano In MA it is a $500 course, but it is a 4 day (32 hour) course, followed by bloodwork ($320), and a state exam and a license to become a contractor ($575) and to do your own work also a supervisor's license ($175)

@Owen D. I am a delead supervisor in MA and I can tell you the reason it is expensive is stated above. Every year you have to pay roughly $1000 for the licensing and refresher courses as well as more money for the blood testing every 3 months. It is also expensive because it is dangerous and a highly stressful job as the contractor takes the fall if the wipes don't pass. It's very labor intensive and dirty. Materials are a low cost, but everything else adds up. That being said a great recommendation in MA for deleading is:

Peter Atsiknoudas. PM me for his contact info as I cannot post it in forums.

I would agree with @Greg Dickerson I am a delead (lead abatement) supervisor in MA and other than loose paint you wouldn't know anything without an inspection report

Hi @Tyler Billick and welcome to BP! Boston is an awesome area to invest.I just got my first deal househacking in Everett so it is doable. 

Definitely read all you can and listen to podcasts and go to any meetups you can find. I met all my current network of agents, lenders, etc. through meetups. 

Welcome @Jacob Briggs!

@Mohsin Mazhar You are correct that the other unit will probably not cover the mortgage for a standard down payment. In my situation I did an FHA loan and have a roommate and girlfriend living in my unit and once the upstairs is rented out I will be cash positive in regards to the mortgage. Having the extra income from my unit helps immensely and if I did not have anyone I would be pay ~850/month just to the mortgage and not including any expenses.