All Forum Posts by: Mike Lowery

@Brianni Johnson as @Joshua Martin alluded to, that should be your main goal. Think about it this way; you have $20K sitting in several different places

1) Under your mattress - earning 0% interest

2) In the bank - earning 0.5%  interest

3) In the stock market - earning 3%+ depending on how good you are in the stock market

4) In real estate - earning 5%+ depending on how good you are at investing in real estate

Clearly items three and four would be your most logical decisions and effective at making your money work for you. Most of us on BP here have chosen the route of real estate over stocks or other investments for differing reasons. The one constant however, is we all feel comfortable earning a better return in the real estate market than other markets, hence the reason we are all here! 

As I learned in accounting, cash is king and if you are able to cash flow your property, you should see favorable ROI. If these two things are met, its a solid investment. Sure, there are other things that each individual investor has to factor in, but for sake or argument, I would consider ROI your top priority as this is why you are here.

Joshua Martin, William Newman , Steve Walczak

I have dealt with them and they exceeded my expectations. I believe they also include a transferable warranty they include. They redid the drain tile, shored two walls and installed a sump pump on a cape cod I had in Bay View.

You have an insurance professional that stated the estimate seemed high. You stated that $125/mo eats into your cash flow. Why are you even waiting for the quote? I would request a quote from Jason Bott

You probably don't intend to live there forever, so I would include in your calculations what you would expect to get for rent from the unit. Same thing with property management. A lot of people don't think the include it in their initial analysis if they self manage, but eventually one may hire a property manager. That additional expense could kill your return if the numbers are tight. I think in your situation, you should be fine, but I would calculate the gross rent that you think you could get for the property and go off those numbers.

From the State of Wisconsin website, which is what the city of Milwaukee uses: The nominal size of the net clear window opening shall be at least 20 inches by 24 inches irrespective of height or width. Nominal dimensions shall be determined by rounding up fractions of inches if they are½-inch or greater or rounding down fractions of inches if they are less than ½-inch.

It sounds like you may have a cape cod style house. Those houses are pretty typical in the city of Milwaukee and I have seen many different attic designs. Some are just storage, some are master bedrooms with full baths, and yet some others have small to full-size dormers that add 1-2 bedrooms in the attic area. Obviously the more work you do, the more expensive the cost. I wouldnt be too concerned with supporting the additional weight, but you could always have an engineer come and give you some advice. 

The attic slope is pretty common. Some people frame walls down from the slope to the floor (kneewalls) and create a void space behind those walls used for storage. Others leave it open and work with it. Again you have options. 

Hope this helps!

You can definitely get $50K duplexes in Milwaukee that will generate anywhere from $1000-1600/mo in gross rents. I've looked at several myself.

SW of Timmerman Airport, correct? I live on 92nd and Lisbon. Depending on where you are it could be a C to B- area

Bob E. Yes, cape cod. That's a walkable roof though ;-) I second Nathan Schoenborn it will probably cost you around $5K

Bob E. What is the style of the home? Cape cod, bungalow, etc. What is the pitch of the roof?