All Forum Posts by: Derreck Wells

I don't know the laws in VT, but MA is very tenant friendly, meaning most of the laws are slanted against the property owner when trying to evict. 

MA also has some of the strictest lead laws in the country. In MA, if the property isn't deleaded when you buy it, you are responsible for the past tenants that may have been lead poisoned while living there unless you delead within 90 days of closing. The state is trying to get every rental property in MA lead safe, and they figured this was the best way to do it.

However, you can use this in your negotiations on any new properties you look at. If it doesn't have a lead certificate on file, it IS going to cost you to delead, the state has pretty much made it mandatory at this point, at least if you want to avoid the liability of a lead paint lawsuit from a past tenant. I've had clients negotiate $20k off the selling price, and I only charged them $10k for the deleading, so it can actually work in your favor for it not to have been done yet.

You also cannot rent to someone with a child under 6 unless you have a lead certificate on file with the state. If you rent to a couple with no kids and they have a baby, you are then required to delead the unit with the added expense of putting the tenants up in a hotel during the process.

If a unit is a 2 or 3 bedroom, chances are you'll end up having a family apply. You cannot deny the family because of the lead paint either, that's considered discrimination (you're refusing them because they have a kid, even if you're just trying to protect that kid) and is against the anti-discrimination laws of the state. If there are kids under 6, you NEED to have the unit deleaded and have a lead certificate on file.

If the unit has been inspected, but not deleaded, you also cannot do any construction or remodeling in the unit, they consider that unauthorized deleading and it will prevent you from ever getting a lead cert. The best you would be able to get is a Letter of Environmental Protection, which tells everyone you did illegal work then hired a licensed deleader in to fix it. It generally increases your insurance rate and decreases your tenant pool (who wants to rent from a shady landlord that does illegal work?).

If you delead the property it will actually increase your tenant pool and the rent you'll be able to charge them. A deleaded unit is more valuable to a tenant then a non-deleaded unit, even if they don't have kids under 6, they still like to know they are safe from lead paint issues. Anyone can get high blood lead levels, the law only specifies under 6 because it affects the developing brain more severely then a it affects a fully developed brain.

If you want to message me any Massachusetts addresses you become interested in, I can check the database and see if there was ever an inspection done on the property for you. I'll be able to tell if there's a lead cert on file already too. Maybe you'll get lucky and it's already been done.

Good Luck on your future investment!

If you don't have the desire to invest a couple hours to educate yourself, you're never going to put in the time to actually make money in real estate. This isn't a get rich quick thing, real estate takes work, and work takes time. You also need money to get started. Anyone who tells you that you don't is lying. Even wholesaling, you need earnest money to put down on contracts.  

@Erik W. "$80,000 (ARV) - $50,000 (sale price) - $15,000 (repairs) = $15,000 residual. Yeah, that deal will probably work. Might even be able to buy it for $45,000 and sell it fast for $70,000, which still leaves you a margin of $10,000 profit." 

He's not planning to do the work himself. He's trying to "wholesale" a deal to a flipper. Those numbers might work if he were selling to the end user, someone who plans to live there, but where's the profit for the guy that actually adds value to the property? The original poster has no money and is basically trying to lock up a contract and sell that contract to a flipper for $5k. He's not trying to buy a house to fix and flip. 

@Asad Malik your first mistake is searching the MLS for properties. Propstream just searches MLS listings, which every flipper can do. If you're trying to wholesale, the only way to actually make any money is to find off market properties, which takes work, which is why flippers are willing to pay you for $5k for that work. It's basically a finder's fee. Using the numbers Erik put up, if the house is on the market for $50,000 and after spending $15,000 to repair it'll be worth $80,000, then a flipper only stands to make $15,000 after all the work is done. WHY WOULD THEY PAY YOU $5,000-$10,000 OF THAT $15,000??? The correct answer is; They wouldn't. The only way you're going to make money is to work for it. Go drive neighborhoods and find distressed properties, figure out how to contact the owners, and get those properties under contract. But you better have buyers lined up before you do. Word spreads fast when people don't follow through on their contracts. Real estate is NOT a get rich quick scheme. It requires real work.

