All Forum Posts by: Dane C Allen

@Brian Edwards

Don’t pay for it yourself. Work for a few years once you’ve finished with your undergrad and you’ll likely find an employer that’ll pay for some, if not all, of the cost for your MBA.

@Heather Rodden

Cash for keys. They might be less likely to trash the place if they know they have some $$$ coming back to them. I’d make the offer a few days before the 30th if it’s not looking like they’ll be out by then.

I have a duplex with a detached garage that has a slab (not in the greatest shape, several cracks), but the structure itself sits on concrete block surrounding the perimeter of the slab. The block is dug down and I think there’s 2-3 layers or so, but it appears to be freestanding with no mortar holding it all together. Moreover, garage walls are bowing on 2 sides and it almost looks like the walls are sliding off the concrete block. Any ideas on fixing this issue?

@Scott Passman

Once my financial future is secure through diversification of assets and income, I’ll likely move on to Doomsday prepping.

@Ahmad H.

This is right on the money. To me, the whole point of real estate investing is to outpace the returns you can get elsewhere (in many cases we compare to the stock market). There’s no point in you dealing with the headaches that come with owning and managing property for a 5% return. Like Ahmad said you can put that money in an index fund and probably do better minus the headaches and extra work. Sell it and find a new place that gets better returns.

@Erik Whiting

Very well said thank you for the perspective.

@Thomas S.

Spot on

@Michael Doherty

Why not have the tenants take care of it? Write it into the lease it’s tenant responsibility. I own two duplexes in Wisconsin for almost 10 years now and I’ve always done it that way with no issues. Just a thought.

Thank you for your input everyone. To be clear, the unit was listed immediately and I already have prospects to fill the vacancy. I have no intentions to pursue rent once the unit is cleared out, I just hadn’t run into a situation like this and I’m somewhat of a newbie to real estate investing so I was genuinely curious to see what some of the more seasoned investors thoughts were.

@Rashmi Nigam Jack Martin is right. Pull the trigger. I’d also inquire with the lender, will they drop PMI at 78% LTV? Some will do so without having to REFI, might just cost you an appraisal for $400-$500. Worth asking.