All Forum Posts by: Lucas Thomas

Does anyone have suggestions of how I should proceed?  1 year lease for an apartment to a single woman with a dog in Duluth, GA.  Lease term is Dec 1, 2023 thru Dec 31, 2024.  On November 15, 2024 she complained about dampness/mold in apartment for the first time.  We walked the apartment and found some gaps behind the bath vanity (that may have bringing dampness from crawlspace).  We sealed the holes with spray foam and wiped vanity down with a bleach solution on Nov 21st.  Told her to let us know if that helped.  There were no signs of mold that we could identify.

On November 26th tenant sent an email saying the apartment was unlivable and she was moving out on Dec 1st.  I offered her another apartment that is ready to move into, but received no response.  She verified vacating the apartment on Dec 1st and shut off the electricity on Dec 3rd.   I want hold her responsible for the terms of her lease (Dec rent, electric, damages, etc...).  How do I proceed with securing my property and still hold her responsible?  I am assuming I can not enter apartment or change locks until Jan 1st.  Thank you for any advice.

I have a background in architectural design and would like to get into commercial real estate investing, but I don’t know where to start. Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone know anyone who does mentoring for newbies like myself? I’d appreciate any advice.

Hey guys, was considering house hacking here in Philadelphia - Pennsylvania.

Got approved for a mortgage, found a local real estate agent and started visits.

The best way to cash-flow here seems to rent out bedrooms in single family homes. My real estate agent doesn’t seem familiar with that and didn’t tell me about the 3 people outside of family circle max requirement in single family zoning.

I also need advice for renting finished basement legally and make more bedrooms, experiences and tips are more than welcome as he didn’t seem knowledgeable.

Shall I change of real estate agent and find someone more used to this type of practice ?

Any recommendations ?

Any experience in the city ?

Thank you.

I live in Denver, CO and invest out of state, due to cost. It was challenging to start.

My realtor was not on my side and I trusted her to much, she said the house was fine, her husband did inspections and said it was fine and not to worry, the ARV was double the house value. We purchased this as a BRRRR on a Line of Credit, went to do a few fixes then refinance. We bought it for $90k they said it was worth $90k after $30k in repairs, then a second appraisal said $120k so we could get out of the Hard Money loan by getting a personal loan and maxing out our LOC again. My PM, who did not know my realtor, said the house looked good, nothing needed to be done, and got it rented.

Turns out both were terrible, the house needed new HVAC, AC, windows, Doors, Pipe fixes, Water Heater, electric line, I found all this out after my Tenant Sued us because of the house's condition.

We spent a 9 months of the tenants chasing off contractors before we got it repaired and the tenants out, then the judge granted us all our rent so we finally go that. Got a new PM who made us fix things and walked it with me(first time for me seeing the property), then we finally paid off all but the mortgage and now we cash flow about $400/month. 

Lots of lessons learned and we will be buying there again with our new team, but we now verify everything our team says and we keep an eye on everything more than ever. We are also quick to complain and fire if we have to. 

I discussed this on BP Podcast Episode #610 if you want to hear more. 

Hello,

I am reading a Multi-family millionaire book right now, I am curious if it is possible to make cash flow in San Jose by living in a multi-family unit and renting out another. It is ideal to build up an asset as the book says but the house prince is insane in San Jose!

Currently, I live in San Jose and work in Silicon Valley. I don't have a primary home or investment property. If househacking is possible I would rather buy my primary house using a low down payment for first-home buyers than invest in other properties in Sacramento, Modesto, Fresno, etc. Any advice is welcome! I feel I am lost and don't know what I should do. 

I'm a remote landlord this time. Yesterday, tenant found listing on furnished finder and made specific requests and they were hoping to get in that day, so I told them they could deposit cash in my bank and I would email the lease directly, which I did. I have emails and texts about this. They paid all prorated rent, deposit and cleaning fee in cash up front. (Granted, I realized after I created the verbal agreement on price with texts for proof and the lease that I didn't apply the discount I had advertised online. I just deleted the discount from online and didn't mention it, even though it makes me feel bad.) The beds weren't made and everything was not perfect there yet but she told me she was fine with that and understood. I have texts about that. It's only a 60-day lease and in Wisconsin verbal lease agreements are legally binding. Still, I wonder exactly what the reason they haven't signed. It makes me nervous that they're looking to squat later. I will sue the pants off them, this is not my first rodeo. Maybe I'm too uptight, as well. I do know the lease copy was emailed to me from Rocketlawyer instead of keycheck, which was confusing, and the tenant texted they finally found the email in spam and would sign. They haven't yet, though. I texted them to call keycheck with problems and no reply yet.

Of course! $112/hr x 3hrs = $336 labor. Plus $50 parts and $5 fuel surcharge. Per job. Both jobs were about the same with slight variability in parts. So ~$390 to change the sprayer head on a faucet. And same to change a doorbell. Billable hours felt very high for both jobs, especially given how close the property is to Lowe’s. But would love any additional feedback!