@Evan F. What is it that you need done?

@John Stetson Lol. I'd love to see a link to those FBI reports that list Nashua as a top ten safest city in America. I guarantee that someone lied to you and you can't actually find a link. And okay, I should have said of 79 of the ranked cities and towns. Feel better?

@Hector Rodriguez @Karina Mejia

Chances are your real estate agent didn't inform you of the lead laws (they rarely do). In MA, if the property isn't deleaded when you buy it, you are responsible for the past tenants that may have been lead poisoned while living there unless you delead within 90 days of closing. The state is trying to get every rental property in MA lead safe, and they figured this was the best way to do it.

You can use this in your negotiations on any new properties you look at. If it doesn't have a lead certificate on file, it IS going to cost you to delead, the state has pretty much made it mandatory at this point, at least if you want to avoid the liability of a lead paint lawsuit from a past tenant. Don't let that scare you though, I've had clients negotiate $20k off the selling price, and I only charged them $10k for the deleading, so it can actually work in your favor for it not to have been done yet.

You also cannot rent to someone with a child under 6 unless you have a lead certificate on file with the state. If you rent to a couple with no kids and they have a baby, you are then required to delead the unit with the added expense of putting the tenants up in a hotel during the process.

If a unit is a 2 or 3 bedroom, chances are you'll end up having a family apply. You cannot deny the family because of the lead paint either, that's considered discrimination (you're refusing them because they have a kid) and is against the anti-discrimination laws of the state. If there are kids under 6, you NEED to have the unit deleaded and have a lead certificate on file.

If the unit has been inspected, but not deleaded, you also cannot do any construction or remodeling in the unit, they consider that unauthorized deleading and it will prevent you from ever getting a lead cert. The best you would be able to get is a Letter of Environmental Protection, which tells everyone you did illegal work then hired a licensed deleader in to fix it. It generally increases your insurance rate and decreases your tenant pool (who wants to rent from a shady landlord that does illegal work?).

If you delead the property it will actually increase your tenant pool and the rent you'll be able to charge them. A deleaded unit is more valuable to a tenant then a non-deleaded unit, even if they don't have kids under 6, they still like to know they are safe from lead paint issues. Anyone can get high blood lead levels, the law only specifies under 6 because it affects the developing brain more severely then a it affects a fully developed brain.

If you want to message me the address, I can check the database and see if there was ever an inspection done on the property for you. I'll be able to tell if there's a lead cert on file already too. Maybe you'll get lucky and it's already been done.

Good Luck on your investment!

@John Stetson I live in Pelham and I'm frequently in Nashua. I promise you that someone is lying to you. Nashua is not on anyone's top 10 safest cities lists. Nashua is just like Lowell, but over the border into NH. It has a few nice neighborhoods, just like Lowell, but the rest is drug infested with homeless people sleeping in parks, just like Lowell. 

It actually ranks 53rd out of the 79 cites in our state. https://www.safewise.com/blog/...

Granted, the crime rate is probably lower then comparable sized cites in MA, but that's because we are a constitutional carry state, meaning anyone that meets the Federal Laws can carry a gun, so the criminals are afraid to rob us because we shoot back. 

In MA, if the property isn't deleaded when you buy it, you are responsible for the past tenants that may have been lead poisoned while living there unless you delead within 90 days of closing. The state is trying to get every rental property in MA lead safe, and they figured this was the best way to do it.

You can use this in your negotiations on any new properties you look at. If it doesn't have a lead certificate on file, it IS going to cost you to delead, the state has pretty much made it mandatory at this point, at least if you want to avoid the liability of a lead paint lawsuit from a past tenant. Don't let that scare you though, I've had clients negotiate $20k off the selling price, and I only charged them $10k for the deleading, so it can actually work in your favor for it not to have been done yet.

