All Forum Posts by: Frank Jiang

Rent an ozone generator.

Run it for 24 hours and it will drastically reduce the smoke smell.

Fore homeowners, I think that you are confounding cause and effect.  When a flipper goes in and buys up a house that is in great need of disrepair, the homeowner who can no longer afford to live in the area gets paid out up front and is gone before the neighborhood improves.  This is the case regardless of the method of acquisition by the flipper, be it a bank foreclosure or what have you.

Gentrification is thus a result, not a cause of community displacement.  The people who were removed were priced out of the community to start with.

Where this starts becoming complicated is with people renting property.  Their rents are set when the area is less gentrified and when the neighborhood rises, the landlord realizes that they are leaving money on the table by letting a long term tenant stay at below market rates.  In my personal opinion, people simply need to become more aware that renting is a risk.  People always focus on the risks of owning a house but don't necessarily consider the risks associated with renting (rent increases, possibility of displacement, etc).  But when you make the choice to be a renter, you are handing away control of your housing.

 Get a new girlfriend.  And then charge her rent.

@Gabriel Cardus

Mid South was also my PM in Memphis and I would highly recommend them.  What I would mention is that there is another unscrupulous PM with a very similar name, hoping to confuse buyers with the original's good reputation.  The one that you want is run by Terry Kerr.

You can only benefit from this exemption once every two years.  So if you sell both in 2020, one of the houses (the one with less capital gain) will be subject to capital gains tax.  Also please be cognizant on the exemption cap of 250K for single and 500K for married.

You should go physically inspect all of the big ticket items associated with the house (roof, water heater, a/c, etc).  7.5% is well and good for spreadsheet exercises but if the roof needs to be replaced yesterday, that's immediate capex that you're going to get hit with that you should add to the outlay cost.  Same for deferred maintenance.

Yes, you're missing the fact that "the numbers" presented with this class of property never coincides with reality.

Don't buy this asset class.  Property management isn't going to save you. Exactly how much legwork do you think a PM is going to do for you for a measly $60 per month?  If you think they're going to drop everything else and save your property when your tenant completely destroys your house just for a tiny monthly fee and a modest tenant placement fee, you're dreaming.

If you insist on moving forward, I'd highly recommend just buying lottery tickets instead. Probably a better ROI.

Like all other professions in life, 80% of other realtors suck at their jobs.  Go in with a gung ho attitude and you'll already be overperforming.

This property will likely not appreciate due to that HOA. $432 HOA fee on a 200K property is insane. I'd be concerned about financial mismanagement in the HOA. You should request HOA financials and R&Rs. Whenever the HOA cost goes up, this eats directly into the equity potential of the home.

You need to understand at a bare minimum what amenities are covered by this cost. My old townhouse had an HOA fee of $280, it covered a pool, two tennis courts, landscaping for a sizeable public lawn area, and building exteriors.

Buy a primary house to live in. Educate yourself on various investments, don't limit yourself to real estate. Use only money that you did not receive from your inheritance to do these investments until you feel comfortable. Once you feel comfortable, HELOC your free primary and use those funds to scale. If you're feeling adventurous, maybe even turn your primary into a business through Airbnb or house hacking.

Good luck!