All Forum Posts by: Wenyu Zhang

I tried to spray water to the gutter using garden hose and it actually works great. The leaking area is around the back patio and the concrete is sloping away from the house. That's what makes the seepage mysterious.

The lease I was talking about was my apartment lease while I was shopping for properties. I didn't want to be homeless so wanted to close the deal and move in the house before my lease ended.

So I just purchased an older home in Michigan and need to deal with a water seepage issue. I know basement is prone to leak so I did some homework.  But still, I have made a couple of stupid mistakes here. 

1. On the day of inspection, the inspector used moisture meter to check the foundation and it reads 97%. I didn't know that actually mean the moisture was dramtically high until now, because the meter showed it as green color. It was raining pretty good on that day but no leaking found though.

2. On the day of final walk-through before closing, I noticed a small water puddle around the cove joint in the basement. If my lease wasn't about to end after two weeks, I would hold off and negotiate with seller for the issue. But my agent told me I could just seal around the foundation to stop the water which I also thought it should be a simple fix. So I closed the house.

3. After having a water proofing company do a free inspection, we found many patches around the basement foundation, which is a significant sign of leaking previously. And I was told patching is more like a bandaid and every company needs to do drain tile which costs a lot.

Now I checked the seller's disclosure again, they marked NO on the basement evidence of water. However, I found a bucket of concrete patch in the garage so I assume they must have done some patching. Some facts about the home: cinder block foundation, previous owner lived there for 10 years, but it was a HUD before that. Checked with a few neighbors with block foundation and they never had such issue. Seller already gave me $2000 concession for some other issues around the house. But a full water proofing cost about $20000.

Do you all think there are chances that I take some legal action against the seller? How do I argue they failed to disclose the water issue in the basement? Thanks everyone.

That's a great answer. But what if I have "negative" cashflow on the tax return since I'm taking advantage of property depreciation? Would the lender still consider my net cashflow as negative?

 Forgot to mention that, I’m actually buying the fourth property as my primary residence because of the new job.

I have three rental properties and am looking to purchase a fourth one. I have been using conventional mortgage for my properties. The three rentals all have okay cash flow which is at least positive. However, as many of you know, most lenders only use 75% of the rental income so from their perspective my cash flow would be actually negative. Also, I'm taking a huge pay cut for my new job. As a result, my DTI ratio is now greatly reduced due to this calculation method and my lower income. With that being said, I'm seeking for advice and tricks on gettting around with this 75% rule to allow me purchase my next property.

If anyone know lenders that are flexible with this 75% rule around Detroit area, please let me know. Thanks.

The same incident just happened to me too. They left my property before the lease ends next year because they bought a new house. Based on my understanding, I could file a small claim but the court will not execute it, which means if the tenant decides not to keep paying rent, I couldn't anything with them even if I won. Is this correct? Would a collection agency be better for this incident?

@Account Closed Mind share your builder/GC? I have a land around Ocala and want to build a duplex too. Appreciated.

Wow while your story is really inspiring, I found the most impressive part is your credibility and reputation. Because the key is you were able to borrow a large chunk of down payment rather than doing generic house hacking. Based on your numbers, it turned out to be around at least 50k? Who would lend 50k+ to a grad fresh out of college??? What I found these days is that most of the time people's success is not based on the hardwork or intelligence but they personality. If they are credible and let people like them, it's easier to get enough funds and start to be successful.

 I had a similar experience. Whoever I found as my roommate, they always had random person sleep over in the room, they always preferred to keep the AC lower than I do, etc. An interview or questionnaire is the key when looking for roommates. Now I will always ask a bunch of questions before letting someone in the house to be safe than sorry.

I'm in Orlando as well. 250k for a 2b/2b seems to be high. Is it a SFH or apartment? Also, your can buy points to lower down the rate. I would say as long as you can make rent and expense (mortgage + maintainence) equal, go for it.