All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

associating me with Doogie Howser? ok.. that's memorable! thanks Beth!

Chip,

I wouldn't 'blame' it not being FHA certified for why I can't find a buyer. Has your Condo board ever applied for FHA approval? If not, other than investing time and possibly money in getting your Condo Board to apply for FHA Approval if the ratio has changed any in favor of FHA requirements, it's pretty much straightforward: scratch out FHA buyers who are 'starter home buyers' looking for an entry level 'deals' anyways.

You want 200% that sale price some 2-3 years ago. You haven't mentioned improvements, but 'defeats the purpose'. I highly doubt you purchased it to sell specifically to FHA buyers, otherwise you would have checked on that back then.

I'd drop the list price or work with offers more flexibly. I dont see FHA buyers actually making better offers in my area than conventional buyers, though they often say that they can make stronger offers because they have FHA financing, but I've never seen those claims materialize.

Hecks, its usually the cash or conventional buyers who end up putting more money where their mouth is.

Worst case scenario if you don't wanna come down in price is yea, rent!

Sabai!!

Thanks Bill for the caveat emptor! 

sure sucks that beauracratic entities can't seem to be okay with a property purchased for rental income for 2 years then expected to be exchanged after the 2 years since most young adults nowadays nationally tend to move every 2-3 years whether tenants or owners alike. (dont quote me on that rough statistics but it sure seems that way!)

Thanks Sue!

http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/informationbulletin/pdf/20...

1. Existing installed operable/in working condition smoke alarms are NOT required to be replaced. 

2. For all dwelling units intended for human occupancy for which a building permit is issued on or after January 1, 2014, for alterations, repairs, or additions exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), the permit issuer shall not sign off on the completion of work until the permittee demonstrates that all smoke alarms required for the dwelling unit are devices approved and listed by OSFM. 

3. By January 1, 2016, owners of a dwelling unit intended for human occupancy in which one or more units is rented or leased shall install additional smoke alarms, as needed, to ensure that smoke alarms are located in compliance with current building standards. Existing alarms installed need not be replaced unless the alarm is inoperable.

http://www.casafehomes.org/ten-year-law-factsheet....

• Retailers have until July 1, 2015 to meet the requirement for stocking only sealed-in, long-life battery smoke alarms.'

just got good news, our cash offer was accepted for the perfect small building in commercial zoning, for our planned non-profit pet rescue startup. its 2 floors freestanding with each level being 24ft deep by 18ft wide. the floors are bare concrete, and seems feral cat were living at some point in there while it was abandoned though havent seen any access points nor any kitties outside around the few times visited so far, just some skunks.

how can i best clean the bare  concrete of its existing cat pee smell and stains? im thinking, muriatic, neutralize, and pressure wash.

ceramic/vinyl tile is out of the budget for now (this is a humanitarian cause, not an investment!) so i was hoping to just purchase bulk roles of thicker linoleum in sheets and glue it down to the porous cleaned concrete and install painted real wood or plastic (not mdf) molding around the trim for a finished look.

how much would linoleum cost per sq ft and wheres the best place to get it the cheapest around here in LAcounty? (or in OC county if cheaper) lowes?  

have always despised linoleum whether in sheets or tiles but being on the low end, should fit the tight budget and the purpose in this instance.

i'd be excited to strip or sand the finish in a spot to preview what the bare wood looks like without that dark/opaque stain/finish, and would go a step further by spot refinishing to see how it looks with a brighter finish after stripped/sanded.

that said, i'd also be reminded wood floors are high maintenance (ie, scratch easily even with todays finishes like varathane that claim u can skate on it!) and likely be apt to put tile over it instead!

if not conventional. then either private/hard funding.

unless u are also open to the wholesale type of flip where the property isn't improved but simply flipped by finding a buyer that pays significantly more than ur accepted offer under contract to buy contingent upon ur assigning the contract to a buyer at a higher purchase price.

hopefully u know how much each put toward the deposit, if so, how do you? if not, sounds like would be best course of action for tenant staying to reimburse leaving tenant before a new lease issued in one name.

 sorry i dont have a document but hopefully others have such doc useful in ur state! 

i'm finding it hard to keep abreast of the most recent interpretation of the ongoing CO and smoke alarm rules as applicable to all units in CA, whether owner occupied, multifamily, mixed used, commercial, etc.

my area is Los Angeles county mostly, and mostly signal hill and long beach cities.

i've heard a new set of rules applies July 2015. what's that about? does it apply to all units, or just units for which any work (ie, remodelling, permits, new construction, etc) has been done?

is there any case where 'old' smoke/CO alarms are still 'grandfathered'? are smoke/co alarms required to be hardwired into a central system already? 

is one CO alarm per floor (and per unit where unit dwellings present) of the building required?

does one have to be both inside and outside of each bedroom where there is 2 or more bedrooms or what?

Yet another reason why I dont consider Sec 8. Too much what  call beaureacratic(sp?) red tape! It's complicated enuf screening tenants income, creditworthiness, etc against each other.

Waiting on the sec 8 application/approval etc with 1 tenant can potentially throw off or delay finding the best tenant each time there is turnover and a new vacancy to fill. 

Even just last nite talking with colleagues managing sec 8 rentals, there is always something coming up that the inspector 'found' that needs to be fixed, ie, the latest was one new unit whose prospective tenant applied and was approved, is missing an oven after a kitchen (hey, what if you don't want to provide an oven, but just a drop-in cooktop?!)

another was that the LIGHT SWITCH isn't grounded (i know they check each outlet for grounding, but light switches? how did they even check that, they opened up all the switches in the house?) 

the last was that there needs to be a carbon monoxide AND smoke detector inside and outside of every bedroom. this one i need to start a new topic for though as for california they'res new rules often coming out (i believe the latest will be effect July 2015, but the previous recent revision i think was Jan 2014 or something?) ugh