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All Forum Posts by: Alan Asriants

Alan Asriants has started 99 posts and replied 1458 times.

Post: Paying For Repairs Before Buying

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054

I believe you can do what is called an escrow holdback. Although I think it depends on repairs.

So you have to pay up to 1.25 or 1.5x, cant remember, the amount the appraiser estimates for the repairs. You put that money into escrow and when you purchase the property and complete them, you get the appraiser to come back out to verify the fixes. Once he does they will mail you your escrow check back. 

You will have to pay for the appraiser to go back out again. Like 100-200 bucks

Better than paying up front on a property you dont own. Get that seller credit instead of lowering the price - that will help you absorb those costs.

Talk to your lender. I did this back in 2020 when i was buying my first house hack using FHA

Post: Just bought a single family with basement ADU that turned out to be illegal.

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054

It is the due diligence of the Buyer and the Buyer's agent to verify things like this, but sometimes things are able to be slipped through the cracks. If the seller purposefully marketed the property with an ADU and claimed it to be legal while 100% knowing it wasnt is subject to sellers disclosure law per your state.

Did your township conduct a U&O inspection? Were you given a certificate by the township on clear use and occupancy from the seller?

You might have a case here if there was clear misrepresentation against the seller. 

Just FYI if you decide to go the lawyer route your lawyer will sue everyone involved. 

Interesting that appraiser didn't catch it either. I had a situation just like this recently. Its in lawyers hand now because getting the ADU permitted was not possible through township, so they are trying to remedy their losses.

Make sure you get a GOOD lawyer. This client I knew got a very bad lawyer who got the suit thrown back into his face due to so many technical mistakes. 

Try going through township first, maybe its an easy process. Litigation should be last resort, but dont wait around. In PA statue of limitations is 2 years

Post: This is exactly how much it cost me to rehab a 2bed 1 bath apartment in Philly

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054
Quote from @Greg Kasmer:
Quote from @Alan Asriants:
Quote from @Greg Kasmer:

@Alan Asriants - Impressive rehab. I was able to do a reno like that for that price point about 7-8 years ago. My typical rehab was 4-5 weeks and I was paying about $3,250 per week in labor. Now, that contractor is $4,250 per week with materials higher as well. To mitigate the labor expense I've tried to sub out some work (i.e. Flooring) to help with costs, but that only helps a bit. What type of return metric do you use for your renovations? Was this an update to the unit that enabled you to increase rents?  


Yes this was an update to the unit. To be honest I couldve gotten away with a much cheaper rehab (kept older kitchen and bath, just did sheetrock work, flooring, and lighting). I figure I wouldve already invested so much that an additional 15k or so would've been silly not to. It wasn't the best ROI to be honest but should help me rent higher (around 200/m more) and quicker


 Alan - And Hopefully the kitchen and bath reno will last another 10-15 years and serve you and your tenants well. Congrats!


 Fingers crossed it doesnt go out of style in 5 year LOL!

Post: This is exactly how much it cost me to rehab a 2bed 1 bath apartment in Philly

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054
Quote from @Marcus Auerbach:

Very nice work @Alan Asriants. Your experience shows! 

And I like that you are not cutting corners on things that are required (like code-compliant electrical) to things that are just nice, like backsplash or 3 way switches.

Cost-wise, this is really a best-case scenario and it is great that you are pointing this out!

For example we usually budget about $2,500 for kitchen appliances including dishwasher, because we rent to families and a full-size french door fridge alone will be $1200-$1400.

And we usually have two bathrooms, and they take a lot of material and labor. We are usually around $50 to $60/sf but that usually includes new windows, new HVAC, all new pex etc.

The category Misc. Materials is very sneaky indeed! It's not the cost of the big ticket items that kills your budget, it's the loooong list of small tasks and receipts!


 As you start changing HVAC, windows, etc your budget certianly goes up. Im around 50-60/sqft when doing a full cosmetic rehab plus new pex, windows, hvac and roof. once you get into structural, siding, pointing, landscaping, concrete that budget get closer to 80-100. 

