All Forum Posts by: Michelle Elsaid

Hey Brandon in depends where you are located. City of Orlando vs. unincorporated county. Usually you cant do this on multi family it has to be on a single family (but you can make the single family have an in-law suite). The setbacks and building codes are online.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently house hacking my single family home. The backyard has a good space and I intended to put a tiny home / ADU (Accessory dwelling unit) in the back yard. It's legal in my area. After much thought, I've realized this house may only be a 3 year house because of sound transfer issues that I'm still working on, but because of that I don't want to spend $30K on a permanent structure in the back yard, I want to be able to take it off the property if I sell and relocate it, so a tiny home that can be moved later.

I don't have room to move a structure on the sides of the house, only the back yard. The back yard is fully fenced and there is an apartment community in the back and there is only green space on the other side of the fence. I was hoping I could use that area to move the ADU/tiny home to my back yard but the HOA of the apartments have said no.

Is there any way I can get creative here with legal reasonings on fencing / access to my property etc to make this a reality? I want to play fair and don't want it to become a negative situation with the community behind me, I just want to move a structure though the fence =D

Thoughts??

House is 100% livable, does not affect use of kitchen, bathroom, or bed (although it did occur in bedroom - it's kind of like a big studio apartment). We are fixing things as fast as we can, and even 24 hours turn around times seem to result in threats of calling in lawyers or special departments. Even in emergency situations we can't resolve within 1 hour. Are we doing something wrong?

Rental property leased after purchased, had been vacant for over a year, and had some issues starting out. Water heater breaker was off (took us a day to figure this out), and a lot of small things around the house had to be fixed. Tenant was super passive aggressive, cursing, blowing up my phone. All issues resolved within a few days.

Now, mini split started leaking (fixed within 2 days - small drip), and the house flooded. The flood is a mystery. No pipes broken and everything can continue to be used. No idea. I was notified at 1130PM and woke up at 8am with threats of calling the health department for house being "unlivable". I was there by 2PM with a flood company and it's much smaller than it seemed - only one small corner, no furniture there, and is not SOAKED.. carpet is just wet in the corner. We are having it resolved within 48 hours with fans etc and actually replacing the carpet that was there with tile.

Of course she is constantly checking in with me through out the first 24 hours, asking for hotel (does not affect her bed or living, it really doesn't.. its a small corner of the house maybe 100 sq ft). Asking for rent reduction, hotel, and now for us to pay increased electric costs for the fan. Now she is threatening a lawyer.

The owner was nice enough to offer a credit of rent during the days the fan is blowing and the tile work is being done.  ($25/day)

I actually had this happen to me - 10x worse, 3x in one year, at an apartment and they did NOT prorate rent or offer to pay increased electric costs. Besides the fact that the flood itself is a mystery, how should this be handled? We are leaning towards just giving her option to move out since she is not willing to work with us as we are trying very hard to relieve the issues. Thoughts??

Does this have to be posted a certain way? Is email sufficient or must be on door/letter etc?

Hi BP!

I have a house hacked duplex and my tenants are right at their year mark. They've decided they want to buy a duplex and asked to avoid any monthly premium while going month to month so they can keep the option open of buying. I'm totally fine with this because I will likely be their agent but also they have been great and reliable tenants that don't ask for repairs.. so I'm very open to that agreement.

I want to change lease to be 45 day notice (not the assumed 30) without penalty so they can leave anytime, EXCEPT for the holidays season where it may be harder for me to rent (Nov/Dec/Jan). Any thoughts on that? Is this legal? Are these real "holiday" months? :)

Any input would be greatly appreciated. 

There are many agents in my office who use this program. It's a tradeoff for the buyer. It gives them opportunity to purchase a home at a price that is (likely) going to be lower than the market price in a few years while they work on improving some of their finances.

If the buyer is already well qualified they should go ahead and purchase for sure! But if not, the program does offer opportunity.

Similar to FHA... You have PMI the entire life of the loan AND a funding fee!!!! If you have to choose between renting a few more years and hoping your market doesn't get too "hot" versus paying PMI... it's up to the buyer, there is a tradeoff, run the numbers and compare.

If you can purchase conventionally with a larger down payment you should always choose that route. I always advises my buyers to compare conventional versus FHA and think long-term not short term.

Summary...I don't think program is bad.. but there is a trade-off that definitely needs evaluation for every situation.

@Ray Harrell @Joe Splitrock Thanks. I agree it is the right thing to do, I had a friend wondering what the legal requirements were. Thanks for the assistance.

If you have a short-term rental with no cancellation policy, and the tenant gives notice they will be vacating on week 1 (they fell at a restaurant) are you obligated to give money back if you re-rent the unit?

The contract states you are liable for the unit and there is no cancellation policy or refund. There is an option to buy "insurance" that was declined when making the reservation.

@Shawn G. Wow!!! Amazing!!! Best of luck