All Forum Posts by: Brandon Stevens

Well if nothing else, it will be a learning experience! I second @K. Marie P. , given the questions your asking, I'd say it's imperative you get a good inspector and structural engineer to look at the house prior to doing anything. The paint quote won't help you much if the tree trunks its built on give way. 

To scrape and re-paint that siding the right way is going to cost you an arm and a leg, likely cheaper to replace with a product color of your choice. I'd say from looking at the few photos you could hit 200k pretty easily. 

I do like Jeffs idea about student housing if it's that close to a college, doubt you could zone into a multi family but possible frat or sorority house? Obviously things you'd have to know before beginning rehab, maybe the school would be interested in purchasing it for something?

GL what ever you do, it won't be easy, but hopefully rewarding. 

I personally would want to let them stay as well but it never seems to work out that easy.... What you don't want to do is let them stay for a month then it takes another month or longer to get them out and you lose that money as well. 

Probably the smart thing to do would be to start the eviction process now or whenever the timeline will hit where you need them to be out (15 days, 30 days, 60 days) If they are able to get out in that time frame, you can always stop the process, if not you have the law on your side. None of us want to be "that guy" we'd love to help everyone, but wouldn't want to accept any money and be under any type of binding agreement, let her keep her $ she clearly needs and start the process where she has to be out after the first of the year....best case, she does it, worst case, the law does it. You can still be nice, you can still incentive her to get out by a certain date, but have your backup plan in place.  

 Lets not get carried away here, if you know of a good 3% property manager I'l be on my way to Cinncy to start buying :) 10% is what you will pay in Milwaukee for a decent one who would be willing to work that area. 

If the seller says B, you know its at least a C...Plenty of duplexes have sold in that area this year for 20k-40k. I wouldn't say its the worst area but its in the middle of some bad one, I would say I think your overpaying for the area.

We have some like that. Hasn't affected what we get monthly. Personally not being from Milwaukee, I tend to think almost every floor plan i see there is weird :) and I still have trouble accepting them when I walk through the houses but in the end. They all rent the same. 

If there is a way to make the access to the bathroom off the other wall and close up the kitchen access I might do that but in our experience, especially at that price point, they don't care. 

It'll PROBABLY be fine but your likely going to overpay. Remember the big box store has to get their cut too. Also ask yourself why are those contractors subbing for them? Why can they not get enough of their own work? Etc.. Dont get me wrong, there is probably plenty of good ones out there but also plenty of bad ones, its guaranteed to be hit or miss. 

If you do use them, and a particular trade does a good job, get their info and then use them directly next time to cut out the middle man costs. 

You can also sit outside the big box stores early in the morning, watch for trucks with the trades you need, get their info. The guys hustling early are the guys ya want.

Your going to have trial and error no matter what on the contractor front until you get a good team together just stay with it. GL

On sale today .99/sqft. Really one of the best products available for your rentals and anyone can put it down themselves in no time. 

Rob, Did a patch of shingles blow if in an exact square like it looks like in the picture? If so this won't be the last time. Installation would appear to be a major issue and there inst any easy fix :/

You'll just want to talk to banks and brokers right now and tell them what you are wanting to do.  I can never stress how important it is for first timers to spend time talking to lenders, they are the one who are going to finance everything you do early on. You will learn more in that 30 min conversation with them than you will from any book and they'll be able to get you started in the right direction so you feel confident when you find something. They'll be the ones to tell you what you can afford... if you find a deal thats a million dollars and its a great deal, pays for itself, makes money, etc.. etc... it might be the best deal ever....guess what they arnt giving you a million $.  Go find a broker who owns property or deals with investors...thats the very first question you ask... then talk to them about what you want to do...listen...apply...and go buy. gl

I'd advise paying the little extra for the replacement cost policy. The difference is rarely enough to justify a lower coverage amount. When my tenant burns the place down I'd rather have options other than "I got 50k and a empty lot."