Post: This is exactly how much it cost me to rehab a 2bed 1 bath apartment in Philly

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054
Quote from @Sebastian Bennett:

@Alan Asriants Where in Philadelphia is this and what type of rents are you collecting for this unit?


 This is in NE phila, I am expecting to get around 1650/m without renting the garage

Post: This is exactly how much it cost me to rehab a 2bed 1 bath apartment in Philly

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054
Quote from @Scott Mac:
Quote from @Alan Asriants:

 Wow, good job Alan!

It looks very nice!

The cost breakout seems very helpful too I think that will help a lot of people.

Do you have a line item cost breakout you could post?

And did you have any time budget overruns, permits taking longer than you expected, or material shortages, contractors not showing up on time- things like that?

But overall it looks like a great looking place and a nice addition to your rental portfolio.

Good Luck!

 Unfortunately no line item cost breakdown. I hired a GC to do it so they covered the entire scope of work. project was supposed to take 1-1.5 months but ended up taking closer to 2.5 months. GC was doing other project simultaneously, and the overlap of holidays didnt help.

I measure kitchen incorrectly because when we did demo we realized the shared wall was only on furring strips. So we have to put in 2x3 fram which meant we needed to resize kithen 

Post: This is exactly how much it cost me to rehab a 2bed 1 bath apartment in Philly

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054
Quote from @Jeremy Anan:

Awesome stuff @Alan Asriants. If possible, please post a picture of the final flooring work.


Post: This is exactly how much it cost me to rehab a 2bed 1 bath apartment in Philly

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054
Quote from @Mark F.:

Great post Alan. Reminds me of that one guy who posted his cost breakdown on a crap rehab and everyone blasted him. Yours is way more realistic. I had to redo a bathroom last year in a 2/1 in an occupied duplex I own and I spent $6,004 in labor and materials (10% off at HD/Lowes as a veteran, just didn’t do flooring and left the old vanity, doesn’t include the damage the leak did in the lower unit). I also have a personal relationship with my contractor so got a massive price break. Similar situation where I was forced to update while it was occupied.

However I know once I have to update the entire unit, I’ll be spending quite a bit as the kitchen is outdated and the place needs paint and either new LVP put down or sand and stain the existing hardwood. 


 This rehab I didnt have to do while occupied. But the sheetrock securing I did for the spot that was affected. When the tenant moved out I did the rehab. 

I pay around 5k-6k for a bathroom rehab and around 12-15k for a kitchen on their own. 

Post: This is exactly how much it cost me to rehab a 2bed 1 bath apartment in Philly

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054
Quote from @Greg Kasmer:

@Alan Asriants - Impressive rehab. I was able to do a reno like that for that price point about 7-8 years ago. My typical rehab was 4-5 weeks and I was paying about $3,250 per week in labor. Now, that contractor is $4,250 per week with materials higher as well. To mitigate the labor expense I've tried to sub out some work (i.e. Flooring) to help with costs, but that only helps a bit. What type of return metric do you use for your renovations? Was this an update to the unit that enabled you to increase rents?  


Yes this was an update to the unit. To be honest I couldve gotten away with a much cheaper rehab (kept older kitchen and bath, just did sheetrock work, flooring, and lighting). I figure I wouldve already invested so much that an additional 15k or so would've been silly not to. It wasn't the best ROI to be honest but should help me rent higher (around 200/m more) and quicker

Post: first time landlord question

Alan Asriants
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Posts 1,474
  • Votes 1,054

Get as much info as you can. get their bank statements see what comes in and comes out. Personally I don't love it. If your gut is throwing you off I would trust that. There are many ways to scheme a decent credit score though rebuilding closing acccounts etc. 

Ask for 2 landlord references and see what they say. Make sure you get that landlord info of the housing before the one they are in now. Verify that the info of that landlord is correct through property records.