All Forum Posts by: Mike Baker

I would concur with @Roy N., and @Bill S.

In my area people will pay more for their own laundry in the unit.

We are a college town as well so a lot of those students will rent a house together with the intent of splitting costs, but also to have private laundry. its harder to study in a laundry mat, then your own bedroom will you laundry is going in the other room.

My personal opinion is, the more convenient those things are to the tenant, the longer they stay, and the lower your vacancy.

Good Luck. 

Where I live you can take the deduction if it's a business expense.

If you are fixing it for business reasons, rent it out and take the deduction.

If your fixing it to continue to live in ( even for a few more months), I would leave it alone.

@Joe G Rampy I understand what you mean. My wife and I have been looking at smaller multifamilies in the Butte and Bozeman/ Belgrade areas. Our realtor in Belgrade is awesome and knows exactly what we are talking about when we ask, but when it came to the butte market we found that dealing with a newer realtor was better, as they would not look at us crosseyed when we asked for those same things.

The duplex in Belgrade we recently bought was overpriced in the beginning, because the selling realtor actually thought, and I quote " I figured I could find a cash buyer to just write a check". He was an idiot.

Good luck Joe!

I would agree that your list isn't horrible, but if you have never dealt with those things before then it can seem daunting.

It would be a good project for you to get dirty on. 

Get your estimates, talk to the bank (worst they can say is no), and move forward.

Also, I don't know about your area, but it concerns me that they didn't disclose mold, lead, and asbestos. They do their own inspections ( as general as they may be) but it sounds to me like they are not hidden problems and are fairly easy to recognize. Even if they only concede on those issues it's worth the conversation.

Just the flooring, drywall and insulation. 

Sounds like the only plumbing issue you had was a brother-in-law who didn't check his work.

I would ask them to help cover damages and work. Family or not, if you made the mess clean it up.

Good luck

Welcome to the forums.

It's an awesome place to network, and an overall great place for info.

Dig in and dig deep.

@Robert McDonnell it's outstanding that a young man your age is pursuing Real Estate. Buy "The 10X rule" and never give up. Always push forward. You will get there.

As for my wife and I. Our number one problem is the down payment. I have found a number of multifamily deals, and I could finance them with the down. I have even found owner financing options, but yet again, need the upfront money. So our answer at this point is to keep networking until we can find some private money. We are primarily buy and hold, as I am not terribly interested in flipping. So that narrows the pool as well.

One thing I know for positive! We will get there.

I have lived in the Bozeman area since 1985, and just bought a duplex in the area myself. It does have great long term prospects as we are a college town, and we have a pretty large tourism industry.

We are very expensive. There are deals to be found, but you really have to dig for them.

Bozeman is one of those areas you really need to research before you just jump in.

I know another BP member who lives here, but wont invest here. When I asked him why all he said was "Montanans are very proud of their property". I would say he's right.

Not trying to be discouraging at all. Just want you to know what your looking at.

Let me know if I can assist you, or answer any questions.

@Steve Babiak is correct, an island vent can be tricky if you have never done one before.

Also the flow of the kitchen is very important. @Dave Shellenberger is absolutely correct. as few steps as possible to get things done and put away, are what can make the difference.