All Forum Posts by: Carrie Giordano

Awesome!!! That's the first step, now if it doesn't get accepted find another property to offer on!

Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat

Buy a property for all cash, rehab the property, rent the property, 

Refinance- In my experience, most banks will give you 75% of the appraised value after 6 months of purchasing the property. If you are looking to cash out sooner you may be able to find a bank that will do a delayed financing however you will only get about 75% of what you actually paid for the property. I am sure these numbers differ in different areas and with different lenders.

Example- I bought a house for $42,500 and put $7,000 into it so I was all in at $49,500.

6 months later it appraised for $83,000 so the bank offered me $62,250. However, I like all of my rentals on 15 year loans and I liked the way the numbers worked on a $55,000 loan so that was all that I took. It is a personal preference.

Repeat!

@Cody Barrett I had a tenant that was evicted after 6 months. When I finally got into the property the urine smell from her cats was so intense that anyone who entered the house had an issue with it. We found that she was letting the cats use the basement as a litter box! When we went to court she said it wasn't her fault because she didn't tell them to go to the bathroom there!!! She did pay an extra $50 a month for having pets but that didn't come close to offsetting the cost of repair. I first had a cleaning company come in to power wash it with a special solutions for pet odors. This did not help. I ended up having to have the floors scraped in many areas and the whole basement resealed and painted. I know this is rare but there is something about the smell of cat urine that is very hard to eliminate.

@Bill Gulley Thanks for the info, I will definitely go the fence easement route if I decide to take her fence down. However, after all of the comments I must say that I am leaning towards not touching her fence. I do agree about the dog and that in time he would also be fine with the tenants if they are nice to him. Unfortunately, not all people like dogs and I have a property manager who handles all of the showings and tenants.

@Adam A.

I have spoken to the city regarding the property line and I would have to have it survied to determine the line. I have called several surveyors and the least expensive was $500 to just do the fence line.

From my own measurements I do believe her fence is right on her property line which would be too close according to current standards. However, when I asked the city how she's even allowed to have this awful and was told that this fence is more than likely grandfathered in so I'm not sure if they would make her move it. Also, I would like my fence as close to the edge of my property line as possible so I would worry that if I argue about her placement that I would be forced to put my own fence further than the property line than I would prefer. 

@Jim Adrian thanks! The only issue with uniformity in continuing the fence is that the new fence must have a 25% opening and the current fence has 0% opening. The wood should match and for a rental I would like to avoid the expense of ripping down what is currently there. When the day comes that I decide to sell the property I could see replacing the part of the fence that does not match.

@Manolo D. I think that you are probably right and it would save me the hassle of having to catch up with her to get her to sign anything!

@JD Martin thanks for the feedback. I actually hadn't even thought about the future of the fence and her dog or anything else damaging it. That really gives me something to think about.

@Matt Vogt @Manolo D. @Jim Adrian @Katie Neason

 Thank you for your comments, they are definitely making me rethink replacing her fence. The new fence will be permitted but to put a fence on fence I will need a variance which can be very difficult to get in this city which is one of the reasons I would be replacing her fence. The second reason is that my property has 9.5 feet on the side of my house. Her fence is basically right on the property line so if I were to add the shadowbox fence on my side without taking down her fence I would be losing about 4 inches of driveway. I am going to include some pics so you can see how tight the upper part of my driveway already is so I would hate to lose any more space. 

@Manolo D. - I will price out the vinyl to see what the cost difference is, however I already have a portion of wood fence running from the back of the property

@Katie Neason Your experience it what I am afraid of happening! I could absolutely see this woman causing more issues for me.

I just finished rehabbing a rental and need some advice about a fence. The neighbor has a double lot which puts their backyard next to my front yard. Her yard is enclosed with a very old, metal wire fence (looks like a farm fence.) Not only is it an eyesore but her dog seems to want to attack everyone who pulls in my driveway, which is on the same side as her fence. She swears the dog is nice and it's the old owners fault for being mean to him! I know this dog will be an issue for potential tenants so I am planning to extend a privacy fence as far as the city will allow me. This would basically be a 6ft shadowbox fence until the end of my house and then a 4ft fence for another 12 ft. I spoke with the neighbor about replacing her fence. At first she seemed opposed but then seemed to like the idea of more privacy. She agreed to let me replace the 44ft of her fence with mine if I could secure her fence to it so that her dog cannot escape. My question is, I know I need to get this in writing but am unsure of how to protect myself without scaring her off? She is very defensive of the dog and kind of seems like she could change her mind about the fence and be trouble. Any suggestions on what needs to be written without being overly formal?

I wanted to update this post, I refinanced this house completing my first BRRR! The house appraised for $84k. The bank offered me up to $63k, however I took $55k because I liked the numbers on the house at that amount. My rate is 3.75 and I paid 1/4 pt, it is a 15 yr mortgage and my payment is $399. It took 3 months from the beginning of the process until the loan was funded!!! This is much longer than the bank quoted and I was very quick in returned the numerous documents they requested. I'm happy it is complete and looking forward to my next brrrr in a few months!

Are you looking at 15 or 30 year mortgages? I also invest in neo and am very conservative with my numbers, 10%capex,10%repairs,10%vacancy and 10%pm. I have always beat these numbers but I've only been in the game a few years so it makes me feel much more protected. When doing the brrrr you may decide to take less than the back is willing to give to make the numbers work for you. For example, I just finished a brrrr on a property I bought in June for $42,500. I put in 6k and it appraised for $84k. My investment strategy is to take out 15yr mortgages so my properties will be paid off while I'm still young. So even though the bank offered me 63k I only took $55k because that's how the numbers work. I know many on bp may disagree with this strategy but it works for me.

@Charlie DiLisioThanks for the tip. Do you know if Home Depot will cut them or would I have to do that myself?