All Forum Posts by: Brandon Ingegneri

I have helped a tenant who was doing a rent to own improve credit to close on the property.  I basically sat with her and just advised her of how to use her credit in order to improve it.  Its all of the basic stuff that anyone here on this site know if they have good credit.  We had time to build it, so it wasn't a huge issue.   They basically didnt charge over x amount of a credit card and waited until the bill came in so they know the purchases hit their report, and then paid the bill in full each month.  In their particular place, they were advised not to seek any new credit, etc.  The score improved and we closed.  I do have a friend who hired a particular law firm that specializes specifically removing negative comments, etc from credit reports.  If you are interested, inbox me, and I'll ask him the name as it escapes me at the moment.

@Logan Allec

First question. At what point in the transaction was this noticed?  Is this deal contingent on a home inspection, or did you notice the crack and immediately call this contractor?  If so, how did the negotiation after this was discovered in the inspection play out if at all?  I don't know how much differently deals are structured in Ca, but where I am located, a buyer can introduce terms to the seller after an inspection which can be negotiated.  If you have something similar, here is your out, or your opportunity to SLASH the price of the property, because depending on the damage, you potentially have an extremely costly repair down the road.  

These are questions that you may not know off the top of your head, but what is the land like in this area? Ledge, sandy, gravel, etc... What is the water table?  Do you have photographs?  

Now there is the possibility that the house had settling over time, so Im going to ask what year it was built.  Cracks can become established from settling which is normal for older houses.  There is maintenance that can be performed that can minimize the damage.  From the information that you are providing, I'd say that the sagging floors are most likely settling and not due to cracks in the foundation.  Check the center stick in the house and all of the structural supports.  

You may only need a few lolly columns and hydraulic cement to repair the cracking and sagging floors, or there may be a larger issue that I honestly can't tell you unless I somehow saw it for myself.  Either way, you can overcome the issue with price or walking away unless you are able to determine exactly what is causing what.  

Just looked a little closer at your report. Issue with the footing of the foundation and the foundation is only 29 years old.  Walk.  You're going to have issues. If this was a 70 year old house, different story.  A 30 year old foundation shouldn't have issues like this, and a 30 year old house shouldn't have extensive sagging.    

@Tom Weismann

Overall, I would say separate anything that you can.  Its going to save you money in the long run if this is a hold, and it will make it more marketable if you are looking to sell it.  This really all depends on a few things though other than those generalized blanket statements that I just made. Separating utilities depending on the layout of the house is going to be very costly.  If you have multiple units on one system, and this being New England, I'm guessing it is an older building, you are most likely going to have to open up walls, and replace a lot of the supply and return lines so that they make home runs to individual boilers, etc that you will be installing.  Having good chases will help to reduce some cost.  As far as electrical, your going to need an upgraded service if you want to separate the utilities.  You'll want 3 meters plus a house meter for common areas.  I don't know the exact situation with this particular property, but mechanicals and electrical will be two of your largest expenses, but they will definitely add value and organize the situation.  

@Ismael Rivera, welcome aboard.  

@Dan Dwyer, welcome aboard.  If you'd like to touch base, we can certainly do so. Im only 20 minutes from you and we have the resources in house to get your work done, feed you some deals, and answer any questions that you may have.

Sounds like a letter of termination of tenancy to me.  I wouldn't want him renting from me, I wouldn't want to do business with him, and I certainly wold not want to let him think that would fly without any recourse.

@Joanne Chang

Please see above

Absolutely @Adam F.  RI has very poor follow through.  For a property to be condemned, it really has to be blown out.  Keep in mind that New England is a very dense area.  Space is limited especially in cities, and the state is honestly poorly managed fiscally.  Cities want tax revenue, so you can buy what you need to buy.  Only thing is it is an expensive area of the country.  City inspectors become familiar with all of us over time, so them shutting down a job after we have done a number of rehabs is unlikely so long as we pull the proper permitting.  

I had a relationship with this particular bank, so we were able to purchase this property for $40k.  All said and done, we were into it right around $110.  We owe about $80k on it after throwing a little flip money at it.  It was appraised at the refi just over $190k, but I am currently in negotiation with the owner of the undersized vacant lot next door.  If I can grab that and create parking for the building, it should be worth roughly $230.  I can acquire the lot for $15k, but the site work and asphalt is going to be around $25K.  I'd like to be into the entire lot for no more than $40k, so we will see.  This lot is useless to absolutely everyone else except the owner of my property, so I can wait him out, potentially to the point where I eventually sell the property.  As long as I own the lot, I do not need to build it out and can get more value selling my property even with the raw land and option to create parking.

In our business we have several employees along with a few hourly part timers that work as needed on their days off from their full time jobs.  I have a construction background myself, and I have found that the biggest problem with contractors is that some are great builders, but fewer are great business men.  This is the case with our main carpenter.  He is honest, very skilled, and honestly really does bang stuff out for us.  We give him a little latitude because he really has been great for us over the years.  So much of the time though, I will feed him a lead outside of our business on his own to put some extra cash in his pocket, and I'll find out that he won't call the person back and things like that.  So many have poor organizational skills, others aren't financially responsible so they have to do a little bit of this job to get paid this week, jump to another one, back to you, etc.  In all honesty, it is very common and flat out sucks.  I'd love to put it more eloquently, but lets call it what it is.  It is the one extremely frustrating thing in this business.  

The only couple pieces of advice that I can give you is to bring on an employee full time and see how that works for you.  If you have a lead carpenter, foreman, whatever you want to call it and build a business around that person, it is easier to control.  They need structure.  One other thing that I tried years ago and worked well to the point where I still use this person on occasion... Talk to a local lumber yard.  Tell them you want a builder who does really great work, is affordable, and hungry.  They are gonna know.  Trust me.  Bring the guy at the lumber yard desk a 12 pack of beer and put in a regular order of materials, and he is going to love you.  Watch the follow through on the part of the lumber yard and the relationship they form with you.    

Thank you @Justin Tahilramani