All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

There are a variety of cash back, rewards, points.

BUT I just go to eBay and buy 10% off Lowes coupons. Those are $0.99 or whatever and sent to you electronically.

Then I use them at Lowes or HD, HD will honor Lowes discount coupons, but apparently not all stores, but most do, you need to ask.

Some said Harbor Freight 25% off single item works too at some HD stores, but my HD does not honor those.

sort of like in The Walking Dead when Hershel said "You step outside, you risk your life. You take a drink of water, you risk your life. And nowadays, you breathe and you risk your life. Every moment now, you don‘t have a choice. The only thing you can choose is what you’re risking it for."

I wonder what the real estate market would be like if there is a zombie apocalypse world?

I don't know if it's good luck or bad luck.

As stated previously, after talking to the city I submitted an offer anyway.

A few days gone by, then came back around and asked for a "best and final". I submitted the same offer as what I had was best and final LOL.

Now, a week later, I got this email from them (forwarded from my agent). They want me to reply back with a YES or NO on this one liner question.

BUYER ACKNOWLEDGES RECEIPT OF THE ATTACHED VIOLATIONS. BUYERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NOTED VIOLATIONS AND FINES AND WILL SIGN A HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT FOR THEM: YES or NO.

No addendum to the contract just some email reply a YES or a NO.

Now does it mean I am closer or this is just some more formality BS? The listing broker will NOT tell me if they have sent in multiple offers for the bank to pick, or if this is a one offer at a time thing where mine is being reviewed right now.

Has been more than a week since I replied with a "YES" and no news. The listing broker said "NOT YET" when asked if they have accepted anything, "NOT YET" if there has been any progress.

depends on the demographics.

If its a retirement neighborhood, lots of elderly people some may find it a tripping hazard or a pain for walkers, wheel chairs etc...

Down here in south Florida many older folks would not buy two story homes because of having to trek up and down, and we have lots of older folks.

Sometimes the elevation difference can be partially minimized visually by using creative threshold transition pieces. I have seen people with a 1/2" difference between two rooms and they stick in a piece of 2" marble 3/4" thick at the door. Counting adhesive thickness the transition piece is higher than both sides, bad practice. The wall is a full 4" thick, you have a full 4" to transition the height difference if necessary. If u are a creative craftsman custom mill a piece that is as wide as possible and tapers the height difference exactly.

One time I had a height difference between a living and dining room of a full inch. Not much I can do with it but the separation was not a door but a full 12' space. One side is bamboo the other side hardwood it is a real tripping hazard. I need to transition the height but also draw attention to it. I had a millwork place create a custom piece of wood for me, 12' long, 1/2" thick on one end, 1-3/4" thick on the other end, tapered the height. I cut both floor back to accommodate a 4" wide piece. Dropped that piece down and it is precisely 3/8" lowered than floor on both sides. Next I took spare pieces of the bamboo which is 3/8" thick, and some pieces of the hardwood planks which I did have to strip its thickness to 3/8" using my table saw. Then I took it to a buddy who does cabinets and asked him to make dovetails on both materials so it will result in a single strip 12' across with the hardwood and bamboo dovetailing into each other. Then I glued that down to the recessed transition piece already in place. It looked so natural and it draws attention, it looked like two floor merging into each other.

Another time I was redoing an old bathroom art deck tiles with patterns you can't find a match. Someone dropped a toilet tank on the floor and cracked two irreplaceable tiles. Toilet tank was old and needed to be replaced so breaking the tank was no big deal. The tiles a big problem. Couldn't get a match either. At the time my son was going to one of those artsy hobby class where you fire clay things and such. I asked the teacher if they want a special "real life" project, they were so excited. I told them I need a set of white tiles with a final dimensions of 18" x 32", they can use their shop's plain unglazed tiles, they can draw anything they want on it, just make it look like a high end bath mat. They went to work, didn't even want money, the deal is I bought them pizza the next class. They did a good job, one kid even wrote "small Bed BIG Bath and way Beyond" in fineprint and "made of China not in China " LOL. I chipped out a few more tiles on the floor and put theirs in. It looks like a bath mat in front of the toilet.

The key is to make it look like it is by design and deliberate, and high end.

@Simon Campbell, it is the buyer's due diligence. However, down here it is not typical to inspect for mold. You have a general inspection, and many will also piggy back onto it a termite inspection. Mold inspection is only done IF there is a reason to suspect mold - odor or visible mold - which both were absent.

As to whether it is the bank's fault there is mold there, normally no. But in this particular case, it IS the bank's fault. I write the whole process in an earlier post in this thread, when I initially had a contract, it had no mold, and when they had to re-foreclose due to their closing attorney waiting till the last minute to correct a technical error, then didn't pay the electric bill for six months while they wait for the process to get sorted out, no air conditioning indirectly caused the mold to multiply. So in this particular case, I think the bank and listing broker bear some responsibility.

@Steve Babiak, there is a moral dilemma here though.

We are not talking about a broken water heater, we are talking about high concentration (140,000 spores per cubic meter) of toxic black mold.

and we are not talking about a bank or listing broker not knowing the condition of the property, they are aware and have been sent a test report.

An unsuspecting buyer that walked into that property may not notice. Once they had the electric turned back on and AC running the original musky moldy odor was much less offensive, but the spores also got spread from the kitchen area to the rest of the house via the central AC system.

I end up doing nothing, but it was not an easy decision, and one I came back to from time to time, wondering.

I agree with William Shaffer that going there to pick up rent, there may be an adversed effect. I don't want my tenant to feel I am desperate for the rent, and thereby feel they have an upper hand somehow. I also don't want them to train me to drive over to collect rent if their mail is late or lost.

I don't care about the late fees and thus I have been linient but now I see it can come across as weak and unbusiness like. So I will start charging late fees from now on. Applying payment to late fees first is also a good idea I will make sure to add to my future leases.

I agree you need to check with your lender.

Often times the interest rate of a mortgage is different if you are an owner occupant vs an investment property. If they gave you a lower rate with the understanding that you are an OO and now you are not, there may be ramifications, look through your papers to see if there may be clauses.

@chris,

"this person is looking for a 4 bedroom home for her and her brother along with 2 other friends/boyfriend. They plan on splitting the rent 4 ways"

Are these four people the cast of the show "Friends"?

Sorry couldn't resist, good luck!

(5) I forgot one more, do you write the NEXT STEP for the tenant on your ads? Even if you put your email, phone, QR code to web site etc...do you say "CALL US NOW", "CALL IMMEDIATELY FOR MORE INFORMATION!" Some told me people don't call unless you yell out CALL ME in your ads...or they may be scanning ads and writing down a list of potential places to call and the "CALL ME NOW" stops them in the track and make them dial the digits? TRUE or FALSE?