All Forum Posts by: Mindy Jensen

It has been raining since Monday. The river is above flood stage, the rain won't stop. I went down to the crawlspace just to double check, and found a lot of water. I see where it is coming in - from poor grading around the house. I can fix that later, but the sump won't stop running. Pretty sure the float switch is jammed or faulty - the sump came with the house, it was a foreclosure so I have zero information. It looks old. It is a Big John, if that helps at all.

So I don't feel comfortable turning it off to try to fix it - what if it didn't go back on? Rain is forecast for the next 2 days, along with 2-8 inches of snow - YAY!

Any suggestions or uplifting stories of when this happened to you and you turned it off and everything worked out and you lived happily ever after?

Thanks!

I am licensed in CO, but costs should be relatively similar. I wrote a post for the BP blog about this very topic.

There are lots of little costs you may not think about offhand. I tried to remember them all. Licensed in March 2014.

@Derek B., I totally understand what you are saying.

@Ross Ellington, I was at a conference that Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner were speaking at. They were talking about web things that didn't pertain to me, but I was sitting in the front row and didn't want to be rude by walking out, so I stayed. And then I checked out BP when I got home. 

I thought it was too good to be true, this community of people, all talking about real estate, but being nice about it. Helpful. Hooray for misreading seminar titles!

You don't look old enough to buy in these communities, judging from your avatar. I think you have to be 55 or older. I know at least one resident must be 55 or older to buy into these places, not sure if you would be able to own and rent to someone who is old enough. BTW, this is the only age discrimination allowed by law.

What would be the reason to purchase there? You are severely limiting your rental pool and resale with age-restricted properties. Would this be located in NJ? I would think something like this in FL or AZ would do slightly better, but that is just opinion. You could rent it out to snowbirds.

Are you on a busy street? If it is poorly done, the only reason to keep it would be a place to turn around if you are on a busy street. Pictures would help generate more ideas.

It cost me closer to $3,000, but I am in Colorado. In December, I wrote a post that gave a breakdown of fees.

Oklahoma can't be all that different from Colorado.

So it seems like people just happen to stumble upon BP when they are searching for information about real estate. Or a friend tells them about the site. 

How did you find BiggerPockets?

Welcome to BP @Garrett Pearson. I would suggest finding and attending local REI meetups. A quick search of BP should have something somewhere in Chicagoland.

Listen to every Podcast, watch all the #AskBP podcasts, and read as much as you can on the forums and blogs here on BP. There is so much information on this site. 

(My heart skips a beat for real estate, too.)

@Mark Gallagher Yeah, I wasn't sure of your timeline. Sorry. I started dumping it all in the trash after I was told by every single dumpster company in my area that the longest I could have the dumpster was for 5 days. ?!? I need it for more than 5 days. Good luck! I hope someone has a great solution. 

@Roy N. had a good solution to get your own account with the dump. And @Ross K. had a good fix to post it on Craigslist.