All Forum Posts by: Jim Brown

Going by your numbers, you would be lucky to break even on that deal.  I don't see anything in there for capex which could really bite you on an older home.  Maybe try and adjust the terms.  $45K with $5K down at 4% and run it out to 15 years.  Just an example.  As it sits now you have near zero cash flow and a lot of risk.  

BGE didn't happen to just install a smart meter did they.  I had this happen at my personal residence and my rental and both properties electric bill skyrocketed the next month.  

@Brian Stark  You can't 1031 your primary residence.  If you converted it to a rental then at some point you could do a 1031.  But with the fact that you have no equity in the property there's really no need to a 1031 because you would not have any gains to shelter from taxes.  

There should be some free legal advice/aid available to her. try leagalaidnc.org. The landlord is responsible for providing a habitable property which it sounds like this place is definitley not.  Small claims court is also an option.  Any judge should take about 2 mintues to figure out this BS.  She could aslo probably get a judgement for any damages she may have incurred.   

I don't think you need to be too creative here. Tell the seller you'll buy the house on condition of it being vacant at closing. Anything besides this and your downside increases dramatically espeically with HML financing.

@Ned Carey  Thanks Ned.  Are you going the BWI Meetup tomorrow night?  Maybe we could discuss it a little more in detail then.

@David Wilson  Great story and best of luck moving forward!

@Ned Carey

I may be interested.  Can you shoot me a PM on what you're thinking cost wise?

the way I think that the guru's and college/univeristies differ is in how they are marketed.  You don't see infomericals on TV for colleges saying how students that attended the college were pulling down $30K a month from their couch as soon as they graduated.  Also, when you go to college they don't teach you for a semester and then tell you that if you want to learn more you need to pony up some more cash to continue.  In college, you know when you register that it's going to cost you x amount for x amount of years.  They don't use bait and switch tactics to suck as much money as possible from your wallet.

@Shannon K. Can't help you with that but just wanted to say, that would be one of the sharpest looking split levels I've seen.  I usally can't stand the looks of splits but you may have changed my mind :)