All Forum Posts by: Muks M.

What is the max commission (both sides) you would pay as a seller ? Would you buy the argument from your agent that paying less than 3% (say 2.5%) to buyer agent would lower down the marketability of your home ?

@Michael Lovell..Thanks for further endorsing this

@Joel Owens Great suggestions again. I know for sure it is not well system and would have to check whether county or city ?

@Joel OwensYou are right. Record I pulled from township for the zipcode list average of 4.7 and also in the zipcode where my current home is (10 min from the new home we are buying). I pulled out my file from 2007 to see what were the levels in my current home to remind myself and those were 3.8 and perhaps that is why it was not an issue then and no mitigation plan for the seller at that time. 

Perhaps it is better to have this reading come out above 4 as the seller is now obliged at least to put the system in place and I can ensure the levels are even lower than 2 (although not required by law but much safer than less than 4 according to EPA)

@Stephen Bell

I am located in PA and the local zipcode average is 4.7 (still above recommended EPA level of 4) and most of the homes in that area probably would have levels higher than 4 and the mitigation system anyways installed. Just did not want to do something stupid and realize it after the contingency period is over! Feels like I would be OK

@Jay Hinrichs@Stephen Bell Thank you for your input as well. I think I have convinced myself to go with the deal if the seller show me before closing that the mitigation system is in place and levels are lower than 4. Just would have to incur the high electricity bill which should be OK if not $100/month ?

@Geoffrey Hoffman

Seller agreed to put mitigation in place but wonder would you loose sleep living in that home after it comes down sleep and just because it came above 4 at one time ?

Would you be concerned if the radon levels comes out to be 6.4 in two days test. This test was performed at our future primary residence where we got a pretty good deal. Given other general inspections are OK and radon was the only thing which appeared to me as the biggest negative so doing my due diligence before my inspection contingency expire today. That zipcode has average level of 4.7 in the basement. The seller is ready to put mitigation plan in place and provide the reading before closing.

What I learnt in my research with 6-8 hr reading (WHO and EPA publications and general reading on Web) is that ‘it should not be a concern at all’ if the level come under 4 as a result of mitigation plan. My home inspector said the same; obviously fan charges etc would be there for me to incur for long term but my inspector said that will be negligible (any idea how much/yr ?).

Just wanted to hear people opinion if RADON would have been a DEAL BREAKER for them if they were to live in that home with their family/kids ?

@Adam Smith. Great explanation and thank you for taking time to share your personal experience. I have to admit that after trying to educate myself for almost the entire 2014 by reading, attending local investor group meetings and not being able to do a single deal, me and my wife early this year decided to upgrade to single family and thought of using our current home as our investment property to get some hands on experience rather than just reading etc. Seems like renting is not a good idea!!

Mid this year we started looking around in our neighborhood and found this property which is a pretty good deal as we are buying from relo company. It does not make sense letting it go just because the renting plan does not seem to be very fruitful and especially when we were able to negotiate 7.5% down to the final listed price by relo company which to start with was pretty aggressive compared to the original listing price by seller (relo company listed 10% lower than original seller)...so a total of ~17% down to original listing price for this new home which is in a very good condition with no major findings in inspections other than radon level being at 6.4 and they are ready to mitigate before closing next month end. I have the inspection contingency expiring tomorrow (going back and forth and perhaps tomorrow will be the last round) and strongly thinking to go with the property as I was able to get it almost 100K lower than the actual price listed back in July. The seller RE agent strongly think that we got this property well below the appraisal value which perhaps may cover the RE commission if we re-sell this new property in the next six months (not that we plan to) if the marker remains where it is today and therefore don't want to walk out from the deal just because rental strategy does not seem to be working. AS THEY SAY - YOU LEARN MORE WHEN YOU DO IT AND I CAN COMPLETELY ENDORSE IT NOW :)

Perhaps I would need to decide in the coming week whether to rent or sell our current town home and prepare our exit/rental strategy accordingly. BTW 5 months was on the conservative side to give myself a total of 6 months in the worst case scenario (from listing to closing). Since my double mortgage would only start after we close next month end and hence 5 and not 6 months; however, I would think that I should be able to exit it relatively quickly if priced correctly as you also stated.

Thank you again for your feedback.

Another analysis for some additional feedback -

Since I will be closing next month end for our new home and if I change my strategy from rental to selling my current home, I am looking at getting ~270K price for a property which I bought for 283K almost 8 yrs back. Would have ~100K equity if get sold at 270K. With RE commission (16K), other closing cost (10K), repairs (10K), 5 month vacancy (10K) would bring ~225K to my pocket on a conservative side. Does selling still looks like a better option to you folks than a potential negative flow rental ?

Thanks again for all the feedback you folks have provided so far. 

@Brandon Turner, have to admit that exceptional reviews I heard about this site were true and perhaps even better! So many knowledgeable folks here!!

Regards

@Adam Smith Thanks for additional comments. And yes, that thought is there on the back of my mind - selling this town house while we move to single family and buying cash flow properties but trying to learn the buy and hold investment principles using my current home. Since this is going to be in addition to my full time job, the goal is to slowly build a portfolio over the coming years (at least target 1 property/year) if I figure that this is my cup of tea after having some experience from this move. The home would sell at ~270K and the outstanding balance is ~170K with ~100K equity but obviously would have to incur the 6% REA commission plus closing costs etc on top of this.

@Steve Vaughan Good to see someone else also liking the 15 yr idea! Almost started thinking that I made a mistake after reading all those comments or thinking about positive cash flow on 30 yr vs 15 yr. Did not know the tax free implications on the equity. Good to hear that if we decide selling. Your equity questions answered above. Do you think it will be the case also if we rent it for a while and then decide to sell after a year or so if that does not work out or it has to be sold now as selling the primary home for that tax break?