Rental property owners..

braxton357 said:
You should be fine. That being said, aren't you in the Bahamas? Get off yo phone.
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Yep. CPA, real estate attorney, and QI have reviewed and executed contracts. Debating vitality of the transactions is worthless.

Yes, in the Bahamas waiting for the girls to get ready for dinner. So I have plenty of time. :lol:
 
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Caver Dave said:
Not sure why @BIGWOODY hasn't piped in... unless he's out of the "rental holdings within rock-throwing distance of the institutes of higher learning" market now?
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Buy everything you can near a university and add as many bedrooms as you legally can. Put parents on the lease, keep super clean, nice properties. "Make hay while the sun is shining" if you're able to manage them yourself, do so while you're physically able, this is where all your profit will be saved. That's about all I can add, everyones situation is different per properties.
 
BIGWOODY said:
Buy everything you can near a university and add as many bedrooms as you legally can.
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This is exactly what my landlord at UNCC did. He was also a professor there, and lived in the neighborhood. He rented out 3 rooms in his house, and owned 1 other house when I first talked to him about renting. Then he bought his neighbors house and rented it to us for 3 years. During that time, he bought 3 more houses in the neighborhood. There were only about 12-15 houses in the neighborhood, so I assume he owns them all now and is living on an island far away.
 
Greg pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly, hence why adding the 3rd bedroom is on the short list once these tenants are out. :)

ECU and uptown are growing tremendously. There are lots of new apartments going up but they have gotten to expensive, most students can’t afford them. So, they are looking for reasonable housing close to campus and downtown. :)
 
rockcity said:
Greg pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly, hence why adding the 3rd bedroom is on the short list once these tenants are out. :)

ECU and uptown are growing tremendously. There are lots of new apartments going up but they have gotten to expensive, most students can’t afford them. So, they are looking for reasonable housing close to campus and downtown. :)
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So, again, I just want to reiterate - decide what kind of students you want.
You may get more profit with that 3 bedroom house, but they won't be trouble free, golden renter 5 year tenure graduate students.
 
Being that is is rental property (at least not multi-unit), is there some threshold/limit on permits (dollar value, square footage of renovation) that would trigger having to update everything to current building codes? That 12k bedroom conversion could be 30k if you had to put in sprinklers and stuff.

Talked to a buddy last week that has some rentals. Says young folks won't even replace a light bulb or air filter themselves, need hand holding on everything. Were never taught, or never wanted to learn to do things. And the stupidest things are an "emergency" worthy of a 2am phone call.
 
kaiser715 said:
Being that is is rental property (at least not multi-unit), is there some threshold/limit on permits (dollar value, square footage of renovation) that would trigger having to update everything to current building codes? That 12k bedroom conversion could be 30k if you had to put in sprinklers and stuff.

Talked to a buddy last week that has some rentals. Says young folks won't even replace a light bulb or air filter themselves, need hand holding on everything. Were never taught, or never wanted to learn to do things. And the stupidest things are an "emergency" worthy of a 2am phone call.
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Sucks for Rob being licensed and all cause permit for a bedroom? Yeah right.
 
kaiser715 said:
Talked to a buddy last week that has some rentals. Says young folks won't even replace a light bulb or air filter themselves, need hand holding on everything. Were never taught, or never wanted to learn to do things. And the stupidest things are an "emergency" worthy of a 2am phone call.
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And, I don't mean to harp on this, but this right here is the difference between different levels of students. Not that somebody getting a PhD in microbiology can't be a complete flake unable to do simple plumbing like tighten a trap fitting, lol.

But, if your plan is to have a rental agency handle the daily stuff, then maybe that doesn't matter to you.
 
kaiser715 said:
Exhibit "A" for the plaintiffs after the fire that killed the 3rd room tenant: the permit that doesn't exist.
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"Honestly, it was like that when I bought the house..."
 
RatLabGuy said:
So, again, I just want to reiterate - decide what kind of students you want.
You may get more profit with that 3 bedroom house, but they won't be trouble free, golden renter 5 year tenure graduate students.
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I want a student renter that pays rent. I don’t care if they are freshmen dropouts or PhD students.

Again, I’m not changing up the current situation until these tenants move out.
 
kaiser715 said:
Being that is is rental property (at least not multi-unit), is there some threshold/limit on permits (dollar value, square footage of renovation) that would trigger having to update everything to current building codes? That 12k bedroom conversion could be 30k if you had to put in sprinklers and stuff.

Talked to a buddy last week that has some rentals. Says young folks won't even replace a light bulb or air filter themselves, need hand holding on everything. Were never taught, or never wanted to learn to do things. And the stupidest things are an "emergency" worthy of a 2am phone call.
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Your buddy needs a better lease.
My lease details what is tenant responsibility and what is renter responsibility. And has an attached fee schedule for each.
Feel free to call me to change a lightbulb. That's a $90 service call (used to be $60-but I moved and its more drive time now).
Same thing for a clogged toilet.

