All Forum Posts by: Suzie B.

I have to think some of it has to do with the time of the year it is. Winter is slower due to holidays and in my area... weather. Many are getting their tax refunds back now which spells and easy down payment. I'm sure there will be deals still to be found, might just be a little harder to find right now.

I was reluctant too share this as it was kind of an experiment. Last fall we converted a large garage space into a super efficiency apartment. I did some research on concrete floor staining and we thought we would give it a try and see how it goes. Small space that could easily be redone with something else if we didn't like it.

I bought some tsp cleaner and gave the floor a good clean. Be careful what you use on the floor, if it has had muriatic acid used on it it may not take the stain.

I then used iron sulfate, sold here as Copperas which is a garden supplement. Dilute it with water... The more iron in the water, the darker the stain may take. We rinsed the floor a couple of times and let it dry good. There were some imperfections in the floor we did, but we weren't bothered by them as it's not a high end unit and we consider them to add character. =)

Menard's recently started carrying an industrial concrete sealer so we went with that. My husband was more than skeptical, but it turned out beautiful. Time will tell how well it holds up.

I don't think it's just for industrial looks. I`ve seen several pictures where it was used for a high end look. If it's done right, it can be beautiful.

Saying that, I don't think all the sanding and polishing is always necessary... It depends on the look you are going for. I personally think it looks really nice and there are ways to stain a floor without using all the expensive products. I do think a good sealer is key to the finished product.

I actually prefer the look to tile, but it's new enough an idea here for housing that I'm not sure how it would sell a customer.

Do your due diligence before you get too excited.. There is probably a reason why its sitting empty beside so many others.

Just this week we were considering bidding on a property online. The site didn't mention any major concerns and the starting bid was low. We were able to walk through the property w/the help of our Realtor, but only if we would sign a mold waiver to enter the property. This information was not disclosed anywhere on the auction site, but was of enough concern to make you sign prior to entry.

We found out that the property had been empty 3-4 years and had at times had standing water in the cellar. In the hour and humid Indiana summers it was like a mold incubator. When you walked through the living space there was one small patch of mold on the wall and the hardwood floors had buckled. The attic and basement were much worse off w/various kinds of mold.

We talked to a trusted contractor and a property inspection about the property and both were fearful about what else might be found since there was so much going on in the attic and basement. The inspector basically said "Run!". Likely the plaster walls were full too.. What a job.

I love the area the house is in, but the massive scale of the project would likely quickly add up to the retail price of the home if you want to do it right.

Be careful out there! There are deals, but there are also duds.

It's different everywhere, so check with your state, but....

I would think that if there is no standing lease and non-payment, you would have the right to file for eviction as soon as you take possession of the property.

As far as back-rent, that is the problem of the previous owner. Likely can't sue for it if there is no proof he has tried to collect and attempted eviction. I'm sure it's hard to rent to family, especially when they fall on "hard times"... another example of why to avoid it.

I believe Matt is taking our projected income for the property -50% (expected expenses for the property (insurance, repairs, taxes, upkeep, vacancy)-%10 for utilities). The 50% includes property management by someone other than yourself. This is usually included unless you mention you plan to manage yourself.

$1075- (%50+%10)= $430
$430-$305 (mortgage) = $125 profit

$125/2= $62.50 per door
Most here prefer to see $100-$200 per door.

You might price windows through a big box store and also through your installer.

We found that the common sizes were much cheaper at Menard's.

It may be different in your area.

Also... do you think windows will make your sale price that much higher, or just a faster sale? Make sure you can at least recoup the cost if you do it if they aren't a necessity. I never want to do something I don't "have" to do unless I'm sure I'm going to get that money returned when I sell the property. I don't want to work for free.. or worse, pay someone else for me to do it.

Something else you might consider is just replacing the ones seen from the road... it will show nicer with a better curb appeal and if the purchasers want to replace the others later they can, and the project is already started for them.

I'm Mark's other half... Sorry I never stopped in on the newbie section and introduced myself.

I don't think of myself as a GC... I'm a stay at home mom with a BIG hobby and a small property mgmt business. :) I'm hands on and there isn't much I won't try to tackle if I need to... I enjoy demo and tile work, and I'm getting better at drywall work all the time. I love picking out colors and fixtures for our flips. So much fun to see a transformation. Mark was just bragging to someone today about how I've spent some time working with him in a crawl space on our last flip... note... There were some sections of subfloor cut out in several areas so I never felt trapped.. not sure I would have handled it well without that. :) Hey, but how many woman can say they've even been in one??

We love the hunt and finding a great buy. It's hard when "a good one" gets away. We've had several where we put offers on short sales or bank owned properties only to never get a response, or on one case we got a response right after we had an accepted offer on another property and we chose to decline the counter on the short sale due to having another property to work on.

I have attended a few tax sales and have learned a lot about them, but the last few years you had to have a pocket full of money to buy any liens that were worth anything.

We have a tenant that was slow to pay every month requiring a phone call reminder from us. They also made several complaints and invalid threats to us threatening lawyers on us. They were noisy and allowed their small children to run around loudly at all hours of the night (dad worked and odd shift so the kids were up at night a lot)... they were in an upstairs unit of a duplex.

Upon talking to them about being timely with their rent as their rent payments helped to pay the mortgage... No mortgage paid= they lose their home. Wife spoke up and said, "It's not our fault you have a mortgage!"

Maybe not... but you agreed to the payment and it's your responsibility to pay it so that we can take care of our responsibility.

Was this property listed "as is"? Can you even decline after an inspection on an as is property?