All Forum Posts by: Dave Shellenberger

Buy with Cash, finance the repairs with credit cards.

You could probably find a HML to help you out but it would be costly.

check out www.cozy.co

People usually looking for a 4 bedroom place typically have a few kids, which means a few extra dishes/etc.. Who was to wash all of them...

I would think a dishwasher would be nice.... What is the kitchen layout like... There isnt a 24" of bigger cabinet around the sink base you can remove and add a dishwasher???

Wow, I cant understand how anyone could leave a job like that.

Are the tiles bonded well to the subfloor/Slab? 

I am always curious to hear from other investors throughout the country on whether they would buy a deal like this or not. Ill lay out the details, and Im open to everyones thoughts.

This house(s) is under contract, in the 19348 zip of pennsylvania. 1900's large twin, 2 blocks from the heart of the city- Restaurants/ bars/ etc. I would call it an ideal location for those that wish to be in the middle of the action and have everything within walking distance of their home. Class B neighborhood, mainly a family town with large homes around it. The town also has a large hispanic population because of the jobs available.

The house is a large twin, we are buying both sides of the twin- each side is 4 bed, 2 bath each. Home is brick/stucoo exterior, that is in decent shape-- Interior is a different story!

Numbers look like this:

88,000 purchase on each side--176,000 total

We will call rehab at 40,000 per side ---80,000 total

Since our money is in other places at the moment, we are borrowing, 1 point, and 5% interest --on 175,000 ( 70% from lender, we will bring the rest ) until rehab is completed. Then we will refi this lender out and opt for longer term financing

ARV is easily-230,000 each-----460,000 total

We will hold onto this properties, since I believe the area will appreciate greatly in the coming years, with self management. The homes roof/mechical/plumbing/electrical/etc will be completely new.

Rents $1800 per side -- 3600 per month  total

Taxes are 3600 per year per side

Insurance is $1000.00 per year per side

Is this a winner or loser to you and why?

just curious, does the city/township require a u&o/co for the house to be lived in before settlement?Utilities on ?

I had this happen before, the house I was purchasing was not deemed habitable, and I had a conditional co to fix the repairs-- once I knew there was someone trying to squat(before we started work) I called the township and they had the sheriff kick those scumbags out since the house did not have a u&o and no one was permitted to live in the house until I was finished rehabbing and the house was properly inspected. 

How we handle this situation is: call the local scraper, and let him do all the work... Save the 2-3 hours of yourself doing it, its a dirty/messing job for a couple bucks from the scrap yard.

BTW- we don't pay the scraper, he gets to keep any oil, plus the tank.

If it were my decision--- 

Keep sink at Window, enlarge island to size of plan A, for some reason its smaller on Plan B. It looks like you have plenty of space around the island for the larger size.

Kill The angled base corner, change to a blind base with swing out susan- running the blind toward the range, then pop in a double trash pullout between sink and newly established blind base. Than you have the perfect set up, scrape of food in trash pull out, rinse dishes at sink, load in dishwasher- all the while you only took two steps....

Also - While unloading, dishes are plates will go in both 24x36 wall cabinets, left and right of sink.... No need to walk from island to unload the dishwasher.

A 6x3 island isn't very large- subtract 28-30" for the actual sink- your counterspace is killed. Most people prefer the island to be a large/uninterrupted workspace.

Since its 3' deep, your probably doing some overhang too, if you were to put the sink in the island, I would build a half wall-40.5" tall and have the overhung portion of the counter at bar height.. That way it contains the dishwashing/sink area to counter height and the eating  area at bar height. Separating/defining the areas.

@Kenneth Taylor

I don't think most buyers look at cabinet box construction, however I would make sure the drawers glides and hinges have the soft-close/blumotion hardware built-in. These are the features they like to brag/show off to their friends. 

Also- I don't know what manufacture you are looking at- but you can always do standard construction and upgrade the exposed cabinet sides to a real wood veneer. That way the sides of the cabinets you see will age at the same rate as the real wood doors ( assuming you are getting real wood fronts )

A lot of times cabinet manufactures use a vinyl side with their standard construction and since that is just a picture of the wood, it will not age and sometimes not look the same as the wood doors.