All Forum Posts by: Edward Burns

Treat him as any other tenant and charge rent with lease, deposit, etc. Essentially make it an arm length transaction. Not only will this minimize tax problems but it will allow your son to use you as a rental reference after his schooling is complete and he enters his internship. Preferably you and your wife have the property held by an LLC, so as to minimize questions of the relationship from future landlords.

Now if you and wife wish to help him with the rent etc just gift that amount to him as a separate deal.

$700.00 from a painting contractor is not out of line. I was once told if you are not making 2.5x's your salary for a company you are costing the company money. So assuming a painter earns $20/hr than the contractor has to charge about $50/hr. Figure 8 hours for a professional painter and 8 hrs for a helper or about $600 in labor the other $100 for paint and supplies.

It also will help some if they open a line of communication with the bank and keep them informed as to what is occurring. The bank wants their money, they really do not want another house (they have enough) and the hassles of foreclosing on the home. Wells Fargo's people calling you are not the people to talk to, go to the bank and speak to an officer.

Not really enough information to answer your question.

Ceilings and Walls?
Same colors in LR and BR?
Two coats?
Does woodwork gets painted?
Any problems with surfaces that need to be corrected first?

Assuming she is married, this may be a second income for the family. Due the flexible hours a lot of the work can be done during times when her spouse is available to watch the kids etc. Even if not the case, assuming 1 of her listing sell/month or she sells 1 house per month it is still $24K in income before taxes. Better than welfare. In an area where the avg home is $150k she could being making living.

First, since you did not own the property when the tenant switch occurred, you have to determine whether the previous owner/PM approved of it and what if any promises were made by all parties.

Second, yes run a normal tenant search on the new occupant if he meets your criteria no problem. Otherwise you stated the original lease was month to month, so give a thirty day notice of termination.

Third, consider the difficulties of replacing the tenant. Can another move in quickly??

Also as a technicality you probably owe the previous owner half the rent.

I am assuming by utilities who are referring to electric, and gas. Both have powers of eminent domain. In addition it is possible they already have the "easements" just have never used them. Check with the utilities and see what is needed to get you service.

Number I was given for Illinois is a minimum of $50K for a home mortgage. For lesser amounts, it was suggested to get a personal loan secured by the property. Note: a personal would have a relatively quick amortization time frame (i.e 5 years not 15,20, or 30 like a mortgage).

I would highly recommend that you keep your full-time job. Just like any other business you can anticipate 1-2 years of losing money or just breaking even before you have learned the lessons of running your business. Then you can really begin to show a profit. Maybe in 3-5 years you can go full-time but even then the added stress of realizing you longer have the security of knowing a steady paycheck to cover the bills can be a killer.

It is irrespective whether they would honor their 14-day policy. Federal law allows the consumer three days to cancel the contract without penalty.