All Forum Posts by: Shawn Thom

Are you mailing it to the location specified in the lease?

Ed O. , in your scenario of a total loss due to fire, what do you do with the old burned up house if you use the money to buy another house?

Do you clear the rubble or do you just walk away leaving a burned out shell? The cost to clear the rubble comes out of the insurance proceeds (at least in TX).

If walk away, what do you do with the lot? I have to think at some point the city is going to clear the rubble and leave you with the bill.

I had sub-t termites at my primary residence. It would help to know what kind of foundations are in your area. In a slap foundation it is pretty easy as they are usually on the outside edge with a tunnel up like mentioned prior. They can also go through the holes in the foundation for plumbing or cracks in the foundation. Those are obviously harder to find.

Look for evidence of roof leaks. That really draws them in. That is where they were in my case. I caught them fairly quickly and I think the damage was very minimal. I actually don't know because I didn't tear into the sheetrock to look.

I think it would be harder to find them with pier and beam as you can't see all the piers.

I was doing a re-fi and wanted to check my score. I signed up for freecreditreport.com. I forgot the specifics but I got my score for almost free. I think it was like $1 extra for the fist time. I liked the service so I kept it around for a while. you can cancel anytime. If you keep it, it is like $17 month.

If you just want your basic report, the annual credit report place is good. Be careful when you get it to not accidently check a box that signs you up for something...but it really is free and it is a real version of your credit report.

Thanks Jerry Puckett & Brian Hoyt

John Chapman Actually stuff like you mentioned is exactly the kind of advice I am looking for. Obviously I'd like to go into it hot and heavy right from the beginning but I'm trying to keep it realistic. Goal will be 2 rentals the first year and 2 fix and flips.

John Chapman at this point I need to get an LLC set up and begin to build a relationship with an attorney that I can use for various REI things related to SFR (legal advice, evictions etc etc).

Hi, I'm going to be moving into the rental business pretty soon and I want to start searching out a lawyer with a real estate focus to help me get things set up etc.

Anybody have any recommendations of a lawyer in the Dallas area? I am in McKinney but willing to go anywhere in the area.

congrats! keep us posted.

...and you have the beginnings of a nice site too!

In case anyone is interested..... I just found out I had termites at my personal residence. I got quotes from $875-$1500.

I know a lot of people are in favor of letting others do the work for them... I get the argument of time vs. money... I am not to where the my time is more valuable than my money..... yet :) .

anyway, I got some advice from people in the biz.... and did it myself. You can get termidor which is that same product the big companies use in my area for subterranean termites. I bought enough for my house (1900sq ft & 200 linear feet of outside wall). I can buy the termidor for around $250, or dominion 2L which is another product for $70. I hired a laborer to trench around my house for $80 plus lunch. I mixed the pesticide and treated the trenches. It took us 3 hours total. Both products are good for 7+ years. I am foaming some interior walls around pipes next weekend as a preventative.

I know doing this to a rental may introduce some liability issues....but I thought I'd throw it out there for anybody that was in the same boat as me. I am toying with the idea of doing this at any new personal residence I move into since it was so cheap and would cover me for 7+ years.

thanks for everyone's comments so far.

to answer some of the questions:

@paul Morgan - I do not have rennovation experience. I am a handy guy, and used to do some exterior construction (fences, irrigation, arbors etc) but nothing interior short of repairing stuff at my house. My cousin has done quite a bit and I ASSume he does. I am hoping he'll let me tag along on some of his projects.

@Michael Lauther - I do have $$ in 401k although I am not too excited about taking that $$ out.

I do think I have been a little on the extreme side of being debt free. I think there may be some room for balance. I do think I will always gravitate towards being more conservative in my debt ratios... for me I think that helps me sleep at night.. and that is important.

I'll try to keep everyone posted if you are interested as things progress. I meet with my cousin tomorrow to talk about what he is doing. He is a very young guy (approx 33) and has quite a few rent house debt free and does quite a few fix and flips. Hopefully he will be willing to help me along.