All Forum Posts by: Jon Olson

@Conner Olsen @Kaiden Swainamer @Sherief Elbassuoni

Okay, so it sounds like consensus is that it's perfectly acceptable as long as they're aware...but what if they're not? 

I'm not proud of how we got to this point, because I consider myself to be a good/honest person mostly, but I guess we were fearing that they would say no, and got greedy with the $700/month cash flow opportunity. As I mentioned, they didn't have a lease for us to sign, and when we wrote it ourselves we didn't include anything stating that we needed to notify them about subletting. I think perhaps we felt better about doing it this way because of the lease and maybe the fact that they're in Hawaii too (unlikely to find out). 

I know it's not right, and if I was the owner I wouldn't be happy, so we're feeling that guilt, and now we're kind of caught up in this thing not sure what to do. Either come clean and deal with the consequences or ride it out until the sublease expires and then end things at that point. What do you guys think?

About three years ago while searching through Craigslist, I found a 3 BR/1BA rambler for rent in Bellevue, WA for way below market value.  The owners of the home live in Hawaii and did not even have a lease or ask for a security deposit. We wrote up a simple lease to sign and made sure we would be able to sub-lease it in the future, as we knew we would likely be finding a home for ourselves within a year. Sure enough, we found ourselves a fixer in nearby Kirkland and have been subleasing the rental the last 18 months. Rent is $1,900/month and we are subleasing it for $2,600 ($700 cash flow/month). We did make a few upgrades like painting all walls and cabinets, cleaning up all the trash outside (there was quite a bit), de-mossing the roof, and some landscaping improvements like putting in a path and adding planters. The owners paid for materials and we did the work ourselves. We think we can get close to $3,000/month, but decided not to increase rent on the current tenants this past year. My question is:  Is this wrong? We feel a bit of guilt like we are potentially taking advantage of the situation. Or is this a savvy way to generate cash flow? 

Hi there! 

I am in Milwaukee and am in the preliminary stages of selling my duplex. I purchased it just a short two years ago for $171,000 in October 2016. I have enjoyed the benefits of running a very successful Airbnb in the other unit, which is just a simple 500 square foot studio. It has earned me (at least) 1.5 times my mortgage payment for every month since Nov 2016, which is enough to cover the mortgage and bills, plus put a little extra in my pocket. Some months are very good. Last July I made $3003 and this July I am currently at $1847, with some dates still available. My mortgage is only $860/month.

I am wondering how to properly price my house, now that I can show proof of a very profitable short term rental business resulting in "free living". My duplex is zoned as Light Business 2 (LB2), as the renovated studio I use as an Airbnb used to be a barber shop. Last appraisal on my duplex valued it at $170,000 but they knew nothing about the Airbnb. I'm 27 years old and have very little experience with real estate. Common sense would say that having such a successful Airbnb would increase the value on the home. I'm just wondering what to do next, if I should speak with a real estate lawyer, or if anyone on here has been through a similar situation. Any and all comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Jon

Hi all, I am currently looking into multi-families with my brother in the Milwaukee market. I currently reside here and would be living in one unit while we rent out the other. My brother lives out in Seattle, and is more just interested in the investment opportunity. Going in together also extends our budget into a range where we can find a more solid place without some of the concerns I was seeing when I was looking solo. I was wondering if anybody has experience going in on a place with a family member, and if you can offer us any tips and tricks on splitting a property 50/50. Thanks in advance for your help!