All Forum Posts by: Bill B.

Radon above 4 is rated “dangerous”. I don’t know if 14 is only 3X worse. But tell the seller, they will then be required to tell any future buyers if you back out. 

Solving Radon is super easy and relatively cheap for houses. Maybe a few thousand dollars. With a condo you’ll have to search a few things. 

Is there storage, utility or anything else below the first floor for foundation access?

Either ask the HOA or a lawyer if the condo docs say they are responsible for remediation. They are often responsible for the foundation, or anything outside of the studs. Remind them they could be sued if people get lung cancer after they are notified. Maybe you want to ask other first floor owners to test their units. If you get 3-6-10 other owners asking the HOA to pay you may have more power.

I wouldn’t instantly bail without finding out if someone else will pay to fix it, or if it’s cheap as it is in a house. But while I’ve never bothered to test for radon, one you get to triple the “safe” rating I would start to get a little concerned. I certainly wouldn’t move in or feel right letting people rent it. Even if I wouldn’t care if it was 5. Let us know what you find out. 

I would check the rates on a 15 year loan. If those payments are comfortable you’ll save the most interest and get a lower rate. Otherwise you’ll be extending your loan back to 30 years. (Some lenders will brag about lowering your payment forgetting to tell you that there are 24 more of them in your case.)

The PMI would be the other big saver if you're paying it now and can get out of it. If it's close put some more money down and consider the PMI savings as an investment return on your extra investment. But the 15 year shoudl save you at least 1/2 a point. Good luck.

I can’t give you a Boston specific answer. In Las Vegas it can be called a mother-in-law suite or as DR Horton advertises it a “Next Gen Suite”. They charge an extra $30k. But it’s still a single home with the total beds/baths. This is all assuming the suite gets its own entrance. If it can have its own laundry that’s another bonus. 

You can either put a regular door between them if you don’t plan to rent it out. Otherwise you either put a door with two locks one on each side (like a hotel suite), two doors each with a lock on their side, or if money is tight just a lock on the suite’s side. 

Ps. Make sure it’s allowed. Many people have posted about buying homes where a second kitchen was added and they had to tear it out. 

Happens all the time. Especially with condos and townhomes considered condos. Happened to me in Vegas and MN. They’re either leaving the market, or the property type. Try Allstate. They cover 12 for me. 

What if the buyer who “beat you” offered even more than $182k? I assume they did right? Hardly the kind of thing that would make me consider taking $20k less. 

The seller’s realtor is doing a Sh!tty job. They should have reached out to you the second the deal started to fall through. (Unless there was a third offer that was also higher than yours?) heck they should have accepted back offers form the get go. 

If you were willing to pay $182k before, why aren’t you willing to pay $182k today? Will you be happy if another buyer gets it’s for $179k?

The only leverage you’d have I can see is if it was occupied while for sale and now is empty. It was always empty or is still occupied, the other “buyer” anchored the seller even higher. 

As mentioned. Have your realtor reach out and ask what happened. If they found an issue with the property the seller is required by law to disclose it. If the buyer just flaked or life happened those aren’t tempting reasons for the seller to lower the price. But if you don’t hurry you might it back under contract at $182k from another buyer who thought it got away, or one that thinks it’s easily worth $179k since you thought it was worth $182k. 

Is there anyway you can wait until it’s empty? Or at least until you have them down to MTM and can get them out in 30 days? (Let the tenants know ASAP.) You are disqualifying 90% of the buyers who are looking for a primary home. (Unless you can deliver it empty in 30 days, then tenant or owner occupied makes no difference )

You will EASILY get 5-20% less for your home if an owner occupant can’t purchase it. You’re going to lose 6 months to two years of rent, you just won’t see it. 

Of course it was @Eric Fernwood. I shoudla known that.  

“Bank-Owned Properties Rose 34% Nationwide”

I heard from some clients who had concerns about the "large number of distressed properties." Below is the actual MLS Las Vegas data for single-family homes in the Las Vegas metro area. (In 2023, there were 572,900 single family homes in the metro area.)

• Bank owned (REO): 9 for sale. (or 0.0016% of all homes)
• Short sales: 15 for sale. (or 0.0026% of all homes)
• Foreclosure started: 18 for sale. (or 0.0031% of all homes)

The article title was simply clickbait. Each location has its own unique market conditions, and national averages do not reflect the reality of any local market.

Link to the entire post and someone to follow if you’re investing here  

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/921/topics/1258489-augu...

If you search the forums Vegas market update someone did a market report for last month. I THINK the number for the entire valley was under 10, or maybe under 100? It was some fraction of less than 1%. 

@Andrew Street brought up a good point. If you get hit with a $10,000 or $20,000 fine for STR violations, it will be assessed against you or the property. NOT the operator. I guaranteed they will cut bait and run if that happens. You NEED personal guarantees from people who have the assets to be sued to collect against this risk. Not the company with no assets and not the person "just getting started" who will just declare bankruptcy.

Have a friend neighbor co-worker relative sign a lease for $1 and get electricity in their name?

Ps. I have to ask. What did you mean by “Lending you electricity”? Are you running a solar farm?