All Forum Posts by: Julian Sage

@Joel Owens - Yes! One of my buildings is a converted SFH into MFH with a lovely Airbnb unit in the basement. So far in that unit, we've had leaking toilet seals, a backed up washer pipe (crushed or corrupted by roots somewhere underground) that we rerouted into the main exit pipe with a pump, a completely stopped up sink drain, and water coming through the vapor barrier causing rusting on the cracks in the vinyl floor planks. It's been a whack-a-mole situation for sure!

We have a company locally that charges either 8.5% management or 85/month whichever is cheaper and has a guarantee they will pay any missed rent and also an eviction guarantee if they have to go through the process.  The guarantees are extra though where they are 19.99 each or 30 for both but this is still cheaper than most companies.  I don't know how good to their word they are and have never talked to them however this seems very appealing.  I currently self manage and really don't want a property manager but as I scale and need one these guys are going to be my first but not only call.  

@Julian Sage How do you use breezeway in your business? I've looked at it a little but have not dove in big time. 

I have a property I'm wondering what you guys think about here in Missoula. It's 622 W. Artemos, recently listed for $348K. It's $105 per sq ft, that's well below what it currently costs to build. Then there's the view, it's high enough on the hill to look out over the whole valley. But the most appealing part of it is the lot is 18,252 sq ft, enormous for the Missoula area. It's zoned as R5.4, similar to the rest of the U district. That means that I couldn't pull off building any townhouses on the lot, but with one that large, I could theoretically fit in 3 full lots. The minimum lot size for R5.4 is 5400 sq ft. How the house is situated however, it's hard to see 3 lots that aren't super thin and crazily shaped. But one substantial lot could be easily be divided and either sold off, or just built upon. I've attached a picture showing a rough idea of how that could be done.

To get to the point, I think this could be a really easy flip. Simply buy the house, spend 2-3 months doing a boundary line relocation, then resell the house and the new lot separately. I've checked the comps, and the cheapest lot in that area is over $80K. I've already talked to my realtor that said the value of the current house would not be substantially reduced if the lot was reduced from 18K square feet to 12K. Or, better yet, make it a live-in flip while we update the house and make it beautiful, then Airbnb or rent the main house, and either sell or build on the new lot. The main drawback is the steepness of the lot. You can check the Google Street view to get a better idea of it. There would need to be a lot of excavation to create a driveway for the new lot, and steep lots are not an area of expertise of mine. But it seems like there's plenty of extra cash in this deal to pay for that. 

I'd love to hear any feedback you guys have on this, what do you all think?

I've looked on LKN as well. For higher returns, you'll need to do vacation rentals (1M house can rent for 100-120k/year) but they require a lot more work obviously. Vacation rental management companies here cost 20% or so, which I would need since I don't live here yet. I passed, for now, but I'm afraid home prices here are gonna keep rising and its tempting to get in now. 

Anyone know if 10% loans are available on houses in the 700-900k range? I don't have a mortgage anywhere else (renting) at the moment