All Forum Posts by: Porsha Fross

I'm currently in the process of using LendingOne for a rental acquisition. So far the rep is rather responsive. I have a little concern as I offered a shorter financing contingency and appraisal contingency based on how fast it was stated they could close loans, but not entirely sure they can deliver yet. Looking forward to a successful transaction with LendingOne, but only time will tell. I definitely let anyone know how it turns out if they @ me in the future. Glad to have reps on BiggerPockets from the company in order to get in potential kinks ironed out ahead of time for a successful closing.

@John Della Bella, @Matthew Neisser

@Martin Neal Nice job!  The big guys like Perma Seal and US Waterproofing always seem to be more expensive and have longer lead time but you can count on their quality until you get a more independent guy that has flexibility and is typically cheaper.   If you ever need a crack guy I have a quality guy that is a third the price per crack.

I'm so happy to have completed this deal! There were a lot of hurdles to overcome with this deal. The biggest being the leaky basement but I was able to persevere. 

Challenges: Finding a quality electrician, fixing the leaky basement.

For some reason, I cannot find a quality electrician. They all seem to be overpriced for subpar work or just incompetent. I had to fire two electricians on this project. The first one showed up unprepared to do the job and the second one couldn't show up when he was supposed to. 

The basement was my biggest headache. From the picture with the black tar on the wall, I knew this was going to be a challenge. I budgeted knowing I was going to have my work cut out for me. I let my contractor try the old hot tar and hydraulic cement trick but it clearly didn't work. Next I called PermaSeal who filled two cracks for $600 each. This slowed the water down but did not fix it. PermaSeal recommended a drain tile system which I agreed to. After realizing I could get the drain tile done quicker and cheaper than what PermaSeal offered, I switched companies. After the drain tile was installed, the problem was fixed. 

Purchase Price: $39K

Rehab Cost: $32K

ARV: $100K

As you can see from the pictures, We redid mostly everything here; Windows, doors, flooring, kitchen, bathrooms and drain tile in the basement. 

On to the next deal!

The principle of a loan is a liability account (money owed) so it would go on the balance sheet. Every month you likely pay a mortgage payment that includes:

Principle paydown - Liability Account (Balance Sheet)

Interest - Expense Account (P&L)

Taxes & Insurance Escrow  - Asset Account (Balance Sheet)

Once a year, your Mortgage company will pay your Taxes owed and Insurance Premium - both Expense Accounts (P&L) 

@Costin I. We do the EXACT same thing in all of our properties.  There is a checklist for it.  We use same color gray for the walls, same color LVP for the floor etc.  You want to get the interlocking not the glue down, spend some time looking at the different types, the interlocking does take more time and skill to put down (still way easier than tile and wood) but it is essentially waterproof as each piece locks into the others.  

We do the whole place in the same material (these are all apartments) and people love it, just like if someone put hardwood through the whole house.  If people want carpet they can add area rugs. :)

I bought 1k sqft of the ceramic wood look planks at Lowe’s Black Friday sale. They had it 60% off at 69 cents per sqft.

If you use LVP make certain that the subfloor is smooth and level. Any voids, ridges, or gaps under the LVP will lead to excess movement and splitting at the tongue/groove or click-lock joints. 

@Sunjeeve Weerasinghe we have moved entirly to vinyl plank in our properties (and so have a lot of major builders) as you can get commercial grade with 30+ year wear layers on them, they are water proof, do not chip (though they can be cut or torn) and are quite a bit cheaper than tile.  I prefer them over tile also because grout has to be maintained and cleaned and the thickness of tile over backer makes for a thicker installation.

@Taylor Holden Hello Taylor, LVP luxury vinyl plank flooring is going to be a much better long term solution to flooring than carpet. It is waterproof, scratch proof, durable, & easier to clean in between tenants. It also looks much nicer which can help in attracting better tenants and charging little more in rent. 

An appraiser should know the value of LVP over carpet, but make sure you do select a quality LVP and not just the cheapest one available. You can also provide the appraiser a list of improvements you have made to the property for reference. I use the Authentic Plank product from Southwind which is an 8mm thick plank and does not require an underlayment. I took pair of keys and would scratch the sample pieces I had to see how resistant they were. These types of durable LVP flooring come with lifetime residential warranties. If doing LVP throughout the home you could consider using carpet just in the bedrooms depending on personal preference. 

This has been a very common discussion on BP & you will find nearly all investors will choose to go with LVP flooring over carpet. It will cost about 2.5 times more on material as well as install, but something that will look nice & last you many years to come.

I've watch Jerryll's free video training. I loved it. Enjoyed it so much ... I won't be purchasing his course. He gave all the information someone needs to succeed without his course. Is it all about #1 on Google? I doubt that. It's about targeting the right audience at the most affordable cost. EX: I ran a few real estate ads targeting real estate agents on FB. as a test since I never did an ads before. My cost ran approx 89cents per click. A little higher than normal per FB. I then ran a different ad and the cost was only 6 cents per contact. 3 cents higher than FB lowest estimate. OK ... I figure out something. 

Listening to Jerryll's video filled in more blanks for me in terms of marketing. He's talking about motivated sellers. However it's really about the marketing of anything.