All Forum Posts by: Sam Scogin

Great, thank you both for the prompt reply and the good information. 

I've recently purchased a four unit with the intention of living in one of the units and renovating it (and the rest of the house), but I only plan on living there for a year or so (I have another house I'll use as a primary residence after). My question is: is there any way to write off the expenses of renovation to my own unit on my taxes? It's almost a total gut job with some major pieces that will need to be done to bring it up to code. Can I write off any part of it while I'm living there or should I hold off until I'm no longer living there?

I am familiar with how smoke detectors work (they all have a button to turn them off)--the tenants removed them in every room because they are smokers, not because they are trying new cuisine and things went sideways. 

Unfortunately, I need the rents to cover the carrying costs on the building while I rehab the rest of it. With the state that the building as a whole is in and the units specifically, there is no way I would be able to get a higher caliber of tenant in to any of the building with it as is. 

Code enforcement is showing up tomorrow to assist me in making the unit(s) conforming--hopefully they will be able to shed some light. 

I recently closed on a property that needs some extensive work to be brought up to minimum standards of habitation. The previous owner was a true slumlord and did some very shoddy work throughout. Specifically, he added an illegal fourth unit. The city eventually found out about it (when he attempted to add a fifth illegal unit, which is now a "laundry room"), and shut it down. His solution? To put two different groups of people on one lease, sort of.

My problem is this: I have tenant group A who is saying that tenant group B (in the former illegal unit) is not paying their half of the rent. However, only tenant group A is on the lease. I'd like to get rid of the folks who are not paying, because they have also been violating the lease in other ways such as removing the smoke detectors. Tenant group A was told by the previous owner that I would fix this situation, which I find hilarious.

Should I evict the entire group and then turn around and sign a new lease with the group who actually is paying? I am eventually going to get rid of all the tenants and then screen my own, but would like to keep most of them there for now as I rehab one unit as a time and keep their rents to cover the carrying costs. Open to ideas from other folks.

For what it's worth, I am working with city code to try and add back that fourth unit, which would be fairly simple so long as I get the thumbs up to do it. 

Thanks, Jason. I suspected that I would only be able to get away with having a landlord policy if it was owned by an LLC and I rented to it.

I spent many days making calls last year looking for a deal on insurance--this guy is several hundred less than anyone else quoted, and has better coverage. 

Thanks for the reply, Ryan. 

The difference between a homeowners and landlord policy is closer to $1000 to $1300 range for my properties, so it does represent a significant savings on carrying cost. The company that quoted me the landlord policy told me that it would just be the cash value of the building, not the cost to rebuild (which is fine for the rental). 

Good to know about the umbrella policy, re: companies wanting the homeowners policy. 

How much money will it take and how much money do you have? What's your return on investment for the extra money needed to do the repairs and bring the property up to date? 

I'm looking to save money on property insurance and wanted to run an idea past the community. My wife and I own an owner occupied duplex, another duplex, and are closing on an additional triplex. I'd like to move the homeowners insurance to a landlord policy with the other properties and then purchase an umbrella policy as an added layer for liability (none of the properties are currently in a LLC). Is this even possible? I understand that this would mean less coverage.

I built mine from scratch using primarily sanded plywood. Way cheaper and sturdier than the cheap stamped metal covers they make. I also made mine taller, which should increase the stack effect and make them more efficient.

If you are worried about tenants burning themselves on the radiators, turn down the supply temp that is going to the radiators.  My tenants have little kids and were worried about burning, so to appease them I turned down the temp a bit.  Newer gas boilers have a digital readout on it, and also only heat the water as much as they need given outside temperature and the difference between the room temp and desired setting (so it's never going to send say 210 degree water to the radiators).