All Forum Posts by: Dan Weber

@Jiva Segaran Go to the local Building Department for the property you are looking at, pull the file for that address and look for any permits that may have been pulled for the construction. Look for the original permit to build to see what it was constructed as originally and try to track down where it may have changed.

I would call three local, recommended granite counter installers and get quotes for the labor on the installation before you decide to do it yourself. You are paying for the material regardless. Then compare the price of the tools to the cost of the professional labor and decide if it is worth it for you.

I would tag the state and nearest major city in your post so that people in that area will get a keyword notification of your post. With local BP attention, you should get a couple good suggestions.

Hi Tyler,

Definitely put a call in to your Building Department to make sure you aren't violating any local zoning ordinances. Some towns in Massachusetts would consider this a conversion of a single family to a two-family and would not be allowed in certain districts of certain towns. 

You need to go to the local building department and ask them about the zoning requirements for that address. Ask them what uses are allowed in that district and the dimensional requirements to determine if and what can be built there.

If the numbers work and it isn't a war zone then why not? Your property management company will be doing most of heavy lifting for you anyway once you own the property. I would be more concerned with the specific deal and the numbers.

If your long term goal is to have rental units, then I would start by writing down all the necessary steps to achieve that goal. I would also suggest reading the book The One Thing by Gary Keller. It really helps you narrow down your focus to that one thing that you need to do to make progress each day. With all that being said, I would start by trying to BRRR a duplex or triplex, whether you finance it with a bank loan or using your private money lender is up to you. The important thing is just to take action! Good luck!

The fence is clearly on your property according to the survey (make sure the survey is stamped by a licensed land surveyor). I would try and work it out with the neighbor if you can get a contact. If they are unresponsive, then I would contact your lawyer to check and see if there are any legal ramifications to removing the fence that is within your property lines, even though it is technically owned by the neighbors.

FHA loan is going to require you to owner occupy the property. You can use an FHA loan to buy a single family, two-family, three or four family.

Do you only one one electric meter and one gas meter? If you a separate meter for each unit then there is really no good reason to include utilities. Tenants will abuse the heat and electricity if they have no incentive to respect it by having to pay it.