All Forum Posts by: Jon Sheffield

Hello John,

Where is this studio locate at? I say if your worried about it don't take the gamble. Now if you still want to do it are you going section 8 or regular renter? If you go section 8 you will have an inspection whether or not the inspector says something about the size is unknown. In DC it will be difficult to evict most tenants because DC is tenant friendly. I don't think you will have a problem with listing as a one bedroom or getting a renter and the difficulty of evection won't be due to the size of the space. 

Hello All,

Looking for a contractor in the D.C. area to help with condo conversion. Does anyone have or know of a contractor that has participated in construction and D.C. and know DC Docs. If you know of any you can just answer in the thread.

hey olivia I would suggest Tony Taylor the d.c. real estate guy very active investor and agent. Send me a message and I'll give you his info

Thanks Aaron I appreciate it.

Hello All,

This question is for those who have completed, in the process of completing or thinking about doing a condo conversion in Washington DC.  Can you explain how the process went if you completed the conversion; a quick brakedown of the steps from beinning to end. What are the unknown unknowns, known unknowns, and the known knowns. If you're thinking about a conversion in Washington DC what information can you provide even if you think it's common knowledge. I'm specifically asking for DC because dealing with ins and outs can be difficult and one missed step can result in a lot of money and the process starting over.

Here's my two cents I have a building in DC and have had experience with landlord tenant issues.

I understand the unspoken rule is to be curtious and break your boxes down but they aren't doing that. 

How often do they pickup the trash?From my building they come 2-3x a week. Maybe ypur trash people could come more. Would you consider bigger cans or is there space for a square dumpster?

If you want the end goal for them to break down boxes by making them to pay extra might just make them continue not to break them down, because of the extra money they are paying. 

Are the extra boxes just due to Christmas from them buying gifts and having them delivered? Also once you warn them the next action is to take action constant threat with no action makes the situation worse. Have you actually had a face to face with the tenant to see what there explination is. 

I think this is a capacity and culture issue, but I'm only going off your picture and explanation. 

Hello all,

I know there are companies that just provided maintenance service that aren't property management companies. I have a four unit under a mgmt company although I'm going to handle the mgmt part, but I would like just a maintenance company to handle the service calls. 

Are there or does anyone know of any services like that in the Washington DC area?

I wanted to post this again just to motivate people and show that it's real. 

Long story short on June 22, 2016 I finally closed on my first multi-unit property in South East D.C. for my fellow Washingtonians it's in ward 8 near the st. elizabeth's campus. It was a very long process and I learned some good things along the way but also realized how much I didn't know. I have to occupy the building due to one of the programs I used, but at the end of the day out of pocket for a 418k property was $5,681.

Thanks to Tony Taylor (sorry couldn't figure out how to tag you tony) my realtor he's on bigger pockets look him on NOW, he really worked his tail off to get this deal done. If you are an experienced investor or first time Investor Tony is the man, I will explain why in more detail below.

Now For the long story, this is my story and process I went through for the multi-unit property:

I started my search back in October 2015 after dragging my feet for a very very long time how long you asksince 2007, Yikes. You can get very comfortable in a W2 job, anyway I digress back to the process. I did a general search and found a realtor; this realtor who shall remain nameless wasn’t bad but was average. When you are looking for a team do you want above average or just ok. The realtor contacted me on the phone told me there were no multi units on the market and would send me an email when some came on the market. If you are familiar with the DC market multi-units now are staying on the market less than 5 days. I didn’t know that at the time, so several weeks later when I received an email from the realtor with about three choices which weren’t even in my search criteria I was highly disappointed. Now this continued even after a phone call to the realtor that what he was sending didn’t fit my criteria.

So fast forward to the point where I met Tony Taylor the experience was night and day. I met tony in person we had a discussion about my criteria he told me about several programs I could use as a first time homebuyer to reduce my out of pocket cost, where we would be looking and why, how he would use direct mailing to reach owners off market to get a property under contract before hitting the MLS. The road was long and frustrating I put in about 15 bids on properties and was outbid most of the time the other times there were other issues with the seller. Now to the property that I have purchased tony found this investor from a house that he was renovating next to tony house and through his mighty investigation skills found out the investor was selling a building in my criteria. We saw the property I liked it tony explained the renovations that would occur in ward 8 and what was actually happening in that area at that very moment. Tony broke down the numbers explained my options and let me make my decision. We put in the contract and it was accepted, side note I found out later that someone I know put in a bid on this property. Their offer was way below what the owner purchased it for about three years ago. They were instructed by their realtor to do that, not a bad move if it’s a buyers’ market or if the building was a mess but neither scenario’s applied here.

After the contract was accepted there was the home inspection which was about $550, appraisal which was about another $500, earnest money deposit at $5,000 and the purchase price set at 430k. Remember these are Washington D.C. numbers you area will vary, through home inspection and seller credits the purchase price came down to 418k. The major reason being the roof was past its life expectancy, but three of the four units were rehabbed. The home inspector couldn’t believe that the building was in such good shape, his exact words were the last couple of multi-units he inspected for purchase needed to be condemned and had no soul. There was a major hold up due to the loan officer which is a longer story, but on June 22, 2016 we closed the deal.

I have to occupy the building due to one of the programs I used, but at the end of the day out of pocket for a 418k property was $5,681. If I hadn’t received down payment assistance or seller credits towards closing which was negotiated by my realtor tony I would have had to come out of pocket with about 30k. That 30k includes down payment, closing cost and earnest money deposit. I have to pay $700 a month to ensure I have enough in reserve, although the rents cover mortage, insurance, taxes, home warranty, and 3% for repairs. This is was my experience I may have left something out just ask if you have questions. Thanks to everyone on bigger pockets and to Tony Taylor you guys rock. That's tony on the right me on the left. 

Thanks to all that have showed their support and to all of BP you guys are awesome. 

Very Simple question and I may have a better answer later in the forums, has anyone completed a subject to deal and the refinanced shortly after? If so what are the negatives and positives when refinancing?

The reason I am asking is that I am considering purchasing my parents home through a subject to to reduce cost and better interest rate. Then refinance in the hopes of getting HELOC to rehab and sell. If your a numbers person the amount left on the loan is about 280k current value is about 430k realistically what an investor would buy it for probally less than that. Current homes selling between 700-800k although 660-730k is realistic. Rehab cost I will say is between 150-200k, there are some structural issues that need to be resolved. I don't claim to have the most accurate numbers, i'm just trying to paint a picture in your mind. What I really want to know is who has done a subject to and if you have, have you refinanced to pull money out of the house?

And just in case a question comes as to why not just have my parents refi and get a HELOC they don't want the house and definitely don't want to deal with a rehab and I'm trying to show them the value of the home instead of selling low.

Oh if anyone else has a better strategy please by all means slap the knowledge down