All Forum Posts by: Tonia Hill

@Corey Robert Lee I am from the area and I totally recommend Young Plumbing and Heating out of Superior WI they have done great work on several of my projects I can give you their number if need be just let me know

@Aaron Schwartz 

Welcome to BP.  The information you find here will be of great asset to you.  Please feel free to ask a question if you can't find it already posted in the forums.  There is so much to offer and learn here.  

I wish you the best success in your path to real estate investing!

Tonia 

@Rick L. I would fix the skim coating in the bathroom, because that will only get worse and cause you more damage.  The tiles I would leave unless they are a safety hazard, such as someone would get cut or trip walking on.  Then I would replace, obviously out of her security deposit.  As far as the tub, I would leave it.  It does not appear that it is too large to even worry about, Unless she is picking at it, it usually does not get bigger, if the reglazing was done right in the first place.  I think you take care of any safety or life endangering issues first.  The rest consider her offers, if it is something you feel reasonable and you want to do it, then go ahead.  All others, wait until she leaves and go through and do the changes you want then, otherwise, when new tenants go through make sure they fill out a condition report of the house, when they come in and when they leave.  

Good luck, high maintenance is never fun.  

Tonia

@Russ Swan yes, I started getting a lot of grief from my realtor, she was ok, but not great.  I now work with an investor friendly realtor and he is great! It took me a lot of no's and several realtors to get to the right one.  I never pay more than $500 in EM for the most part. And the very top lately has been $1,000, but I really don't do that too often.  Also, since they are getting stricter on the EM, if you are wholesaleing, double closing, can you get the EM from your end buyer? Maybe it is time to look into more private sellers or not Fannie Mae.. Don't let anyone tell you it can't be done, maybe just a creative way of looking at it differently creates a solution.

Good Luck in your endeavors!

Tonia

@Russ Swan 

I have bought several properties with only $500 in Earnest Money with Fannie Mae.  It is getting harder with the 10% rule and getting more strict on it .  One time, I knew it was about the purchase amount, I had a big spread, so I offered them more, $1,000 on their purchase price, and stood firm on my EM of $500 and they took it.  It was way better for me to offer them the $1,000 on the purchase price, then give them $5,000 EM.  I hate having my working capital tied up in EM so try to keep it as low as possible as much as possible.  If you start doing several a month that adds up.  I think the lowest EM I have ever used was $1.00 with a private seller.  They insisted they didn't even need one, but knew I had to give them something so I reached into my pocket and pulled a $1.00 out in change and gave to them when we signed the purchase agreement. :0) Of course, I would recommend that if you are working with a private seller, you should always put money in Escrow account and not give directly to seller. 

@Kat W. 

got it! Good Job! Now you are on your way!

@John T. 

Usually the smell of sulfur (fried eggs) is from iron.  You can also have rust. There are many commercial chemicals that can help, such as CLR.  Your local hardware store should have plenty to choose from and may require lots of elbow grease.  If the stains are too imbedded, you may have to replace shower base.  The thing is how to stop it from re-occurring? Has the well been checked? Make sure you don't have a bad pressure tank, or bad piping. If all this is well, (no pun intended :0) ) a water filter coming in from the well to the house would be helpful to capture some of the iron or other minerals before they enter your house plumbing system.

Hope it works out good!

@Michael Herr   I personally would use a steel door, for security purposes.  There are so many options, with a half window or oval or moon shape on top.  Either way, they usually have the dead bolt hole.  You can solve to problems at once.  :0)  This also helps against weather/rot.

Hello @Kat W. 

If you want to tag someone use the @ sign then start typing their name. You will see in pop up at the bottom of the chat window and then click on their name.  It should be lit up in a light blue box.

Happy Tagging! :0)