All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Single story. Typical crawl space.

My wife and I are renovating a Midtown home. Has anyone here worked with a reputable carpenter who did a good job raising joists/levelling floors?

Thanks in advance!

Alex,

First off, sorry no one has replied sooner! I stay away from things that are less than 1% just because it makes it very  hard to cash flow. $1,500 rent - $120 vacancy (1 month/year) - $70 insurance (guess) - $280 taxes (assuming 1.75% city/county) - $150 maintenance ( guessing 10%) -  $150 management (10%) - $780 mortgage interest and principal (20% down and 4.5%) = -$50   NEGATIVE CASH FLOW!!!!!!. 

Cordova is an area of Memphis that has not had much appreciation. The flip side is that Cordova has remained relatively stable and most of the housing stock is pretty new. Not trying to be overly negative, just my two cents.

@Sam Wilson I agree. In my situation, I felt really bad for the neighbor - they were doing what's right.

Did y'all see this hit the national news?

Memphian has cops called on him by neighbors while inspecting a property

I once had my own Michael Hayes moment (minus the racial profiling) while waiting on MLGW to connect utilities for an inspection at my second house. There was a four-hour window for the appointment and I got a little tired after the first hour. I had a sleeping bag in my trunk and thought, hey this is a good idea. ----- I was awoken from my very nice nap by MPD. At first the cops were pretty suspicious, but then MLGW showed up to save me corroborate my story.

Funnily enough, the poor neighbor got yelled at by MPD. I would have called MPD on my scruffy looking twenty-something self, especially if he was sleeping an empty house that no one was supposed to be in!

@Jack Inman I agree on the 3/1 vs 3/2. It seems that for home buyers, the second bathroom matters somewhat, but for renters, it does not matter at all.

@Mushfiq S. I avoid that area due to the safety issues you mentioned. My wife was robbed at gunpoint by a neighbor's son close to Hickory Hill (38118). I know there are plenty of people who make money in both HH and Parkway Village/Fox Meadows. Yes, the homes are relatively big and newer. However, I do not want to rent in a neighborhood where vandalism/safety is a major issue.

My strategy to identify acceptable neighborhoods when I got started was to avoid areas where copper theft is a major issue. If thieves feel comfortable completely ransacking a property in that neighborhood, how long will your investment survive if it goes vacant? Think about it. If there is a good chance your HVAC will 'walk', how many months will it take to recoup the replacement costs?

There are safer/good neighborhoods with the right price/rent ratio within the 240 loop (although with older homes).

I agree. Huntington is not the cheapest but they do good work. We have used Elite Roofing before- very good price, but I just discovered that a roof they did that was supposed to have been a tear-off was not. As in we paid for a tear-off but they layered it on. That is a fun conversation.

I have dealt with a non-traditional commission arrangement on a FSBO in Memphis. My agent (@Jerry Skefos ) found a FSBO where the owner would not pay a commission. I simply had the closing office add in a commission for him. If I were to have assigned the contract, I would have added that commission to the assignment contract. Jerry did the legwork- Jerry gets paid!

Gloria,

Call the TN Department of Revenue directly, or the Shelby County Business Tax Office and they can give you more concrete answers. Since this is the busy time for taxes, the main number for TN Department of Revenue might be busy. My pro tip is to call an office in a smaller town (I think I used one in Union City? Maybe Clarksville?) to get someone on the phone faster.

If it is the business license I am thinking of, it's $30 or so, but I could be wrong. Sorry I am not more knowledgeable on the subject- I use a local CPA, Deweese & Associates and she takes care of it for us.

Tristan

P.S. We missed the filing date for the annual report for our LLC once and the state staff was quite helpful in assisting us to get everything reinstated.