All Forum Posts by: Nicholas Fisher

What would you do with these stairs to finish them out? The pics on this post are a little old but essentially the whole interior is finished except for these stairs. The house is raised 8 feet with a small entry room on the ground level where the front door is... so these stairs are the main way to enter the living area. 

Problems:

1) The sheetrock guy sprayed texture all over the stairs because he didn't cover them. Its almost impossible to sand the stairs completely because of all the tight corners/trim

2) The handrails were dated and ugly so I took them off... I put up some cheap temporary handrails to pass final inspection, but I need handrail ideas 

3) The original stain on the stairs was a dark brown... combined with the sheetrock texture all over it.. this is a sanding nightmare

HELP!!

@Andrew McManus I was in a similar situation with $175K in equity so I called Regions Bank and they are giving me a 15 year term loan using the house as collateral. Fixed rate of 5.6 I believe and only flood has to be escrowed. If the house wasn’t in a flood zone they wouldn’t require anything to be escrowed. It’s been surprisingly nice working with a semi-big bank

BP!

There is a 9-plex vacant/abandoned apartment building that a local municipality owns I am very interested acquiring. It has been boarded up for several years, although they do maintain the grounds. I’ve expressed my interest to the decision makers, but they say right now the property cannot be sold (long story but I know why and understand). I bought a similar single family house from them a few years ago, and I know they do ultimately want to get rid of this 9-plex. I am going to propose a long term master lease option where I lease the complex for $1,000 per month for 30 years. When I bought the single family, this complex actually sold to someone else for $35,000 but the deal fell through and they never tried to sell it again. I am going to propose an option to buy at $35,000 at the later date. I actually prefer to leave them as the titled owner because there are no property taxes as government entities cannot be charged taxes. Here’s where I need the advice...

I’ve got 25% of the cost to rehab, but would any institution agree to lend money on a property I don’t own? Even if I have a long term lease? How could I get reasonable money to rehab the complex?

The property will cash flow like crazy due to limited inventory in the area, good rents, and no costs for initial purchase price or annual property taxes. I’ve already had people tell me if I get the complex they will pre-lease units. I need advice on how to get rehab money on property I won’t own and won’t be able to sell. I could structure the deal to be able to sell the MLO before the option period and base it off the cash flow and future purchase price though.

I hope I’ve done a good job explaining the situation.

Hello BP!

Given the experience of everyone, and how no one here would likely do what I've done, I hesitate to write this... but could sure use the advice. Here is a little background...

In December 2013, I purchased a house at auction for $17,500 that was built by a local government in 1972 at a cost of $600,000. The property was structurally over-engineered to withstand category 5 hurricane winds, has a great floor plan, and the property has 4 mature cypress trees on 3/4 of an acre surrounded by a 6 ft. chain-link fence. The house is 8 feet off the ground, but still flooded in hurricane Katrina in 2005, although it didn't have any wind/hail damage. The local government gutted it, boarded it up, and forgot about it until I bought it in December 2013. 

I worked on it for about a year and a half, when I had extra money and time, with no real schedule or plans for what to do with it when it was done (more of a hobby). I moved to Texas for work and the rehab stopped for about two years (just kept the grass cut and the taxes paid). Around November 2017, I decided to start working on this house and get it finished up since I had approximately $88,000 tied up in it at the time (including purchase price). The inside is now 95% complete and should be done by the end of March. The outside has new doors/windows but still needs new siding and to be painted plus a little landscaping. I estimate about $35,000 more needs to be spent. When I finish, I'll have approximately $162,000 all-in. 

Capital gaines taxes scare me to sell and I don't know much about them, and I really would like to keep the house as a rental, but there are safer properties I can invest in within the Texas region I live. Taxes are practically nonexistent right now ($120 per year) and insurance is $9,000 per year (if I had it). No one will write me a policy on the house until it's complete so I'm almost to the point of getting insurance and need the property to cash flow to afford the insurance or I won't have a choice but to sell. Here are some numbers to help. Any advice would be appreciated on what I should do next. I have one long term rental in Texas now and closing on a second one in May. 

Total investment: $162,000

Est. market value: $225,000 - $245,000

Insurance: $9,000/Yr

Taxes (after construction): $2,100/Yr

Rents: Low end - $1,500/month & High end - $2,000