All Forum Posts by: Scott Mac

Hi Daria,

If all else fails call up the closest Home Depot, ask for the contractors desk and ask them if they have a few phone numbers of people who might do this for you.

Good Luck!

Hi Jason,

Your kind of asking what's a good C area, and what's sliding into a D.

If it were me, I'd do a boots on the ground. 

Fly in on a Monday, rent a "small-nondescript car" and spend a few days driving the main roads of the area. 

Drive it once in the morning (see who is going to work there) and once again at about 11pm (see who is not going to work there). 

For the daylight drive turn down into some of the neighborhood feeder roads and note the condition of the neighborhood properties. Some areas will probably be better than others.

For the later drive, focus on rolling through fast foods, gas stations, business districts, and see if the buses are full or not.

The people you see on these two drives will be your pool of applicants.

Take a paper map and make notes on it, and don't appear expensively dressed, or lost.

You can take a friend (co-pilot) and have some fun there too.

Just my two cents.

Good Luck!

Hi Michael,

That sure is a good looking structure. You could really polish it up if the rents would work to do it.

I'm not looking for anything like right now, that but my thoughts are this:

1. Neighborhood...how much crime? (is it a gem in the middle of a war zone).
2. Why is it 100% empty (functional obsolescence, or lender required upon takeover)?
3. How long has it been empty (deferred maintenance items like roof leaks, broken windows destroying lath and plaster).
4. Is it lath and plaster or has it been redone in sheet rock.
5. Lead Issues related to renting to families with kids (if that is the demographic for it).
6. Structural (the condition of the mortar and the structural integrity of the overhang fascia.

I also see upstairs doors in the front that would have probably led to a cast iron set of dual balconies, like in New Orleans. If the rents (and neighborhood type) would support that and the city would allow it I think that might be something worth looking into.

Another thought would be offices (if zoned for that, but parking looks tight).

Hi Derek,

If the stove moves at all, it might be the metal flex pipe that feed gas to the stove in the back.

Also maybe there is a gas pressure regulator on the house inlet feed that is malfunctioning.

If it were me and I smelled gas (and it wasn't immediately obvious where it was coming from),  I would evacuated the house and call the gas company immediately to come find it right then.

For tenant safety Home Depot sells "combination Carbon Monoxide and Natural Gas Alarms" that mount on the wall.

Good Luck!

Hi Richard,

Estoppel Certificates signed by the residents are used to prevent this.

Good Luck!

Hi Shane,

Re: "Have you dealt with this situation?" 

No, but it seems like a huge headache.

.....

Hi Shane,

You should talk to your tax CPA, a QuickBooks certified setup CPA, and your attorney.

If setup correctly QuickBooks should not be able to be held hostage by a book keeper (there are levels of permission to do things).

You can find a QuickBooks setup person here: 

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/find-an-accountant/

Also, your CPA may find more issues than you already have.

Good Luck!

Hi Ryan,

A business plan is probably overkill for a lot of people.

"Goals, Mission statement, a strategy and specific outline" those are framework items.

Instead of trying to get a formal written document together for this, pretend you had $200,000 cash in the bank and wanted to use it as minimally as possible to make ONE deal in the next 2 years.

Then ask yourself can you verbalize:

1.  what you want to do, specifically. (for example, flip a down and out house in a marginal part of your town, or buy a turn-key in Moonshineville Alaska, etc...) You should have a concrete idea of what you want to do with the money.
2. What price point do you want to buy, and what numbers do you want to get on the deal.
3. How you are going to find a property that meets your qualification, and is  finding one that meets your criteria going to be a long shot or easy pickings. (how much will this cost, if it costs at all)
4. Who will you need to help you. A contractor, an investors realtor, etc...
5. What are YOUR weak points that you need to shore up before RISKING the money on a purchase. (What do you need to learn, what do you need to do in your personal life, what do you need to buy).
6. What are the holes in your plan. (what do you need to get, or who do you need to hire to reduce the risk that this will fail).

Once you know those things, maybe make a sample deal and print it out and use that to TALK TO possible interested partners. 

Those are my thoughts on this.

Good Luck!

Hi Kurt,

I understand your feelings on this 100%.

I know this man who went from rags to unbelievable riches, and has similar feelings about many things.

Here is how he handles it. Rather than try to fight the way things work (everything has downsides and you can't protect people from every possible harm that may come there way), use "the system" to make a profit for yourself, and give back where you feel it will do the most good (and there is never enough, there never will be).

For instance, in this case it might mean making as much as you possibly can (in an ethical manner) and steering a percentage of those profits into something that helps what you feel about.

Now you might say that's sideways logic, but really, you can't stop the way things work (they work that way for a reason that generally involves the greater good in some way, such as preventing slums) and those who would benefit from the percentage donation (even if it's not tax deductible, such as a homeless shelter) would never get that money if you had not made a profit. The more you make the more you can give back.

So when you really look at it this way, because you can make a profit and the can not (for many reasons) doing your best to make the most you can (ethically) accomplishes the greatest good for the greatest many.

It's called being able to give back (not everyone can), and doing that is a good thing for everyone.

Just my thoughts on this.

Scott...

Hi James,

Since it is personal, you could decide by "Math" or by "Feel" on this one.

By Math.  You could easily figure out how much extra loan you would qualify for, based on the payments not being there, and the increase of your credit score/lower interest rate (if applicable) if paid off. (Is that important to you?)

By Feel.  Extinguishing debt may make you feel free. Although you will replace it with other debt. (Is that important to you?)

Then if you decide to extinguish it early, the question then becomes how fast do you want to pay it off. Ripping off a Band-Aid or pouring molasses.

For instance if you wanted to do it fast, you might want to look into a weekend temporary job from a temporary service and steer all of the extra money into that debt.

 Just my thoughts,

Good Luck!