All Forum Posts by: Jim Smith

Current portfolio:

House A - was primary, refinanced to investment (fully rented)

House B - bought in January 2017 as primary, currently live in and rent out

House C - purchased cash and rehabbed 

Is there any way to get a loan on house C so I can move into?  Or is the only way to cash out to rent it?

Just curious on this topic.  I cannot find any articles on google.

If the code in your township/city is you are not allowed to have more than 3 unrelated persons in your short term rental.

If you search air bnb there are a TON of 10+ person rentals, even in my city where it's not allowed.

Let's say a neighbor on the block has nothing better to do, sees 10 people going in the house, and calls L&I (assume no cops are involved as there is no noise or any other issues)

What kind of fines/violations what you be looking at from a city perspective?

Also assume you have all the licenses and everything is up to code.

This project has been an absolutely nightmare to say the least.  I can't even sleep some nights thinking about it

Closed around mid-feb, it's now mid-April and I've made barely any progress and have lost a ton of capital and time

First engaged contractor end of Feb to do a full rehab (2000 sq ft).  He pulled permits and we started going.  

Being my first rehab in the city, I didn't know that only licensed plumbers and electricians could pull plumbing/electric permits, so I started the search for guys who could. 

First attempt, got in touch with a guy who ended up forging his plumbers license and plumbing permits to make it seem like he pulled them to induce me to pay him which I did.  There is currently a warrant for his arrest.

After that I found somebody legit who did both and added $10k to the budget (as the GC I paid no longer wanted to do the plumbing/electric work)

Fast forward 5 weeks, I gave the GC a bunch of money to do absolutely nothing, seeing the progress I ended the agreement, and he ran.   There's a file sitting on consumer fraud's dealing waiting to be analyzed hopefully to go after him

In the money I gave the GC, he did pay the plumber/electrician a deposit, who now is playing complete hardball.  He said we don't have a written agreement, increased his price, threatened to pull the permits, and I'm assuming would run with the deposit he was given.  

I got in contact with a new GC, who understands my situation of being burnt and is willing to do small jobs with small payments.  He started moving very quickly so I engaged him on the project. However I believe he is just subbing out 100% of work so I have no clue what the budget even is for the full picture to finish it

I'm disillusioned at this point 

@Bryan Shelton Are you buying these conventionally?  Don't quit, keep looking you'll find one

Account Suspension. If you cancel 3 or more reservations within a year, we may deactivate your listing.

@Myka Artis - how were you able to cancel 15?

You're much smarter than I am

Let's assume for a very large job, full rehab on a 2,200 sq ft Home

Total paid $30k

Total work done (my estimate): $8k

Total advance: $22k

Any shot at getting that $22k back? I assume it will be very ugly 

I hear you.  The new listing boost helped me book it solid until about August though so i'm good through then!   Hopefully the reviews when it's ready will outweigh the cancellations.

Side note - don't people use the "map view" instead of the "listing view"?  I know when I'm looking at places, I like to use the map view to see where it is and how much.....

What does "remove my listing mean"?

Delete it and cancel all my pending reservations?

Or make it so I can't book any new ones?

Thanks for the reply - I honestly don't care about the $50 penalties.  How many did you cancel in a row?

I have it booked solid for every weekend, with a ton of potential revenue.

I don't want to cancel a few and then all of a sudden my account was deleted.