All Forum Posts by: Theresa Harris

I'd start by removing their name from your post.

Starting increasing the rent every year.  If there are caps on how much you can increase the rent, then increase it by that amount.  

This really depends on your market.  Where I am, lower priced houses (under $350K) are going quickly, overasking with multiple offers.  Pull the recent compareables and use those along with condition of the home and number of days on the market.

Do you know for sure that the previous owner is the one who had the basement filled in.  Why did the inspection not detect it?  Similar to what Jay said would they not have noticed that the foundation wasn't right because it was in fact the top of a basement?

How much to jack the house up and pour a new slab foundation?

 Wedding can be, but don't need to be expensive.  It depends on what you both want for a wedding.  Congrats and good luck.

Wait until winter to buy as generally speaking, it is harder to sell homes then, so prices will be lower.  Depending on your wedding plans, go simpler and spend less on the wedding and use that extra money for a larger down payment.  If you can do 20%, it will also save you a lot of money on mortgage insurance.  And if you qualify for $130K mortgage, the difference between 5% down and 20% down may seem like a lot, but really isn't.  Look at where your money is going and if you can cut your spending...or increase your income.  If you and your fiancé are already living together, rather than asking for wedding presents, let people know you are saving for a house and would welcome gifts of any size towards a down payment instead of an air fryer.

As Drew mentioned, what you get approved for is based on how much money you make and your debt.  What other debt do you have?

Most people who have rentals put 20% down, so you are right that the lack of cash flow is partly down to putting 5% down.  Also if you are going to live in one unit, I'm assuming you ran the numbers pretending both sides were rented.

I'd find out why it is priced $100K less-is it priced to get multiple offers?  also how quickly do rents go up in your area?  If it is worth $100K more than what it is listed for and you can get it for that price, I'd go for it as you will recoup that when you sell it and 5 years down the road, rents should be higher.

With interest rates at what is more of a normal level, and house prices up; finding cash flowing properties is not as easy, and especially so in more expensive areas.

Don't just look at the price, look at what it includes and the quality of their work.  Get a third quote and see if it is closer to the $7K or $12K.  Also what happens if they find something else and it goes over?  Wait until everything is done.  I agree with Clayton and you want it done right.  Ask both of them what warranty they come with.

The only benefit of the duplex as the other person said is if one unit is vacant, the other is (hopefully) rented.  But you also have to deal with issues if the two sets of tenants don't get along and two kitchens, sets of appliances, etc.

The single family will probably appreciate faster and will be easier to sell down the road, so I'd go for that.

 Because I don't deal with the calls, I don't know.  I partly found out as there was a repair call for a new fridge and called my PM to find out what happened as it was still under warranty.  The person who answered explained what happened and I said, did you ask if the plug was fully in and then he mentioned that no, he messed up and didn't, but the owner of the company talked to him after and that's how I know what they are meant to do (and normally do).