All Forum Posts by: Barbara G.

HI Ben

Well you bought this house in May and it is now July 16th so we would like to know what progress you made in this one month and  half?   

How did you arrive at the renovation figure of $30,000?  

When was the house built?

What do you estimate the rent for this SF will bring in Strattford?  

How much are the taxes?  What do you figure your cash flow will be for this house?  How did you arrive  at the ARV for the  house?  Another BP person has a house for sale that she renovated in Sratford.  How does your house compare to her house, in price and in apperance and in cost of renovation?   

What did Zillow say about the house?  

How much does Zillow say it is worth?
The market has told you that it is over priced.  Drop it the $40,000 you will be paying on the proposed renovations.  The renovations will take another 3 months anyway.

Every one on BP has told you the same thing.  Drop the price and sell the house.  What have been the holding costs for these 6 months?  
You are bleeding money here.

Ask Your family.  They know you and probably like you.

I backed my sons in a bussiness when the oldest one was 19 years old and never regretted a cent of it.  After one or two false starts they each made out very well in the bussiness world.

There are lots of things that we don't want but have to live with.

This might be one of those situations.

Investigate and do the most you can and if it doesn't work just forget about it.

There probably are worst problems then this.  

If you can provide some ammenities that will alow you to leagally raise the rent you can try and do that.

Can you offer them "Cash for Keys"?

No body held a gun to your head when you bought this property. You knew these people were there and you knew what they were paying!!!   

Now just make the best of it.

If you can't sell it can you keep it as rental?  Is there any possibility that that might work for you?  What are the rents in Strattford for a 2 Bedroom house in that Location?

@Steve Babiak Yes You are correct about the insurance and the garage door.  We did contact our agent and he did say we would have some time to correct the garage door problem.  We were thinking of repairing it (instead of replacing)  especially  because our renovation  budget is way over estimate but now we have deceided to just have a  door company in and will replace the 2 doors.  We did have  this $25,000 dream renovatuon budget but the number is closer to $40,000 now.  $40,000, Maybe more as we haven't "done the math".   Then, Decieding to excavate the back yard, and put in the retaining wall and the 2 cement patios added money.  The 2 garage doors added money,   The painting and prep work cost more.  Putting 2 new tile floors in the bathroom that we originally thought we could keep is all adding up.  Zillow says we can rent for $1,035 a month but we think $950 is the most we can charge for each apartment.  We also are concerned about how much this property will assess for,  This is a C town and we think we are in a C+ neighborhood or a B- area.  We want to be very careful about the quality of our tenants.

We have finished the painting with all the prep work that went with it.  The underlayment for the kitchens was put dow.  The rug and linoleum men came in and put down teh carpet in the w units and the linoleum in the kitchen.  We have decieded to put 2 new garage door in and are negotiating with a garage door company for that which will ost !,200 or $1,400.

The excavator is oming next week and will put the retaining wall in the back and dig out so the 2 tenants will have back yard space,  He will also remove the 2 decks and we will replace them with cement patios in the back.

We still have to install the 2 kitchens and the appliances and also the 2 bathrooms.  It shouold be a wrap by Augyst 15, 2015 and hopefully we will have one tenant in by the 15 andthe next one in by Sept 1, 2015.

One of our other tenants in Bristol Ct called us and said she had a leak from her bathroom the ruined the ceiling and had to be attended to,  When we got up there we found there was no leak and the tenant obviously had let the toilet run over?  Nothing was wrong with the toilet and there was no leak although she is still sticking to her story about a mysterious non existant leak.  Unfortunatly it is a popcorn ceiling that has to be repaired as soon as we can get it dried out.  The 4 existing tenant in our Bristol 2 duplexes have gotten used to paying their rent on the 10th of the month  (instead of the 1st) from the previous landlord and one of them told us to wait until the 17th for our money.  We told him that was completly un acceptable and if it was a problem he was free to move.  He was not happy with that idea.  This late paying of rent,  is becoming a real problem at this other property that we own.  and reeducating them has to be something we must attend to.  It's irritating and exhausting.  The tenant had a real attitude about paying it on the 17th and said "do the Math" as though  that made any sense or we could even figure out what he was saying.   The downside of having exisiting tenants is that they get used to some very inhappy , unhealthy  habits. 

I call a duplex with a studio a triplex.  I would be so happy if that happenned to me.  i love studio apartments.  Just think small kitchen.  Just think no oven, undercounter refrigerator and small sink.  Maye just a shower in the bathroom.  Show the studio apartment on BP

Would of Could of?  

Maybe if you had asked for the higher rent this tenant would not have taken it.  It might be that it has worked out better this way.  You have improved the property.  It looks great. You will get your raise when the lease is up.  Anything can happen in two years,  Life is upredictable.