All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Actually now that I think about it, we came in after the drop ceiling had been torn down during the rehab. 

The drop ceiling would have hidden the coffee can with only the trim piece being visible thus it would have easily passed for a legit fixture at a casual glance.

Obviously this would not pass a rough-in electrical inspection for many reasons the main one being that a coffee can is not UL Listed for that particular use so I am not in any way recommending re-creating this no matter how tight your budget is lol.

We were doing a whole house electrical re-wire and main panel upgrade for an Investor doing a flip in Mishawaka, Indiana. In the formerly finished basement ceiling was the following piece of electrical art:

@Stephen Sokolow

I was involved in a bulk refinance about 2 years ago that had properties in a couple cities in about 2-4 States. Locally, we had a couple properties in South Bend and probably one or two in Mishawaka. The one thing we ran into both locally and from the big boys like B2R was that lenders were unwilling to lend on properties that appraised under $40K-$50K. 

Things may have changed and there may be private hard money lenders that may be open to <$40K appraisals now or 6 years down the road when you may be looking to refinance.

I would look into this before jumping in on the deal and make sure that your exit is sound.

@Jake VandenAkker

@Eric Bomkamp is right about the buzz around ND and associated higher price points.

Overall though South Bend/Mishawaka is a strong rental market. You can refer to this thread where a replied to a post with a similar question to yours. You might have to copy and paste it, I cant seem to get it to hyperlink.

 https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/81/topics/360356-rental-market-in-south-bend-in

@Jason Huber

Did you find a PM?

@Scott Steffek

We have a mutual acquaintance in Joe. Not sure if you are aware that nowadays, he is more involved with Homeworks Construction than Homeworks Investments.

@Daniel Kervick

Welcome to BP and to the area.

It just occurred to me that I should have pointed out that it was not the TENANTS that complained and outed the landlord despite being obviously taken advantage of, it was the NEIGHBORS that complained of:

• Loud noise
• Anti-social behavior
• Overcrowding

Apparently landlords like him pulling this off mostly with migrants is a common problem in London. There are many stories like this. Here are some more:

• http://bit.ly/2fMNRPa - 18 tenants in a 4 br paying £800/mo each ($1,000.00/mo each) - $18,000/mo gross
• http://bit.ly/2f2Ufkl - 26 tenants living in two 3br homes
  
• http://bit.ly/2aKS68D - 31 tenants living in a 4br home

@Account Closed

Lol!

Ok. This is a story from London, England but I couldn't help chuckling at it.

Key points:

• Location: Barking, London, England
• 2 story, 3 bedroom house
• 11 tenants
• Each paying £1,100.00/mo (British Pounds) or $1,372.00/mo (USD)
• Landlord swimming in £12,100.00/mo (British Pounds) or $15,092.00/mo (USD)
• That is $181,104/yr on ONE 3 bedroom house if he got away with it for that long
• Neighbors complain
• British version of Code Enforcement respond
• Landlord caught
• Fined £427.00 or $532.00
• Landlord banned from renting out properties in the borough for life

Story here: http://bit.ly/2f06DBD

@Michael S.

My Firefox is up to date but does not show the Poster's profile picture and has no vote button.

I checked on an updated Chrome and it is ok now.