All Forum Posts by: Darryl Young

The benefits to you are quite obvious. The benefits/risks for Grandma are more tax and performance related.

In Canada capital gains on a person's principle residence are tax free, although the income from the apartment does complicate things a bit. In the USA Grandma may have a huge capital gains liability due in one tax year if she were to sell normally, particularly if she has held the house for quite some time. Her holding a note and receiving payments over time allows her to spread out that capital gain tax implication over a longer period. I would of course clarify this with a local tax expert.

There are also risks for Grandma too, and I am sure that because she is your Grandma you will want to minimize those risks. Apart from potential hard feelings with the rest of the family, there is also risk if you do not perform as agreed. You may be assuming that you will outlive Grandma, however you could be hit by a bus one morning (as terrible as that would be). Where would that leave Grandma? Be sure those contingencies are covered. Also make sure things are spelled out regarding this note as far as Grandma's estate is concerned. Are you planning on refinancing the property when she dies and placing that money into her estate? Since you are receiving most of the benefit of this arrangement, you should probably help out your Grandma and pay for an Estate Planner to help her arrange things.

As you can see, once you want to ensure the other party is taken care of things can get a little more complicated...

I'm beginning to wonder if I read the same book as Mr. Sanchez...

@Stephen E.

I like @Roy N. 's idea on the 0% appliance purchase at Home Depot. Another option if you'd rather pay all costs up front and save yourself a few bucks is the Appliance Scratch and Dent Outlet in Kitchener

If someone is regularly wasting your time whose fault is it?

That's right, it's yours!

You are allowing your time to be wasted.

If you don't work with wholesalers, kindly indicate that to them when they call, wish them a pleasant day and hang up. Problem solved.

If on the other hand you wish to work with only competent wholesalers who bring you deals that make sense and don't waste your time you can do the following:

1. Take 30 minutes out of your day to draft an outline of wholesale deals that you would be interested in. Put as much detail as possible in the outline, including property type, location, how comps are to be made, ARV is to be calculated etc.

2. Indicate to anyone who calls with a wholesale deal that you only work with prequalified wholesalers who meet your reporting and investment requirements. If they are interested in becoming prequalified you can send them a copy of your requirements outline.

3. If you have a website, post your investment requirements there also.

What does the above accomplish?

A. It lets potential wholesalers know exactly the types of property you are interested in and how exactly you expect information to be formatted and calculated. This will eliminate those who bring you "deals" that don't fit your investment profile or have incorrectly formatted or calculated information. If you don't tell someone exactly what you want, your chances of receiving it are remote at best.

B. By prequalifying wholesalers, you ensure that they are aware of your requirements.  Those who can't or won't provide you what you need, how you need it won't become prequalified.

C. Wholesalers who are aware of your requirements beforehand may disqualify themselves before they even call, saving both their time and yours.

To blindly consider every "opportunity" that is sent to you and taking time to analyze every one on the offchance one of them is good is crazy. Better to put your effort into the 20% of things which bring 80% of your results. Conversely, try to avoid the 20% of issues which cause 80% of your headaches.

@Account Closed

As Roy has mentioned, the heating costs in typical use will be higher. One advantage to baseboard heating, depending on how they are hooked up, is the ability to zone heat. This means that you can individually control heating in separate rooms. If you have rooms that are unoccupied at various times you have the ability to turn down heat in those while keeping other areas at normal levels.

One consideration is also how the baseboards are being controlled. If it is using a wall mounted thermostat this is preferable. You may also purchase a digital programmable thermostat to better control costs. Be sure however to verify the maximum allowable wattage draw allowed.

One other issue you may not be aware of are baseboard mounted thermostats. You can tell these are installed by looking at the baseboards themselves. You will see a small knob at near either end. The temperature is sensed right at the baseboard. These are a lot less accurate than the wall mounted thermostats and also discourage people from adjusting/ turning them down since one has to get right down to floor level to adjust. There is also no ability to program them as they are purely mechanical. The baseboard mounted thermostats could be eliminated and everything tied to a wall mounted thermostat, obviously at an increased cost.

A lot of homes up here in Ontario built during the 60's were encouraged to use baseboard heating as it was efficient and electrical costs at the time were quite low. That is no longer the case, especially considering the efficiency, reliability and running costs of alternatives.

@Logan Allec 

That is a very strange configuration and size for a bathroom fan vent. Has it been repurposed from something else? Is that a metal lid from a 5 gallon pail I see on the top?

From what I see, it is asking for trouble to try to repair the existing vent and flashing. Also, due to it's size and location so close to the valley, I would anticipate you are best to rip out the existing vent and replace it with the correct vent and flashing. You can obtain this from Home Depot for a minimal cost. Make sure the flashing is appropriate for your roof slope.

Fill in the larger hole for this vent using plywood with supports from the back if needed. Make sure to locate the new smaller vent hole as far away from the valley as possible to minimize leak potential. Install new tar paper, shingles as well as vent as per instructions.

If this is the first experience you've had with repairing roofs I would definitely consider having someone do this for you. I would of course ask if you could observe in order to better understand the process in the future.

Best of luck!

This definitely seems high from my perspective, although it depends partially on how many valleys and roof penetrations there are. Perhaps you are getting the California "discount"

I may be missing something, but from the pictures the shingles look to be in good shape. Why are you replacing them? Roof leaks? If not I would probably spend my money elsewhere

Steve,

Can you clarify, is nobody there or is someone else there other than the person leasing?

If there is nobody at all there, you may have issues if you have to make an insurance claim. In certain jurisdictions there are restrictions relating to insurance for unoccupied residences.

Aref,

Many people use propane as a permanent solution, so there should be no issue with selling the property before spring. I would indicate that the tanks are rentals only, similar to a rental water heater. The propane company can tell you what is involved in switching over the billing to any potential purchaser.

I would agree with Matt regarding the above grade propane tank. This will  get you up and running until/if you want to hook up to natural gas. Pricing of propane is typically higher though.

Perhaps you might mention to the Natural Gas company that unless they get out to do the hookup in a timely manner, you will be switching over to propane and would be very disinclined to use their service in the future... ;-)