All Forum Posts by: Lawrence Henkel III

Jonathan Perez if you take the down payment assistance: They give you $7,500 and you need to stay for 3 years essentially you earned $7,500 you didn't have before. If you don't take it and you can move after 1 year and your cash flow is $110/ month for the 2 years you can rent it. You will only make $2,640. You would be better off taking the $7,500 and staying 3 years. You will make $4,860 more over the same period of time if you take the assistance.

If you can make more than $312.50/month after all expenses you should not take the $7,500 because you would make more renting it out after a year. But if you determine that you will only make $150/ month after all expenses you should take the $7,500 because you would make more. 400.00 x 24 = $9,600 312.50 x 24 = $7,500 150.00 x 24 = $3,600

If you take the assistance and stay 3 years you essentially get about $208/month in profit for the unit you will live in. $7500/36 months. If you don't take it and move after 1 year how much profit will you have after all expenses are paid? To make it equal I think you would actually divide the $7,500 over 24 months since in either case you will occupy it for a minimum of one year. So if you can make more than $312.50 in profit per month after all expenses you should not take it.

George P. I have a rental in Ypsilanti that I'm renovating and I'm having trouble finding someone to work on the bathroom. The bathtub is rusted out and leaking I'm trying to find someone to replace it but they either never call back or don't show up for an estimate. I found a plumber to replace the bathtub but they are booked until November 1st and they don't do demo or tile work. So at the very least I need a tile contractor for the beginning of November but would rather find someone who can do it all hopefully sooner than November. Any recommendations you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Melody Everett-Neddo It is mostly ready to go. We are purchasing it for $71,000 and we need to do a little work on it. I'm actually trying to decide what can be done now and what can wait. During inspections we found the bathtub was rusted by the drain and is leaking so that has to be replaced which will damage the tile on the walls and floors so we need to put in new tile or a tub Inclosure and at that point do I just gut it and make it nice. It looks ok now but it is very 80's. One pink bedroom needs to be painted and the carpet in all 3 bedrooms needs to be replaced. The furnace is 14 years old and we suspect the motor is about to go and the A/C is 27 years old so I think I just want to replace them both. 3 bedroom 1 bathroom 1,000sf ranch on a slab with a 1 car garage in Ypsilanti. We believe we can get $1,150 to $1,200 a month in rent. I believe after all expenses and reserves for maintenance & cap ex we should get $150 $200 cash flow

Aaron Treloar thanks for the suggestions. I definitely will wait for the right fit and stick to my screening criteria. I would like to be priced just below my competition and I love the short lease to get it back on track for prime rental season.

Hello, After a very long search and several failed attempts we have our 1st buy & hold property under contract in Ypsilanti,MI. We are set to close on October 7th. It needs a little work to be rent ready and I'm a little nervous that it won't be available until December. In Michigan not many people are looking to move in the winter. We have the resources to carry the property if it is vacant for a while but just wondering how hard it is to find a great tenet in winter in Michigan.

Hello I'm from Ypsilanti too. I'm just getting started and hope to have my first rental up and running by the fall. Glad to see and hear from others in Ypsilanti.

I would be afraid that this would encourage the tenants to not clean at all after they leave. "If I'm already paying a minimum cleaning fee I don't need to clean it because it is already paid for"

I'm going through the same thing at the moment. We decided to sell our SFR and buy a 2-4 unit live in one and rent out the rest. There were plenty of nice options in our pre approval range when we considered doing this back in October. We had to do some things to get it in turnkey sellable condition to put our house on the market. Hit the market in Mid February got an offer last week and now the only 2-4 units are either way out of our price range or just this side of being condemned. So we are making an offer on a SFR we can live in and fix up and maybe even take on a roommate while we rebuild our savings to buy another SFR we can move to and rent this one or just rent out the next one if we decide to stay. I feel this one has multiple strategies we can execute. It might take longer to get where we want to go but we will still get there. Good luck