All Forum Posts by: Mike Calabrese

I am waiting to see what shakes out with coronavirus when it comes to the housing market. There are to many balls up in the air right now. Gonna wait till august.

We should just print more money..... Cause that has never caused a problem before......

Just bought a 5 bd house in Brookline in January for 102,000 . Trying to rent 3 of the rooms out for 475 a piece has been kinda a struggle. I filled one but that was through my personal network. It has only been on the market for a month or two though. I also live in the property which I think scares people. I am kinda new at this too so maybe it just takes awhile to fill the rooms and I just don't know what I don't know. 

@Billy Musto I just bought a 100k house in Brookline. To get in to the house was close to 10k even with 3.5% down. You gotta think about closing cost as well as the 3.5% percent down. Plus things like home inspections and what not. But I think its enough. Will be tough to find a duplex or triplex around that price though unless you don't mind being in a rough neighborhood. Might have to stick to a single family house.

Brookline/Beechview are actually in the city even though they have a little more of a suburban feel. I think these two neighborhoods stay affordable and are good for cash flow due to them being in the city school districts. I think this keeps a lot of families out of those areas. Which keeps the cost of these properties very reasonable which allows for cash flow. However, I doubt these places will ever become a trendy neighborhood like Lawrenceville. The only way you would see excessive appreciation would be if the city as a whole became a hotspot. 

@Collin Fridley Thanks for the input worth looking into!

@Jim K. Thanks for the response! I will make sure I find it and confirm it is sealed.

Anthony thanks for letting me know. Yeah, I don't think the room is too big of a deal. I think I am going to to go forward with the purchase! 

I am trying to purchase a home in the Brookline area. I had the inspection today and we found a coal cellar? This was a room that was almost below the basement and off on an end. It appeared that no one had been down there for a long time. This room was actually behind a door which had been boarded up. It was filled with dirt. The foundation wall of the home was in between it and the actual house minus the doorway. The inspector said this was not an issue. In addition, he said, if I didn't want access to the room, which I don't know why I would, I could have a mason fill the doorway in. He didn't find any foundation issues with home even on the side with the coal cellar.

My questions are has anyone had any problems with rooms like these and could it become a problem? 

In addition, the house will need new siding on the first floor plus the old siding needs to be removed. What is a good estimate for this? 

@Alex Deacon Yeah I think I am hurting from just a lack of experience. Which is fine gotta take my lumps and keep going! I am sure everyone who is on this forum who is successful has gone through it.