All Forum Posts by: Millie D.

Hi Nadine,

Welcome. I don't want to throw you off, but two things jump out:

-this is not a "guys" thing. It's equal opportunity.  I'm a female and do quite well. You will find some of the most successful folks here are not guys. Isn't it interesting that you, the female, joined BP and posted. But then you said, "Hi guys"....

-wholesaling is very time and labor intensive. How will you do this and continue to practice medicine? Without know more than that, I would have to agree with @Rick Baggenstoss that wholesaling doesn't seem to be the right fit, especially since your husband now has a RE license.

If you have the income of a practicing physician I would suggest teaming with your husband to buy and hold investment property, to create a long term income stream that will allow you to someday leave the practice behind if that is your desire.

Good luck--and GIRL POWER :-)

Yvonne

@Wendell De Guzman you should absolutely do this. You're treading into the unknown--in this case, it's the word "historic" that's scary. But once you're familiar, it will be worth your time. I would be more intimidated by the scale of the price and costs than the historic aspect.

I ONLY do renovations of historic homes. By 'historic" I mean listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I have also served on a local Historic Preservation Commission (the renovation taste "police" as some unhappy campers refer to it). I've dealt with the planning, land use departments.... Dealing with paperwork and commissions will be your biggest obstacle, but there is a financial incentive to do it right.

In order to help you, the first thing I would ask is, is this house in a neighborhood that is listed on the National Register? This is the most important question. I hope it is. That will allow you to offer the buyer a very nice $$ incentive once you've completed renovations.

Looking forward to hearing more! And feel free to PM me.

It is absolutely unacceptable for a tenant to change the locks. I would start eviction proceedings immediately. Don't even try to figure out anything out about the he said she said. I would get them out and get rid of this headache asap.

Hoke Lumber in Davidson is awesome. That's where are the builders & contractors in-the-know in this area go. Hoke will give you a higher grade lumber at a similar or lower price than the big boxes. It's a family owned lumber yard that has been around for generations. Great prices, great service. 

Queen City Lumber in Charlotte is also good. 

@Tyson Luthy

 Please tell us more!

You can share your opinion of what your believe is the value of your property. That's not unethical.  And if you ask the appraiser for such and such price, she might politely nod, but laugh inside. Everyone thinks their property is worth more than average--but an appraiser must at the end of the day use facts and comparables to support an "objective" opinion of value.  Their work will be reviewed by people sitting at desks thousands of miles away, so it must stand up to scrutiny. Likewise, if you want an appraiser to pay any attention to your estimate of worth, back up your opinion with facts and comparables. Your need for a high value so you can get lots of cash out is, well, irrelevant.  

Create a spreadsheet of recently sold properties in your area that you believe are truly comparable to yours. Use age, style, square footage, lot size, etc to draw comparison to yours. Just stick to the facts. You can share this spreadsheet with the appraiser.

If you can't find any comparables, sit down and have a cold beer and accept reality.  

Good luck!

Very interesting! I wonder to what degree you are correct.

Electronic payment is the best way to handle this. I frequently rent to folks from out of town and actually prefer them, because they are usually moving because of a move up in employment. It goes without saying you have vetted their application. Sight unseen is not such a problem. Google maps will tell them about the exterior and you supply show them the interior.

For all payments I use erentpayment.com and I love it. They can pay application fee, deposit, and set up recurring monthly payments. Their customer service is excellent. It also allows you to pull reports at anytime to aee who has/ has not paid as well as year end accounting. 

I don't have any affiliation  with ErentpaymenI other than I am a satisfied customer. Regardless of which company you use if you want to run a 21st century business you need to accept electronic payments. 

I'm in North Carolina, similar climate and building techniques to Alabama (wood frame on brick/block crawlspace). I've been renovating homes for 10 years and have run into termite damage quite often. Usually it is confined to one area--one room or one side of the house, usually one that is close to the ground. When the sill is damaged to the point you described, it has to be repaired. That's an expensive process that requires tearing off the siding, bracing the walls while rebuilding the sill, scabbing or sistering the old studs onto the new sill. Then patching the torn out wall and floor area that had to be removed to get to the sill. Then new trim, new siding etc. in those areas. 

Termite damage like what you're describing is really, really bad, because you're looking at having to do the repairs on ALL the walls. Lots of time, lots of money.  Also, if the sill is that bad, I would imagine the studs and siding are also compromised.  I would guess that a contractor is going to bid you $20K at least. You might be able to get away with renting it without the repairs for a little while but eventually the walls and windows will start sagging where they are falling down because the sill is gone. And forget reselling it without the repairs. 

If you make an offer on this one, I would be sure to have a contingency that allows you to get a couple of contractor's quotes on the repairs before the final decision is made. Be sure to factor in the vacancy time while the work is being done.

@Susan M. I was leaning that way too. I think you're right. Thanks!