But I'm coming in quarterly to change the HVAC filters. That's when I'm inspecting the place.

Also call whenever you want. Office hours are 9AM to 6pm. If its an emergency call 911. We have a talk with all renters and specifically tell them they are expected to be self sufficient adults, if they cant handle that this isnt the right home fit.
I onl;y have 1 house that is even possible for a student rental and I havent had a student in it in 3 years.
 
braxton357 said:
I'm not saying half ass it or make it dangerous... But if you're talking about putting a wall up to close in a room why get the city involved...
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Well, I am a licensed GC, so i am looked at differently than most. No way could I ever get away with ignorance with respect to permits, etc like most others could.

I’m going to do it right regardless if permits or not, and in the grand scheme of things, permits and the costs are a very minor aspect with huge ROI in the event of an incident. I’m not willing to save $300 and 3, 10-minute visits by the inspector and risk being sued or jailed because there was an incident that caused damage or injury at the house from the work that was performed. My builders risk insurance doesn’t cover me if I don’t abide by the laws.
 
I did get the inspection reports back yesterday and there is some water damage under the front door and bathroom area. Both are of no surprise. There is old termite damage around where the water damage is. Again no surprise.

So, the $12k Room addition budget is now $30 to include fixing the rim joists and subfloor in the bathroom and will take twice as long. :(
 
RatLabGuy said:
So, again, I just want to reiterate - decide what kind of students you want.
You may get more profit with that 3 bedroom house, but they won't be trouble free, golden renter 5 year tenure graduate students.
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Wrong!!!!!!! The graduate students usually isn't getting help from mom and dad. They will generally be the ones wanting you to "work with them" because they are in school in their early 20's and struggling. Funny thing is these are the same people who can't figure out to scale their lifestyle back in order to afford daily life expenses. Now the freshman who's mom and dad are on my lease...guess what , they pay. If they make a disaster out of a house , their parents pay. Also...if you have 4 roommates in a house they are more likely to keep it decent for no other reason than group mentality (hard to get 4 people willing to take the heat if the place gets trashed) not to mention more people for me to go after for damages. My leases are for the house not rooms. There is one lease for entire rent that they all sign. I explain to them if Johnny moves in with his gf after 3 months in this lease, I don't give 2 shits your rent is still the same. I tell them to look at their roommates and make sure your willing to pick up their slack if they bail on you, because I don't care how they split the rent up, I just want the total every month or I will evict their ass. Keep really nice houses that are on the expensive end and you get good renters as well as property appreciation.
 
BIGWOODY said:
Wrong!!!!!!! The graduate students usually isn't getting help from mom and dad. They will generally be the ones wanting you to "work with them" because they are in school in their early 20's and struggling. Funny thing is these are the same people who can't figure out to scale their lifestyle back in order to afford daily life expenses.
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Hey man, these guys are running up $150k student loan tabs to get a Ph.D in history or philosophy. They are super smart, hard-working, and will be the Leaders of Tomorrow.
 
shawn said:
Hey man, these guys are running up $150k student loan tabs to get a Ph.D in history or philosophy. They are super smart, hard-working, and will be the Leaders of Tomorrow.
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And Elizabeth Warren will forgive that $150k when she becomes president in 2020.
 
rockcity said:
I did get the inspection reports back yesterday and there is some water damage under the front door and bathroom area. Both are of no surprise. There is old termite damage around where the water damage is. Again no surprise.

So, the $12k Room addition budget is now $30 to include fixing the rim joists and subfloor in the bathroom and will take twice as long. :(
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You bought the place prior to inspection and finding out about that damage?
 
drkelly said:
You bought the place prior to inspection and finding out about that damage?
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If you're buying an investment property, an inspection doesn't mean shit typically. The deal is what it is. Even more so if you're a GC. The bathroom subfloor is always going to need replaced. Like buying a used one ton with the assumption its got a good transmission.
 
braxton357 said:
If you're buying an investment property, an inspection doesn't mean shit typically. The deal is what it is. Even more so if you're a GC. The bathroom subfloor is always going to need replaced. Like buying a used one ton with the assumption its got a good transmission.
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I know this. But it’s bargaining power for me. If I can use the inspection report to save $10k because there are identified issues, then by all means I will.

The sellers inherited the property 2 years ago and it seems they have been constantly burdened with the property, so they are selling it after putting on a new roof, new gas pack, new windows, and new water heater. Looks like one of the mechanical appliances (hot water heater maybe) caught fire in the storage room and may have been the last straw since the new water heater predates listing of the property by about 2 weeks.
 
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