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All Forum Posts by: Mona V.

Mona V. has started 20 posts and replied 57 times.

Post: Rent-To-Own ques - deposit/term

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

@Mitch Messer Thank you!! Yes, I meant lease-purchase/option, and not get into seller financing/Dodd-Frank complications. My house is out of state, and I have a full time job so I need help, hence had to get a agent. Don't have much of a choice there. 

Please feel free to advise if you think anything else I should be aware of.

- have LEASE AGREEMENT and OPTION TO PURCHASE as two separate agreements. 

- Breach of the lease should trigger a clause in the RTO contract causing forfeiture of any monies applied.

RTO agreement should not give the buyer an equitable interest which would require something more like a foreclosure than an eviction. There should be no difference between an RTO eviction and a 'regular' eviction.

- not give rent credit (due to Dodd Frank)

- Do you pay the property taxes and the insurance, or the buyer does? I am aware utilities and repairs would be tenant's responsibility. 

Post: Rent-To-Own ques - deposit/term

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

I have a house not selling so I thought maybe I should try Rent-to-Own on it. Read a book and whatever I could find online. 

Was curious what is the general deposit calculation pros on biggerpockets use for rent-to-own - 5/10/15%? Do you advertise this percentage, or it varies from applicant to applicant?

What is the general term of option contract (2/3/4 yrs), do you base it on their credit score (accounting for the amount of time they would take in fixing the their credit) ?

I also have a realtor currently for sale of the house with x% commission. If house is rented then commission is one month's rent How does it work with rent-to-own, since house has really not sold, same as rental?  

Thanks!

Post: Dry wall access between the two units of a duplex

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

I want to provide access through the common wall of the two units of a duplex. nothing fancy, sort of a "doorway" without a door, same size of a door. Possible a dry wall access, could be cased, whatever requires minimum work. I do not want to re-zone the house to sfh, at some point if I want to close the access I want to be able to. 

I learned that separation wall for a duplex could be a fire wall. Possibly could be a load bearing wall, not sure.  I am sending contractors to give me an idea of what it would take, but wondering if someone on bg has already done it and has advice in this regard. Is it feasible....if the structural integrity of the house is maintained, are there other issues to consider. Thanks!

Post: Tenant mvoing out before lease ends

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

Thank you all for replies. I was able to terminate the lease early, she wouldn't pay for repairs to the house (carpet stains/cleaning, a broken floor tile etc) and gets off the utilities, but paid a termination fee equivalent to the leftover rent. Its amazing how she thought she is "offering" me a deal, take it or leave it. Leaving it would save me few bucks but getting her the off the property is peace of mind.

Lesson learned -> Have a early lease termination terms in the lease, probably 3 month rent.

Post: Tenant mvoing out before lease ends

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

My tenant bought a house and moved out. She requested I end the lease early, but I told her we can start showing the house and if it rents I can terminate the lease when new tenant moves in. But she has not cleared all the stuff out, and more importantly turned off the AC in very humid weather. House needs to be painted before i can show it, and she is not allowing to paint. In this case I would just wait for her lease to end and then get work done and show the house. But since she keeps tuning off the AC, even after me telling her otherwise I feel like waiting for her lease to end might do more harm to the house with high level of humidity. I have also tried to explain her its in her interest to let us paint the house and rent asap but nothing is getting across, she basically wants something in return for us to be able to paint. She keeps saying she will allow to paint once we find a tenant, which makes no sense. She has 2 months left. Wondering how pros here would resolve this issue.

Post: Cracked bath tub due to tenant

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

Thanks. She did get hurt and had a bruise.

Post: Cracked bath tub due to tenant

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

My tenant informed me that she slipped, fell and caused a big crack in the fiberglass tub with the knee. House is 13 years old, so I would put life of tub at 13. She is claiming it's bad installation etc because they don't see any support below the tub. From reading through some posts looks like fiberglass tubs are installed like that. Besides builder built what he did. It's damaged caused by tenant and lease says damage should be incurred by tenant in such cases, so I want tenant to be liable for it. I am feeling resistance to it since she already told me her renter insurance doesn't cover it and I should file with mine. 

- Are landlords legally liable for this even if it's clearly caused by tenant accidently, and given age of the tub? 

- What would be my best bet to repair it - I see some miracle repair stuff online, or better option is to replace the tub which could be costlier. 

Thanks!

Post: Parcel of land - To sell or not

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

I own a small rental house, and adjacent empty lot.  Another investor who owns owns the lot behind mine, contacted me to sell the empty lot to him, or buy his, since he doesn't have street access from his lot.

Empty lots starts pretty close to the wall of the house. Normally I would prefer to sell both together (thats how I got it) since house would not have much room around without the empty lot. 

But since all I have been doing is paying property taxes on the empty lot, not averse to selling either. 

Anything I should be careful about in this scenario? If I sell only the empty lot and keep the house, could anything pose problem for me later on? On surface seems like a simple scenario, but this is the first time I had to think about something like this so trying to make sure I have a better idea before I make decisions. 

That area is slowly getting gentrified, prices in the area expected to increase, as usual speculation. 

Post: Crawlspace exterior waterproofing

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

Thank you Steve. Grading is not great but I never had problems before. Looks like this year was exceptionally rainy and the ground is soaking wet. What the contractor suggested was an exterior drainage  -

"Also, install a drain pipe all around the home with fabric sleeve and gravel on

top, and back fill". Not sure if its the same as french drain.

Post: Crawlspace exterior waterproofing

Mona V.Posted
  • Investor
  • Cary, NC
  • Posts 58
  • Votes 23

Due to heavy rainfall the crawlspace of the house has water now and a contractor suggested exterior waterproofing for around $4K. This is causing me a lot of problems (mold etc) so I don't mind fixing it, just not expert enough to know this would fix the problem.

Tried to get educated online (interior waterproofin vs exterior waterproofing, etc etc), but still not sure if the proposal below would solve the problem. Any advise is highly appreciated, thanks!

 

Video of the crawlspace

Proposal from the contractor :

Below grade waterproofing:
Installation of below grade waterproofing around the home. We will dig around the perimeter of
the home from 1 to 2 ft., inspect the mortar joints and bricks, if any deficiencies (holes) are
found we will patch the hole with hydraulic cement. Clean up the wall and apply fluid
waterproofing. Also, install a drain pipe all around the home with fabric sleeve and gravel on
top, and back fill.

They have already done this to pump water out :

Installed sum pump at crawlspace, dug out a 1’ foot hole at lower spot of the house and drained

the water away to avoid the formation of mold at the inside of the house.