All Forum Posts by: Jon Martin

expecting 3-6 realtors from Columbus OH to chime in soon . . . . . 

Do an enemy analysis. See how comps with and without pools perform in your market and you should have your answer (assuming enough comps with pools). 

Personally I would not do foam on foam. Although I am biased because I sleep hot, and most memory foam absorbs too much heat. Plus I think it could be overly plush but again, I could be biased because I prefer a firmer mattress. 

Are the Zinus mattresses really not soft enough as is already?

I would probably do a simple waterproof mattress cover just to keep things clean. 

Curious about this as well. In theory in should work, and you would not be paying taxes on the cash that you pull out. As long as the rents cover the expenses I don't see what's wrong with this strategy. 

Do some enemy research. If the standard is no laundry and occupancy is high, then who cares. If everyone has laundry and occupancy is variable then you may want to. 

Tough to say what your time horizon is for a payoff if you don't have existing connections and units to work with. Otherwise you still have plenty of room for a stackable. Cleaners might cut you a break too if it makes their work easier because they can wash everything in unit, which is often only practical in a single bedroom unit like you have. 

My comment was more broad in nature, not specific to a hard money lending situation. If a flexible time horizon is required then yes, hard money is probably not a great fit. I used a HELOC on my primary/personal home for my first rehab.

IMO there's nothing wrong with trying to make a BRRRR happen, just don't rely on it to keep your investment afloat and pay back a hard money lender. Make sure that you are able to stay in business even if you have to wait a year or 2 to refinance.

Safer bet is to look for forced appreciation opportunities. Such as an extra large laundry room makes for an easy extra bath conversion. Or an unneeded formal dining room that can be turned into a bedroom. Or a detached garage or walkout basement that could be it's own apartment. Lots of possibilities . . .  .

If it's for a rental, historic is great for short term. typically the historic homes are in the best and most walkable locations, and guests like the "character" of the home/hood and walkability. For LTR with minimal cashflow I'd avoid them like the plague. 

If it's a personal residence then buy what works for you. As for appreciation, probably more dependent on the zip code itself as opposed to the age of the home, assuming it's in livable condition. 

Like everything it depends on your market. If you are still seeing homes go pending quickly, then it's probably for a reason. 

This is what I'm doing. Plus a line splitter that feeds the propane grill as well to kill 2 birds. Keep an extra full tank on hand. Would rather worry about keeping 1-2 propane tanks full instead all the work involved with having wood delivered and stacked. Per unit of weight and volume there's no comparison. 

That said my STR is not somewhere that a cozy authentic wood fire would be expected. YMMV