All Forum Posts by: Rob Wilcox

@Katie Stewart - Thanks so much for your opinion! Good idea on the painting receipts! Will absolutely do it. Any recommendations how to share this with the tenant?

@Karl B. Thank you so much for your insights. Very helpful. They were in for 7 months on a short-term rental paid by an insurance company. The rent was $1,850 for a solid 3/2 in a B area with probably a B property. Goal is to rent again for $1,650 so feels like we should repaint. Definitely will charge for the small stuff as probably half of the paint for the walls. Big help! Thank you

Hello BP! Looking for guidance from the more experienced property managers and investors! We are moving out our first tenant (who, BTW was truly fantastic). We were in the property over the weekend and the house, in general is in very good shape. Looks like the walls need to be painted, a couple chips in the drywall, one broken mini-blind. The carpet, floors, cabInets look good. Our questions: 1. what is and what isn’t normal wear and tear? Should we deduct from the security deposit the cost to paint the walls or is that just part of the deal? What about the chips In the drywall? 2. Before you move a new tenant in, do you paint everytime If the walls are scuffed? Thank you in advance!!

@MG - Thanks so much for your recommendation. We will do the two things you suggest and see where it goes. Part of us really wants to take on the challenges and if it doesn’t work as a rental, using he $100k budget then we just modify strategies to a flip where we should have plenty of runway to break even.

@NedCarey - You bring up valid points and why as we’ve debated with the options, we’ve come back to selling. However, if we are all-in for $24k and rents are $1,000 for 3/1 comps in the 1,000 sqft range and could push $1,200 to $1,400 one could argue we have about $100k of building expense to break even with the opportunity for at a minimum $25k gross on a flip as an alternative strategy. This takes us to how can we build at $100 / sqft; especially for our first build project...

Hello BP, 

Our company has a small lot in an improving area of Decatur, GA. 

Our current All-In expense is $13,000 (this was a tax lien) and we have an outstanding liability of $11K, which could increase our total all-in expense to $24K (rounding up). There is a chance this $11k liability goes away, which would be great and keep up all-in at $13k. 

The houses in this area are renting between $1,000 - $1,400 (two homes listed within a half-mile). I think the rents are more like $1,000. The home sales on this street for 3 / 1 are around $150K, but houses just one street over go for $200k+. 

We are buy and hold investors, we just bought this lot because it was so cheap. We also have the capital to build without having to borrow. 

We've been offered $35K, which is an easy way to make a quick $11k on the deal, but this isn't our ideal strategy. 

Our goal is to BRRRR our way to financial freedom. We have never built a house and our development research says you can built for all sorts of $$ / sqft and we don't have a good contractor that we can trust.

What Would Bigger Pockets Professionals Recommend? 

Thanks to in advance all!

Lauren - Thank you for the question. I will find out but think it was the county who paid for the demo.

Wayne - Thank you for the feedback.

Hello BP Community, 

Our company is dealing with a tax lien situation that is a first for us and worth 1) asking for advice and 2) sharing for the benefit of this community. 

We purchased a tax deed for a vacant lot from a wholesaler (Tax lien was purchased at Auction in September, 2016). 

At the time of purchase, we needed to wait 30-days before we could initiate the quiet title action (due to the 12-month right of redemption period). 

Prior to purchase, we did a title search and it was "clean" according to two title attorneys. 

We wait the 30-days, initiate the Barment and Quiet Title Action, all is going well. We pay the taxes for 2017 (and the late fees for previous years). 

A few months later, we are approached by a broker to buy the lot, making an offer contingent to the removal of any demolition lien (for the demo of the house around 2014). 

This is the first we've heard of this lien...we consult with multiple attorney's, including the attorney who is handling our quiet title action, we are assured that this lien will be wiped out by the Quiet Title action due to the Tax Lien being a Superior Lien. 

Fast forwarding to the end of all this, we are about 6-months into this quiet title action, the county is claiming that we owe the lien (about $14k), the broker still wants to buy the property but is convinced (through his experience and consultation with his own attorney's) that we will have to pay the lien. However, our attorney handling the quiet title action is saying that we "should" be fine due to the legal argument an superiority of our tax lien (thus not having to pay the lien). 

In general, this isn't likely to be a good financial deal for us, but it is a GREAT education and we are enjoying that experience. We would like to resolve this situation, not lose too much money due to legal fees and lien payment. 

Note: We did not buy title insurance due to the low cost of the tax lien purchase. 

Anyone have the experience to confirm if this lien will be our responsibility or if it will be wiped out by the tax lien? 

Any, for those of you buying a vacant lot at tax sale, this is worth researching!

Near the intersection of North Reynolds road and Hill Ave. About 2.5 miles from the University of Toledo. Think it's considered the new south end.