All Forum Posts by: Jeff Schemmel

@Donovan Clock who did you partner with on this one, and how did you find the property?  Any chance you have more photos?

@Brody Eischeid I know a few people around Des Moines and other Iowa cities.  What are your goals in real estate and where are you at so far?

@Paul Xiong you're hearing the result of underwriting restrictions, not your loan officer being unwilling to work with you.  @Tim Swierczek can elaborate, on the reasons for this and could potentially give you guidance on how to solve your problem.  Bottom-line is, most of the time you need two years of tax returns and to show stable and consistent employment.  There are other ways to buy a property, though.  What are you trying to buy, specifically?  Can you share your goals?

@Grigoriy Gorshteyn any recommendations you might provide from a seasoned PM perspective?  I feel like an official (scary) written notice to pay or quit is overdue to be posted on the front door.  The deadline is already passed, and they are basically thinking the situation is fluid because there haven't been consequences.

-Jeff

local meetups are the best place for you to grow your network @Nathan Gesner is spot on with where to look.  Get to know local investors and learn what strategies they've had success with, eventually you'll find some people you vibe with and a strategy you like!  I took on house hacking and adding value with a bit of light rehab for my house hacking, and I really like that approach.  @Jordan Moorhead says your network is your "net worth" and he's right.  We're all pumped for you!  If you're ever back in MN and want to chat with a local house hacker, feel free to reach out for a coffee or something.  

Don't rush the screening process.  Don't feel like you have to make someone who really wants to rent be a fit when they're not meeting your qualifications.  If you're trying to fill it right now, consider a 6 month lease to start so it can be turned over during a more desireable rental market in the summer vs. signing a 12 month and having it turnover in the winter again - most people don't want to move this time of year and the applicants tend to be those who are displaced or in tough spots/desperate.

Double-check your HOA requirements on rentals, just be sure you're doing what is required of you as a landlord in an HOA. Also, apartments dot com is a great tool that's free and easy to use for both sides; there are a few similar. I would spend a good amount of time looking at the rental comparables in depth. Look at amenities and location for the rent amount from the renters perspective and set your price correctly up-front. I am happy to chat if you'd like to have a conversation further - i'm local and happy to help.

The last time I wrote an offer that didn't ask for closing costs on the buy side was earlier this summer...June I think.  Since then every single transaction has had some kind of closing costs paid by the seller.  The market shifted late summer, and I'm sure it'll shift back to sellers come spring, but it is common to win closing costs at the moment; at least here in Minneapolis/St. Paul.  I've even won closing costs for my buyers after a surplus appraisal in a competitive situation.  It can be done.

worked my butt off.  saved $5k, and got the seller to pay my closing costs. 

@Heather S. I spend quite a few mornings at Nina's on Western/Selby.  Feel free to shoot me a text and meet up, I would like that!

Hope it goes well.  When is their lease up?  If they're month-to-month and had a place to go I'd guess they'd have done it on their own accord by now.  In my situation, I gently probed for their "future plans" before non-renewing just to see where their head was at.  I've seen tenants get pretty combative when they realize their landlord doesn't want them there and they're in a tight spot financially; it can be easy to kick someone into survival mode.

@Heather S. First, I love that you're house hacking.  I also love that you chose Saint Paul to do it :).  That out-of-the-way, experience tells me that noise is literally the most common complaint about an up/down duplex arrangement.  I've had bad tenants and good tenants in this regard while house-hacking my 118 yr old duplex in Saint Paul as well, and I've learned that tenants are just polarizing about this.  Some will deal with it with no complaints as they go into the lease agreement understanding there will likely be noise, and some will complain till they're blue in the face at each and every noise even though they should expect it when agreeing to rent a duplex.  When this was happening to me, (the tenant's 7yr old had a literal trampoline in her bedroom above mine) I just waited patiently until the tenant's lease expired and politely non-renewed them.  I searched for new tenants under a new expectation (stated above), and the problem stopped.  I made two changes.  

1.) I added to my "house rules" addendum on the lease to spell out that quiet hours start at 10 pm.

2.) I ripped up the old carpet, patched gaps in the floor, put down a sound-dampening underlayment, and put new flooring over the top.  I would guess this helped very little, but I needed to replace the carpet anyway and just made a point to do everything I could to dampen the noise.  It really worked well, although the thing that helped the most was the tenants not stomping around :)  In my research on flooring options, I basically learned that the #1 best layer of sound dampening is the insulation material and a layer of drywall.  Two layers of insulation was said to do the most, although I didn't feel like ripping out the ceiling of my unit to go that far.  I just view it as a sacrifice i'm willing to make to have a very small mortgage payment.

Hopefull this helps a little.