All Forum Posts by: Chris Svendsen

Just saw this was 10 months old. So what did you do?

Ever think about subdividing the lots, building a house on one lot, live in it for 2 years.  While living in the first house for 2 years you can build a second home. After 2 years sell first house, move into second house, live in it for another 2 years then sell that one.  Then all gains will be tax free and possibly have larger gains. That is assuming the current tax laws stay the same.  Then take the 2 to 3 million dollars of profits and build your dream home somewhere else.  

Good luck.  Hope works out for you.  Lots of great areas to do this if they let you.

I would attend public meetigs, talk to all people on both sides of the issue, and reach out to the board members individually to explain intentions.  Be honest with what you want to do.  Also probably be good to get business licence in town so they get tax revenue from rents.  Don't try to short the town their money will go a long way to making them happy.

 Front Royal is an area that seems to be holding itself back on progressing. I can understand the want to keep character of the area but also need to grow or die.  Town is mix of people working to vitalize area and people trying to hold onto past. 

Originally posted by @Theresa Harris:

They need to return it to the original condition or better.  Interesting that they had to go through your yard to get to the home behind-why not access the street from the front of that home.  

Tell them it needs to be repaired and give them a firm deadline.  Also talk to the home owner as they are also responsible since they hired the contractor.  If their house is behind yours, they may not have even looked at the damage done to your place. 

 Thanks and the house is an investment house for them so not even sure they been by to see.  Will be getting in touch with them for sure. 

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

Contact the neighbors and demand repairs. They are responsible for either forcing the contractors back, collecting from the contractor, or paying out of pocket to repair the damages.

Thanks for quick reply.  Sounds like we are in same thoughts.  You broke it you have to fix it.

Chris  

I have a property located in Altoona PA where we just finished interior renovations getting unit ready to go on market.  I am out of state investor so not at home all the time.  One morning got a call from a contractor letting me know they are replacing sewer line for a home behind our house and that they have to run line through our side yard.  They stated they will be making a small trench but when done will be restoring everything back.  2 weeks later the side yard is a disaster.  Our contractor went over to check on progress for us and find a entire side yard dug up, fence ripped out, trees removed and debris everywhere. Plus the sidewalk was dug up and broken apart.  

3 days later they were done and gone.  Yard was somewhat leveled back out, some seed and straw put down, chunks of sidewalk placed back and that appears to be all they are doing.  Fence is gone, trees are gone, and yard is unusable. I am in town now to visit family and be checking it out myself tomorrow.  Once see in person going to get in touch with the contractor about getting this repaired property however I wanted to see where my legal rights are as I expect this work to be done with no expense to me.

One of reason the side yard was so important is we allow tenants to have animals and for an in city rental it was popular to have the yard for animals and kids to play in.  In process of working to rent unit out now I have had multiple people say how they were looking forward to having a yard but are concerned because it is nothing like in the photos.  In my view proper restoration would be the yard should be returned to state of previously.  Since all grass was removed I expect sod to be placed after all debris is removed and top soil applied, trees replanted, fence installed, and sidewalk redone.  If contractor refuses I imagine I will need to speak with the owner of the property to get them to cover proper repairs.  Do I have legal rights to expect my property to be restored to state before work was conducted?  I feel like I am going to end up having to go to court over this and want to get my ducks lined up.  If contractor refuses to repair I figured my next step is I will get an estimate from contractors to do proper repairs and send this information along with before and after photos of property and a letter explaining the situation to the current owner requesting for them to contact me by a certain date to get the repairs done.  Will send this as a certified letter.  If this goes nowhere will then have a lawyer get to work on it but rather not pay that expense if don't have to.  

Any advice can give be very helpful. Never had to deal with anything like this before so want to make sure I am in the right before moving forward.  Altoona PA seems to run by its own set of rules at time so not sure how this will all work out. Thanks everyone for any help you can give.

Have you got quotes on the insurance for house or estimating the cost? If in the flood plain down by the river could be considerably higher than estimate.  Gardening may be a little low too.  Do you have enough cash reserves to carry you through renovation time?  Front Royal is without a doubt an area that attracts lots of weekend people from the city.  If property is close to town and close to the river, or on the river, you should do well.  Good luck with it. Oh, just personal choice but make sure you have enough cash to carry property for 6 months with zero income just to be safe.  

Sorry I am a horrible thread starter as been tied up doing work and rehab but no time get back to this. Can't wait to read through all this and get back to everyone. 

Originally posted by @Joe Villeneuve:

You're rationalizing a bad situation into a good one.  If you have that much equity I'd have sold it a while ago.

The statement, "You make money when you buy", is a lie.  You make money on the spread.  The cost to buy is only half of the equation.  The Total Cost of a property isn't equal to the Investor's Cost for the property, if it is, you are losing money.  The investor's Cost is ONLY what comes out of their pocket in the form of cash.  This should be restricted to the Down Payment ONLY.  When you add payments, or use your money to pay down the mortgage, or have negative Cash Flow, you have examples of paying out of pocket, and you are just adding to the Investor's Cost...and it's that Investor's Cost that you have to recover before you make a profit.

Unless you access that equity now, that equity has no actual value...it's virtual money that exists only on paper...and more importantly, can be here today, and gone tomorrow.  Just look at history.  Look at current history.

 Thanks for input but homes have provided for me greatly.  Have used profits to pay back cost of repairs and updates to homes and the equity from first home allowed cash purchase of 3rd home.  I disagree on assessment, while situation is not perfect I do not fear it, a small lose for a few months will lead to large gains years later.  And don't want to sell, going to tap into equity again once house 3 sells to buy more properties.