All Forum Posts by: Suzie B.

Wow.. I didn't see that one coming. Kudos to you for having the equity in your home and putting it to work and play for you.

Hope it all works out for you!

You may get better financing if you intend for it to be your primary residence. Be sure you know the requirements of the loan though, I believe they require you stay a certain length of time.

As far as the number of units, it's really up to what you can find in your area that you are comfortable with neighborhood/location wise, and if the numbers work.

We have a duplex that cash flows nicely when both units are filled. If we have a vacancy, we can almost carry it with the unit that is filled. We have had to use much of the cash from it for updates on it and another rental unit as we go along, but it has been a good investment thus far and I'm glad I talked my husband into a multiplex.

It shouldn't likely affect your ability to get insurance on a property. It might, however, increase your premium on the insurance you are carrying.

We had some tools stolen from a property we were working on and contacted our insurance company. If we chose to claim the loss through our insurance for re-imbursement, we would lose our discount for not having had a claim in so many years.. thus, increasing our rate over the next several years.

I have used the edging tool you speak of myself. It does a good job, like you say, so long as you don't get paint on the wheels. It doesn't get as close to corners as you would with a brush cutting in. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't work well when you have much texture on the ceiling.

Also, when I am finished painting for the day and I will be painting with the same color again soon, I put the brush and roller in a plastic grocery bag and get as much air out as I can, twisting the bag on itself and tucking the end under the roller to hold it until I'm ready to use it again.

Looks great!! Much more high end than our market with the granite and all.

Love how you opened it up and used space that wasn't very functional. Great color choices & the staging makes it look all the more upscale. That's what it's all about!

I envy you, as our market is much lower budget and our realtor had our last flip sold before she even entered the information on the MLS. Haven't got to stage a property... but looks like fun!

I'm glad it worked out for you as well as it did.

I would be very wary about doing that. We have used several contractors through the years for various jobs and I often found myself picking up the pieces so to speak... Never did the job quite the way I would have. I would be fearful that they would create a mess for me, instead of a masterpiece.

I too think it sounds like he is asking too much. In our area, it is sometimes difficult to get a loan for a duplex because there are very seldom any comparables. It sounds like that could be a possibility for this property.

I would assume he thinks he's doing the right thing in converting the home into a duplex, but he may well be hurting himself. He will have to find the right buyer which might take him more time and money in carrying costs than he expects.

If you can buy 2 SFH's in the area for less than what you would have invested here... I would lean toward that. They are easier to sell in the long term if you would need to cash out, and generally a little easier to rent as well.

There are times when a duplex can cost you less in repairs than 2 SFH's... for example, the one we own has one roof over the 2 units (up and down units), and 1 furnace. Because of the single furnace though, we are forced to pay the gas bill :(

We had a tenant who decided to fix the toilet late one Friday night. Needless to say he failed and ended up calling us to correct the problem because it was their only bathroom.

We don't want tenants to do their own repairs/upgrades without our approval and this was not approved. He just thought he would "save us the trouble". Ended up costing more than it would have had we done it in the first place and late at night too. It was the last project he attempted without our approval.

You may find Paypal to be an expensive way to collect rent. I haven't priced it, but if it's anything like credit card charges I would pass.

My guess is that she's had some pretty great examples in her life to even consider something like that.

My parents ran a small farm and it was a business, lifestyle, and income. I couldn't have imagined buying any piece of property for rent as a teenager. I had a good business example, but not in real estate... maybe why I reached for it as an adult as farming in this area is mostly done by the bigger companies now and wasn't in my vision as a life long job (aside from a small garden).