All Forum Posts by: Janine Badic

Well done! If you do decide to sell, I would suggest adding open shelving to the kitchen, taking down those akward kitchen upper cabinets, and/or adding a range hood. I think you could have super polished looking for kitchen for not too much more money.

If it is for sale by owner, have you thought about seeing if the Seller would hold the note? That way you would have to come up with less money upfront and/or maybe even finance the repairs via low interest credit cards until you got the property squared away and then refinanced with a bank?

I would never charge anything less than one months rent for the deposit... unfortunately you just never know what can happen to your property, regardless of how well you screen your tenants. I would think you would attract the type of people who cannot afford the whole months deposit by charging less... not the other way around.

The Section 8 here will not pay the rent if the tenant decides not to pay, however it will usually get them kicked out of the program if they get evicted for non-payment (or get evicted in general), it has not happened in my experiences. The only issue I have had with non-payments is when the tenant becomes gainfully employed and looses their subsidy all together.

The way Section-8 works in my area is based on a person's family size determines the approved amount of their voucher (it actually determines the # of bedrooms a voucher will be for. The # of bedrooms determine the fair mark rent (FMR) amount. I believe the FMR for my area is determined by HUD). Depending on what utilities are included or not also effects how much the voucher will be for.

The tenants income will then determine what portion of the FMR they will pay (the voucher will cover the rest). In my area I am allowed to charge more then the FMR but the tenant has to pay the difference.

So to answer your question, both will pay you... each will pay their portion.

And, you may not be able find any one with a voucher that will cover $800 in your area, if you are charging more then the FMR for you respective area. Just something to keep in mind. Maybe you can google "Fair market rents Pittsburgh" (or in lieu of Pittsburgh whatever county you are in... the county it what is the go-by here) see if you can get the rent schedule. Or You may want to try to get a hold of the tenants case worker and see if she could explain the way Section 8 works in your area.

Congratulations! I loved your lessons learned, especially about real estate being a FT job disguised as a PT job :-)

Thanks for suggestions everyone!

Michael Lerch I am always milling thru the GRAR to see what is out there! Please feel free to contact me with any potential deals. And I did contact Mr. Culver and am working on setting up an appointment with him for when I visit GR at the end of this month.

Hello Everyone! I am in the military and own a SFH (current residence) and a lot in North Carolina but also have a 4-unit, 2-unit, and SFH in Michigan (where I am originally from). I am assuming I need to find CPA for some guidance on if and how I need to form an LLC... but do I contact someone here or in Michigan, or does it even matter? I will only be in NC for less then a year before I move again. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Heather,

I am also in the same boat, as I have 5 units back in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when I joined the Navy in 2010 and moved away. I am luckily enough to have a father that is willing to be my property manager.

I completely and totally understand how you feel about not really know what direction to move in now that you are in a new location. The biggest lesson I have learned since moving to a new area, is how incredibly different real estate markets can be! I have discovered that where I am stationed (Camp Lejeune, NC), I would never seriously consider investing here (in SFH or MF) because the purchase price to rental income is incredibly skewed and it would be hard/impossible to make the kind of returns I am used to back in Grand Rapids. But we (my husband and I) have found other opportunities that we never considered previously. We did find a great building lot in a waterfront community that we will be holding for at least the next few years. We have recently discussed Mobile homes and communities since they are so prevelant here.

So my advice is keep your eyes open because you may come across many different opportunities (maybe ones you have not considered before) and keep educating yourself. If you are as motivated as you come across, distance and location will not be a roadblock for your success. :-)