All Forum Posts by: Jodi M.

Hi Joe,

My husband and I started investing last year and do it part time. We both work full time jobs and do most of the work ourselves. We started with a fix and flip house which took 5 months to complete and sell. We spent an extra 40hrs/week there for most of last summer. Since then we've added 6 rental units. So far the properties we've bought were all ones we could build equity in by fixing them up so a lot of time is spent when we first buy something. There is usually a week or two(sometimes more) that we spend 20-40 extra hrs per week at the property. After that I usually only spend a few hrs a week showing the property and finding a tenant.
If we are not in the middle of fixing up a property I probobly only spend 10-15hrs a month collecting rent, taking phone calls and showing properties(if I have any vacancies).
Good luck :)

Keith Brown
I'm thinking about the same thing. We invest in Eastern Iowa (not to far from you). Started last March and currently have 6 units in Burlington. We've also rehabbed and sold 2. We hope to expand fast enough to consider doing it full time. Our goal is to do it when the income from our real estate is more than we make at our W2 jobs. I'm also getting my realtor license that way I can add extra income even if we are investing full time.

What's the market like over there? Wondering if Western IL is going about the same way Burlington is. I've seen quite a few houses for sale right accross the river from us.

Good luck!

Bill Gulley Thanks for the ideas. I haven't had a title search done yet but my attorney is looking into the property for me. He called back today and said I should have access unless something was written when the subdivision was formed stating the easement was only granted for 1 house. He said he'll pull all the records and let me know before the auction next week. Thanks again :)

Thanks Wayne. I talked with the neighbor (he's in the property owners group I joined) when I asked if he would let someone cross his property he said he didn't know. Should I call him again with my exact plan so he knows I'm talking about 1 house not a subdivision with 3-4 properties crossing his land?
I've been e-mailing with my RE attorney and am waiting for a call back today.
Thanks

I've posted about this property in the past so I'm sorry about the repeat but after talking to the city/county subdividing is out due to expense of an upgraded road but access to build a new house is still an issue. We need to find out if it has or will be granted a prescriptive easement. It is a 1 acre lot with a house and a separate 18 acres being sold at the sale time. To access either property you have to use a lane owned by someone not in the area which goes across a neighbors property. We want to sell the 1 acre w/house and build new on the 18 acres. How can I find out if the new house will have a prescriptive easement granted? Or will I have to get an easement from the neighbor? (I'm not sure he'll be willing to grant one and he's been a real estate investor for years so I'm sure he knows what he can/can't do)
We want to build and have no interest in keeping the house for our primary residence I'm waiting for a call back from my attorney but don't want to spend a lot of money getting answers only to not buy the property.

Any ideas on if the new house would have access? The only way to access the 18 acres is over someone else's land. I know we can't be landlocked but how do I make sure I can get to the house without upsetting the neighbors? I'm not sure they will like having another house go up. Thanks!

Nice read, I am also just finishing our first year and can totally relate to your lessons learned! Very good reminders as we are trying to finish the latest project on a short timeline. Good luck on year 2!

Yee Liau

Welcome! I've very new at this and wish I would have started a few years ago! I don't have the expierence to give you advice but the best things I've done so far have been reading everything I can and talking to local people who've been doing it for a while. I found professionals who wanted to help me learn and joined our local property owners group who have been more than willing to share information. For flips I think it helped that before we started we had remodeled some of our own houses and built one.

Good Luck :)

Wayne Brooks Thanks, I won't believe everything he said. I actually only e-mailed him because he is a member of the same local real estate club I joined and I'm pretty sure that's the only reason he called me back. He gave me some background history of the land (he's lived there 30+years) but other than that mostly told me to research carefully.

Jon Holdman As far as I know the parcels are not considered landlocked but are only accessed by a road owned by someone else going across a 3rd persons land. According to the county they probobly have an easment for the house we're looking at based on past use. The 2nd parcel is owned by the same guy as the house which kept it from being landlocked since he could go through is own land and nothing was built on it. If we were to sell the house with it's current acre the lot we would want to build on would then be landlocked. After looking over gis, talking with the city, county and neighbor (who I know not to believe 100%) the property lines are a mess out there and have been that way for years. I have my atterney and title/escrow guy looking into it for me. I just don't want to get in over our heads o this one.

Thanks for the ideas!

Thanks for all the ideas! The propery is within 2 miles of the city limits so I've contacted the county use admistrator and the city zoneing department. I have also contacted my real estate atterney, the title and escrow guy I've worked with and the neighboring property owner. My next stop is going to be the courthouse.

I've found out the driveway going into the 4 houses was sold at a tax sale and is owned by someone who doesn't live there or maintain it. There are also more houses than that road is supposed to serve by current standards. That lane goes across another property owners land (the neighbor I called) so access could be a problem. The road through the rest of the area is owned by a subdivision and according to the neighbor houses can't be built off of that. (that eliminates 1 access route)

I'm tryig now to find out if houses(even 1 more) can be built here and if there is access or I have to get a neighbor to agree to access. I also have to find out what kind of regulations for roads/drainage etc will be required to find out if it's worth doing. Acording the county we would not need to subdivide to put up 1 more house because it's a seperate plot but anything else would require subdividing.
I knew subdividing wouldn't be easy and requires a lot of planning but with the property lines it's a mess out there! I meet with the county use guy this week with our potential plans. Hopefully he can give us some answers.

The county guy told me to do a lot of research because someone who hasn't is going to be surprised when they buy it. I've had a couple people tell me they think the auction company and sellers are trying to hide somethings (or just neglect to tell).

Any specific questions I should ask him?I'm working on my real estate license so I guess even if we don't buy it this will be a good learning experience :)

Thanks for the ideas!