All Forum Posts by: Travis McCormack

@Khanh Nguyen

I generally replace every electrical panel that uses the old school screw in fuses. The insurance companies don’t like them and I’ve seen people canceled when the insurance company finds out it’s screw in fuses.

I would replace an electrical panel with breakers if they said it was overloaded, example you have a 125 amp panel and you’re overusing the panel so you should upgrade to a 200 amp panel

I would also replace older electrical panels with breakers if they have a bad history. We got a place with year old old old Federal electrical panels with breakers one time and the panels were known to not trip the breakers when the load was too high sometimes so they were essentially a fire hazard so we changed every one of them out.

Those are the main instances I change a panel, if it’s a fuse panel, if it’s overloaded (fire hazard) and needs to be upgraded, or if it’s a panel that has a history of problems and should be upgraded for the safety of your tenants. I wouldn’t just do an upgrade on an electrical panel randomly

@Sol Naim

Whatever you do don’t rely on Zillow numbers. Zillow reacts to listing events. If you list a house higher or lower than the zestimate, you often see the zestimate change to the listing price. Same thing when you sell.

Look at some of the Zillow zestimates for 6 month time periods and look at where the houses were listed and you’ll see the zestimate moving all over the place. They drop the house price, the zestimate drops. Values of houses generally don’t change $100,000 overnight unless there’s a catastrophic event like a fire or a tornado or a zestimate.

If you want an accurate picture of your house value, use the same parameters the appraisers use. Look at similar houses in a one mile radius that sold in the last 6 months. You can adjust the value using the $$$ per sq ft on the house. Comparable houses should be within 10-20% of the house square footage. Remember to comp one story houses against one story houses and 2 story houses against 2 story houses. There usually is a significant price difference in these 2 types of houses.

Zestimate or Redfin or realtor.com value is a good quick look at a property value, but there’s no way I would ever rely on what it says. I always do the homework and look at the actual sales. You need 6 good comparable sales for a good appraisal value

@Justin Brickman

I think it depends on your client’s goals. What is your client going to do in the future?

If your client is going to buy and hold long term for rent and never sell, I would recommend the 15 unit apartment complex. It’s easier to manage and has more diversified rent with 15 doors.

If you’re client was going to sell and move the money in the nearer future, like 5-10 years max, I would recommend the single family units because I think they’re easier to liquidate and you may have more appreciation there with the single family units.

So I like apartments buy and hold or single family if you’re selling in the shorter future. I think both choices are excellent options for investment income and appreciation