All Forum Posts by: John W.

@Erik W. quite the sacrifice! But financially it will be worth it! The salt on the roads eating up vehicles is the only thing I hate about living here. 

@Patrick M. that's a good, well thought out process, similar to what I do. Initially I send them a brief questionnaire that weeds out most people (usually income based or they have pets when the listing says no pets, or they don't want to answer, lol).  

I just delayed a closing until an eviction was complete and the landlord was on it because he wanted to sell. 

Cash app clears in a day or two and you can send requests, or you can pay a fee for instant deposit. I use this and also like the automatic option on cozy.co, but have to wait 5 days for that to clear. 

So while you have a loan on the property you can deed it back into the LLC and the banks don't mind?

I do 5% and 5 dollars a day

It's unlikely that you will cashflow in a house hack situation, even in Buffalo, unless you buy a triplex or fourplex. To house hack and have the other persons rent cover most of your expenses you're going to have to purchase a duplex in the lower income range that would still have decent rents. But if done properly, househacking puts you way ahead than renting, it saves you monthly expenses and you're building equity in the property. 

Keep in mind there is a PMI fee each month with FHA loans until you reach 22% equity, although it looks like it's currently only about 40 bucks a month on a 100k loan, but I remember mine being much more...

Finding a deal under market value is always nice but you will likely have to do some marketing of your own to find a motivated seller with a deal that's not on the MLS. You don't need to do everything perfectly for this to work to your benefit, as househacking beats renting anyday. Feel free to PM me with any potential houses you are looking at and I will help you analyze.

A lot of it is how you start out with tenants and the tone you set. I made some screening mistakes initially myself and you just have to do the best with the situation you put yourself in. One tenant I have to keep on them till they get the money to me. The other tenants know theres a late fee and pay it when needed. Others drop off cash or mail Checks. But from now on I’m doing everything direct deposit, or checks given to me ahead of time. Everything is late on the 2nd day of the month. Good news is Ive alway gotten paid. Cash app is another option, free transfers. And you can make requests to the other person. Although I wouldnt do this with a new tenant, I would want something more automatic.

Those are pretty common and enclosing it brings other problems like good luck getting furniture or appliances in or out. You could put grip strips on it. I would specify in the lease that tenant is responsible for snow removal and de-icing of stairs and maybe provide a bucket of salt to them. 

But let's be realistic here, that person has been there already for 25 years, and if God-forbid they did hurt themselves would they have the money to pursue a lawsuit? 
I think you will be ok. 

@Owen Dashner great advice.

For whatever reason I have found it easier to find deals and wholesale in the more run down areas. They seem hesitant about agents so they  respond to bandit signs and already know theyre properties arent worth that much, just my experience though. And the low purchase price gives someone with low capital more options. But many times they dont have a search or survey and you may have to gamble a little by paying for a search up front only to find a bunch of leins.