All Forum Posts by: Lauren B.

I installed allure LVP (khaki oak) with glue strips from Home Depot in my rental last week and I’m really pleased with how it came out. It’s 4mm. At first I felt like I was setting for the color they had in stock... after I installed it, I love it! I would pick this color again. 

It was very easy to install. I cut it with tin snips and a knife. 

In the kitchen the previous owners installed 1/4” luan ontop of subfloors and vinyl ontop of the luan. It created a 1/4” difference in level between kitchen and living room. I installed the LVP on top instead of scraping up glued down sheet vinyl. I used a metal transition between kitchen and living room and I’m happy with it. 

I’ve forgot to mention I have an ozone machine set on a timer to run overnight. 

I set it in each bedroom for a night or two and I currently have it set in front of the air return to cycle though the vents and whole house. 

I cleaned the cabinet doors with TSP and then simple green. I was surprised that the simple green got off more residue even after I used the TSP.

@Marian Smith

Thanks for the recommendation on clenaire! I will give it a go! 

@Andrew Schrader I’m working on a house now that was chain smoked in for 24 yrs. I did TSP on walls but ceiling was popcorn . we had to oil prime it twice because it bled through with just one coat of oil primer. I would also prime sub floors. After painting, I turned on the AC and it looks like I’ll have to have the vents cleaned or replaced because they smell like they were used as ash trays.

First, inspectors can be overzealous. Second, you can also ask for whatever you want, the seller may or may not agree to your requests. Ask for more, settle for somewhere in between. And Maybe use DD to get a second opinion from a contractor re : 3 car garage. Talk to your agent. Get a feel for If they feel it is priced competitively considering the repairs you will have to make. If it’s priced like a property that’s already fixed up and ready to go, then you need credit or repairs made. The sellers know the next buyer will find the same issues. They don’t want to drop out of a sale ...

Hi Joseph. Send me a PM if you want to talk more. I’ve done the small farming thing , I have some connections in the local food / small farming industry. Also I live in woodfin and you may be hard pressed to find larger tracts here. For a small farm you might also look at Polk and Madison county, which both have good support for small farmers (slow food, etc. )

I recently had a cat pee house. Lesson learned - get a black light and treat the pee before using kilz. A black light might still be helpful now to see areas you may have missed. Washed with TSP and Enzyme treatments. Another pass with kilz helped my problem area. Also here’s another vote for odorXit.

To be clear, the property you inherited had already been foreclosed on by the bank? (If so the bank owns it). Or It is in the process of foreclosure ?

Is this for a buy and hold or flip? I like mobile homes. I wouldn’t spend a ton on a MH , especially if I didn’t own the land. Many parks (at least in N.C.) won’t let you sublet - ie you rent the space and sublet trailer to end renter. If you can and you can lock in a lengthy lease, and the numbers are great, I would. Many folks I have talked to who do MH rentals like older renters (55+ crowd). I do not personally have any MH rentals. Depreciation and maintenance are real concerns for me with buy and hold MHs.

I wanted to add to this because I read a ton on the subject when buying in a similar tax sale situation in North Carolina. Obviously, different states and different processes, but ... in N.C. tax sales can be challenged by the heirs in court if they weren’t properly notified. Tax office doesn’t seem terribly bothered by proper notifications after the fact. Most counties try to properly notify all owners to avoid this. But I suspect in most cases, when the heirs can’t pay the taxes, they can’t pay 50k+ upfront for retainers for the lawyers to challenge the sale. So, moot point if it’s a buy and hold, but improper notification could present a title issue during resale. A few dollars for a quit claim would surely fix it. (In N.C. they only have a year to challenge anyway).

“Per sellers agent, “one home is not worth rehabbing.  Kitchen floor falling into oblivion.” “ So do we think sellers agent is newer and less experienced than you, are they a total idiot, or just trying to steer you away from the deal with this statement? Have we considered that she might be right? I don’t think the numbers sound like a stellar deal if we assume the sellers agent is reliable in her analysis. Potential tear- downs are nightmares to estimate for Repairs. Not sure your state but you could run into issues getting permits for a second if it’s a SFR neighborhood. If it’s grandfathered, then that’s awesome. But Find out. If you divide - Are there two wells / septic or are they both on city water / sewer? Separate driveways? It sounds like this is an mls listing since seller is represented. chances are it’s not the stellar deal you think it is. And to answer your question, if a private or hard money lender thinks it’s a stellar deal they’ll lend to you and it will be a ‘cash offer” , essentially. But you’ll need to bring your own rehab money (or partner w rehab money). You could try for a 203k loan but not sure if that would work for two houses, and you’d have a hard time trying to subdivide and get one released from the note to sell because the other would have to appraise for at least or maybe more the value of the note. Keep trying. You’ll get there. This sounds a hard one to finance without a partner.