All Forum Posts by: Jeff F.

Here is a link to a few pictures of the one that's currently in the best shape: 

Time for another update on this place.

One thing that I didnt mention last time was that I had not received any rent for december for one of the tenants, and I believe I didnt mention that because I wrote that the week the property manager had told me that they had secured help of a local agency to pay their rent, and as long as they could pay X amount ( I believe it was around 100) and the community agency would pay the rest. I was told that this was a sure thing, as long as the tenants came up with their small portion. I let it go and moved on.

Unfortunately, that never happened, and by the time I figured this out, it was basically february and these tenants had not paid me a dime since I closed on the place.  I put up quite a bit of cash in this deal, and am floating quite a bit of the losses with my day job (which I work obscene hours at) for them to live completely for free (I pay the elec/gas/water/sewer as well). That really burned my cookies, so after feb rent was officially missed, they were given 2 options: 

• a pay or quit notice, which required them to be out by friday
• $200 if they got out by wednesday at 5 pm

They didnt take the wednesday offer (which saved me $200) but were out by friday. Now I have 3 empty units - Which im viewing as a blessing because they will be easier to get turned around than ones that are full. I've had a busy last two weeks, and I'm going to be working on the studio first and hope to have that ready to rent by april 1. Measurements are getting done this week, and I'll start purchasing supplies once that happens. 

The Property manager has also filled up 2 rollaways with trash that was left in the empty units. Thankfully they took care of all the labor on this as well, as some of it would have been tricky and I just didnt have time.

The tenant in the 3 bedroom unit had an inspection recently, and the property manager stopped counting at 6 cats. I have no idea what it is about these tenants, but they sure do love their cats. They were told that by the end of the week they needed to be down to 2 cats. This passed just this last friday, so I'm not sure of the situation yet. 

As for the bills & the rehab, I've got some electricians coming to bid to convert it to single meters so that each tenant will be paying their own electric bill this week, and will get measurements for the empty units so that I can start getting stuff for the rehab purchased.

I believe that most of the units need the following

• New Floors - They are all currently carpet, and with the cats in this place, they will all be converted to laminate. HD has some traffic master that snaps together for 70 cents/sqft that looks pretty good, so I'll likely go with that
• New paint - it'll go a long way
• New kitchen - this is only known for the studio, but likely will update the others as well. Due to age of the structure and the suspected level-ness of the floor, I'll likely be going the ikea route. 
• New Sinks/Toilet - Landlord (for now) will be paying the water bill, so I'll be going with high efficiency ones. 
• New Light Fixtures - Will make everything much fresher. 

That's all for now - aside from a profit update: I'm down about 3k so far since Purchase. 

@Teya Beradze

1. Those of you who had an experience in obtaining FHA loan, could you tell me what to expect and what not to, what to be aware of and the difficulties that might arise during the process. The inspections, etc can be a pain in the butt. As the government typically is, they tend to focus on the little things that - in my opinion - do not matter much, such as chipped paint. The apprasial process will likely be a hassle and they will report many fixes - many of them minor - that you may or may not want to worry about.

The seller could also choose not to deal with your offer because of this. 

2. Do you know if all FHA qualifies banks would approve for the same amount? the back I went to, to get an approval gave me $325k, but I need 375K. Unfortunately, I don't have enough asset to cover the difference. Any advise? suggestions? Find a cheaper property or check with different banks - some have a tighter window than FHA, some use the fha requirements straight from the book. 

you may have missed the boat on barnum & villa park already. 

@Corey Jacobs - Congrats on jumping. Nice work on getting the funding and the price. 

I'd just use the argument that if they cant pay whatever they owe you at this point, how will they pay the judgement? 

Sure going after them is satisfying in a crusading for what's right sort of way, but how much time (and money) is your client willing to throw at this issue? The problem will sort itself out with a cost of just lost rent in a few weeks, or it will be lost rent + time + attorneys fees + court costs and all that other junk.

Im in this situation as well. Last week, I went by and offered someone cash-for-keys, as well as handed them a 72 hour pay or quit notice.  I'll find out the rest tomorrow, and will update my deal diary with it. 

The cash for keys was in case they tried to dodge the 72 hour notice and drag their feet and stalling it in court. 

@Zach H. - I cant comment on the best place, but if you're able to move, if I were you I'd try and use an FHA loan to purchase/house hack a multi unit in your current area of ballard, WA, then once you're ready, move somewhere else with a good market and use another FHA and house hack as well. You can skirt the rules and get 2 FHA loans because you'll be moving a "significant distance" for your job

Agree with @Jay Hinrichs - 

You got out of this deal cheap. 

@Shane Newbanks - Are these duplexes part of the same tax parcel?

I bought 2 duplexes that are on different streets (large corner lot, with one facing one street and one facing another street) but they were part of the same tax lot, and counted as 1 property - a 4plex - and I was able to use FHA on that property.

Dont worry @Mindy Jensen - I was actually going to get touch with you soon - my apartment fun continues.