You also cannot rent to someone with a child under 6 unless you have a lead certificate on file with the state. If you rent to a couple with no kids and they have a baby, you are then required to delead the unit with the added expense of putting the tenants up in a hotel during the process.

If a unit is a 2 or 3 bedroom, chances are you'll end up having a family apply. You cannot deny the family because of the lead paint either, that's considered discrimination (you're refusing them because they have a kid) and is against the anti-discrimination laws of the state. If there are kids under 6, you NEED to have the unit deleaded and have a lead certificate on file.

If the unit has been inspected, but not deleaded, you also cannot do any construction or remodeling in the unit, they consider that unauthorized deleading and it will prevent you from ever getting a lead cert. The best you would be able to get is a Letter of Environmental Protection, which tells everyone you did illegal work then hired a licensed deleader in to fix it. It generally increases your insurance rate and decreases your tenant pool (who wants to rent from a shady landlord that does illegal work?).

If you delead the property it will actually increase your tenant pool and the rent you'll be able to charge them. A deleaded unit is more valuable to a tenant then a non-deleaded unit, even if they don't have kids under 6, they still like to know they are safe from lead paint issues. Anyone can get high blood lead levels, the law only specifies under 6 because it affects the developing brain more severely then a it affects a fully developed brain.

If you want to message me the address, I can check the database and see if there was ever an inspection done on the property for you. I'll be able to tell if there's a lead cert on file already too. Maybe you'll get lucky and it's already been done.

Good Luck on your investment!

Hey @Brett Merrill, if you need a deleader, let me know. I'm sure I can beat any quotes you have to date. 

Congrats on your success on the Condo!

Chances are your real estate agent didn't inform you of the lead laws (they rarely do). In MA, if the property isn't deleaded when you buy it, you are responsible for the past tenants that may have been lead poisoned while living there unless you delead within 90 days of closing. The state is trying to get every rental property in MA lead safe, and they figured this was the best way to do it. So you have 90 days from the date you closed on your new 4 family to start deleading it or you're liable for all the past tenants. 

You can use this in your negotiations on any new properties you look at (obviously it's too late for this one). If it doesn't have a lead certificate on file, it IS going to cost you to delead, the state has pretty much made it mandatory at this point, at least if you want to avoid the liability of a lead paint lawsuit from a past tenant. Don't let that scare you though, I've had clients negotiate $20k off the selling price, and I only charged them $10k for the deleading, so it can actually work in your favor for it not to have been done yet.

You cannot rent to someone with a child under 6 unless you have a lead certificate on file with the state. If you rent to a couple with no kids and they have a baby, you are then required to delead the unit with the added expense of putting the tenants up in a hotel during the process.

If a unit is a 2 or 3 bedroom, chances are you'll end up having a family apply. You cannot deny the family because of the lead paint either, that's considered discrimination (you're refusing them because they have a kid) and is against the anti-discrimination laws of the state. If there are kids under 6, you NEED to have the unit deleaded and have a lead certificate on file.

If the unit has been inspected, but not deleaded, you also cannot do any construction or remodeling in the unit, they consider that unauthorized deleading and it will prevent you from ever getting a lead cert. The best you would be able to get is a Letter of Environmental Protection, which tells everyone you did illegal work then hired a licensed deleader in to fix it. It generally increases your insurance rate and decreases your tenant pool (who wants to rent from a shady landlord that does illegal work?).

If you delead the property it will actually increase your tenant pool and the rent you'll be able to charge them. A deleaded unit is more valuable to a tenant then a non-deleaded unit, even if they don't have kids under 6, they still like to know they are safe from lead paint issues. Anyone can get high blood lead levels, the law only specifies under 6 because it affects the developing brain more severely then a it affects a fully developed brain.

If you want to message me the address of your 4 family, I can check the database and see if there was ever an inspection done on the property for you. I'll be able to tell if there's a lead cert on file already too. Maybe you'll get lucky and it's already been done.

Good Luck on your investment!