All Forum Posts by: Julie N.

Just leave it on or paint it if it's in good shape. If not then hire someone to side over it with siding.

As a Realtor myself, I would recommend that you use a Realtor in your Real Estate transactions. Realtors know the laws and timelines in your state for the contracts as well as coordinate with inspectors, loan officers and Attorneys to make things run smoothly for you. As a Buyer's Agent, the seller pays the commission for the Realtor's involved so it won't cost you anything to hire one whereas it could cost you a lot if you don't hire a professional. I'm sure you can hire an Atty to walk you through every step of the transaction- but why would you that when you can hire a Realtor. In my state, Attys do the closings- they typically come in on the end of the home buying process and wrap things up to head towards the closing table. My most recent purchase was a 2-family that I bought off of craigslist. She was clueless on the process of buying and selling real estate. It didn't really matter since I was a realtor - she needed to be guided through the transaction since she didn't know what she was doing. Had I not been a Realtor and we were two novices- I think it would have been tricky. Residential realtors in my state can handle units up to four - anything over that is considered commercial. Good luck.

I received my tenants security deposit (with interest) at closing and put it into an account for them.

Heck no!  I think the new boiler and water heater I had to put in will suffice.  

I love to use the capital one 360 mobile banking app.  There isn't a brick and mortar near me (not sure if they even exist).  You can deposit directly from your phone and it pays interest.  It  will not accept money orders, with those, I deposit into my regular account and just transfer it over.  

Check over what your lease says.  I have sect 8 tenants and the agreement with the Housing Dept is that I need to keep "X, Y And Z" in fully working condition.  When "x" went, and was going to be 5 days before it could be finished- I had to get then into a hotel.

Get another job to stockpile your down payment. In my Last purchase of a two-family- they required 25%, not 20- which made things harder to swallow.

Get your real estate License so you can do your own deals and you don't have to wait on anyone.

Agreed! It's harder for us gals to balance it all out. I work full time as a teacher and am a single Mom to a 12 yr old. I also hold a RE license. It's been a huge sacrifice in time and $ to invest in RE- which I do. I rent out 4 doors and am looking for my next deal. I'm in it for the future for me and my child. Let's go ladies!

Check with your town. You might be opening up a can of worms (or not).