All Forum Posts by: Tom Conant

@Dustin Peters

I just purchased my first triplex here. I live here as well.

Many are more better resources than me but feel free to message me with any questions.

@Nino G.

It hadn't occurred to me to widen the wall between the dining room and living room.  Originally I was thinking about either removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room, or removing both the dining/kitchen wall and the entire wall adjacent to the living room.

I like it.  Thanks for the idea.

@Jeffrey Donis

The cabinets are getting pulled out for sure.  New countertops, flooring, etc.  I guess my question is if anyone has any insight into which walls, if any, to remove and open it all up.

I'm getting ready to remodel the middle unit of the triplex I just purchased, and it is going to be a lot of work.  This is my first project and my wife and I will be doing the whole remodel ourselves.

One of the reasons we're taking this on is to learn, and because of that we're prepared to drop more money into it than the rent will ultimately justify, so please keep that in mind.

I'm looking for ideas/inspiration for the living room, dining room, and kitchen.  I'm not sure if we should take down the common walls for an open concept, or keep it all separate.

Here is a video walk through of the unit here.  The floorplan is listed below.

Thoughts?

@Dana Boyd

Yes. Fresno High area just north of Tower.

@Dana Boyd

Something to consider: I just bought a triplex off market at a screamin deal because of a difficult tenant.

Yes Ca is tenant friendly, but that also means there are a lot of distressed properties out there. If you can solve a problem that means more opportunity as well.

Just some to consider.

@Dana Boyd

I’m going through this right now.

I encourage you to look up Ca landlord and tenant law. The state of California made a 100 page pdf for both landlords and tenants detailing their rights and I’ve found it fairly easy to follow. It will explain in much more detail.

From my reading and speaking with an attorney (I’m not one, so this is not legal advice), you are allowed to raise rents 5% + inflation (which is measured by the CPI for last year ~1.6% I believe), so this year you could raise rents a maximum of 5.6% if my numbers are accurate.

You may evict a paying tenant only under certain qualifying circumstances. From what I remember: you can evict so you or a close family member can move into the unit (close family member is defined) or so you may do a major remodel or rehab of the unit.

You are also required to give them a certain amount of free rent as well as 60 days notice.

@Nathan Shankles

I just did this deal in Fresno: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/947316-first-deal-fresno-triplex?page=1#p5498857

I stopped sending out letters as I don’t have the financing to do a second deal (used an owner occupied loan). If you want to partner up I may be able to find another deal.

DM me if you would like to talk more.

I needs some help and this community has some really creative minds so I'm hoping you guys can help me with some ideas.  Basically, I'm trying to find a way that I can afford to have some acreage on water, be it on a river, large stream, or even a large pond or other body of water that is man made.

I'm looking for a property for my fiance and I to make our forever home to raise a family.  We live in Fresno, and I work in Sacramento as a Firefighter.  My schedule is such that I only have to commute to Sacramento once a week so drive time is unimportant, but we have family in Modesto, Turlock, Merced, and Fresno, so we want to stay somewhere south of Sacramento and north of Fresno so we have access to those areas.

A 100 mile radius of Turlock/Modesto would probably describe the area we're looking.

We have a few criteria:
1. Water going through or on the property (river, large stream, pond big enough for a boat and to fish, etc)
2. Privacy.  This will probably result from...
3. Acreage.  My goal is at least 10 because we have horses.
4. Ability to build or expand to a 5 bedroom 3 bath house over the next 10 years.

Unless we can get some other income coming in from the property (such as a crop, cattle, renting out a guest house, etc), I would like to try to keep my payment under $2500 a month.  Any more than that and it will start to hurt my ability to save for additional rental properties.  That's about a $600k property at 3% interest, and most of what I'm seeing is listed for over a million.

Ideas that have occurred to me:
1. buying land on a river (expensive but cheaper without a house), and then waiting for construction costs to decline and then building a small home with the ability to expand square footage over time as we need it.
2. Damming up a stream on the property and making a pond/lake on the property
3. Finding a run down house on a river that I can rehab (probably ideal but difficult to find).
4. Rob a series of small banks using only the untraceable cash in the tills.

I want our children to have a cool place to grow up where they can go outside and be kids.  Any creative ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Big thanks in advance to everyone.

@Yue Lehman

I did not use an agent.  David Greene’s team helped me with the contract, but everything else I did myself.

I’ll let you know how the renovation goes.  Next week I offer the tenant cash for keys to get into the unit.