All Forum Posts by: Brian Dickerson

Hey BP,

In contract for our first deal past contingencies..  It had a tenant with a lease thru Jan 2019.  Appraisal happens and the appraiser comes back saying the value of the property is contingent to a $100 reinspection to verify all utilities work.  We learned that the tenant supposedly left without notice and the property is vacant.  Closing date is in one week.  What should I be concerned about , or what would you do?   

Hey all, In contract for our first rental properties. We live in FL and the properties are in NY. For protection I want to make an LLC. Should I make it in FL, or the state the property is located? Does it matter? Also, I haven't found a lender that will close a conventional mortgage to an LLC. So I can just transfer the properties to the LLC after closing I suppose. Is this the standard practice?

Ally has been great for savings accts

Well, technically I believe so.  But it takes the city a while to catch up on these things and issue the fines, etc.  It's only been a couple months. 

In contract for a duplex which is one of our first deals. It currently has tenants, one month to month other on a lease.

This is in upstate NY and the city requires a certificate of occupancy (with an inspection from the city before issuing) for rental properties. Once we ask about it under contract, we learn the seller let it lapse a couple months ago.

We try to make the deal contingent upon them obtaining a new c of o. No dice. We change the contingency to say that WE will pay to obtain the c of o unless the inspection for it reveals over $4,000 worth of deficiencies. Still a no from the seller.

From what we could see after a home inspection , it would cost less than $1000 to make the necessary repairs to be compliant for the c of o. The home inspection revealed probably about 6-8000 of total repairs that need to be done but very few related to the requirements for the C of O. We asked for an old electric panel to be replaced & service on the furnaces and they conceded that to us.

Supposedly the seller got another offer above our price & without any contingencies after accepting ours. But then why would they concede anything to us? Why not just say no to everything and kill the deal so they can get the alleged better offer?

In addition, weve asked multiple times for rent rolls and maintenance records from the listing agent to no avail. Our agent contacted the property manager directly to ask for these items and they very rudely said it's all confidential. Then the seller agent accused our agent of being unethical trying to obtain the docs.

I get an uneasy feeling about this deal now, as if they're trying to hide something. On the surface the #s look good still, unless of course there's something we haven't caught.

I'm still a newbie so looking for input on what you all think.

We bought the pro membership and have gotten lots of value of out of it.  One very important tip I will give you:

The rents listed on there do NOT always match up to what the property rented for.  They are usually too high.  To accurately vet the rents, I will pick a few of the individual addresses that are closest to the property I am looking at.  I will google these addresses, looking for old listings on hotpads or other rental sites to see what it actually rented for , and how the pictures compare to the property I am analyzing.  

Bottom line is don't just go off the ranges they give you on rentometer without further research.   

Calling a PM still has value and many are happy to give you a range of rents if you give them a property address.  

We are in contract for our first duplex in the Rochester NY area.  There are tenants placed already with leases into early 2019, but we may switch management companies.  This is our first go around...is there anything specific you guys look for when inheriting tenants? Certain things in the existing leases, etc?  

thanks!

Thanks guys. Is there an "average" total tax percent I could use across deals to get close before I dig deeper for the actual numbers  or do they vary significantly? 

Hi all,

We have just started to explore the possibility of investing in Rochester NY.  On listings I often see "property taxes" and then a separate "school tax".   So.. I found this website http://maps.cityofrochester.gov/propinfo/  

This shows the previous year's tax assessment for properties in Monroe county.  Is this number ALL inclusive, or are there additional taxes (school or town taxes?) I need to be factoring in?    If there are other taxes, how do I get an accurate # for those?

Thank you for any input you have about this.  I can't accurately analyze a deal until I understand this!

Hi all,

I know the *real* answer to this question is ask an accountant.  But I dont have an awesome real estate savvy accountant yet and sometimes the best advice is from people who are experienced in doing it.

We are in the process of finding rental properties.  One deal fell thru already due to a terrible inspection.  We are also considering hiring a virtual assistant for some tasks.  My main question here is about the expenses involved with acquiring the properties and how to handle them.

Expenses we've already incurred: travel/hotel, home inspection, and virtual assistant salary upcoming.

Should I make an LLC and run all of these expenses through it? Does it matter for tax purposes?

Once we have some properties, should they be transferred to the LLC (I'm aware of the due on sale clause etc) and rent checks be made to the LLC?