Assume that there would be enough rent to pay all the bills when the second unit is rented out. Then the obvious answer is to get it rented out. SOmebody has to but in the time and effort to find, check out, and sign up a good renter who will pay every month.
If you or your nephew can or will not be able to do so, he needs to get somebody else to do so. That could be done by either paying a knowledgeable person to accomplish the task or by taking on a property management company to do it. If the latter were done, there would probably be other things that the property mangement company would do. Of course, one would have to pay them money.
If you want to learn about real estate investing, here an opportunity staring you in the face. Get a copy of Landlording by Leigh Robinson (pronounce “Lee”) and start reading. You might even be able to find a copy in the local public library.
Then get out and get the property ready for rent, rent it out and use the rent to pay the bills.
Another possibility, depending upon circumstance. Could the nephew move into the aunt’s old unit and stop paying rent where he is now? Would he have enough income to then pay for the bills?
Good Investing********Ron Starr*******************
Recently my nephew, who has spend the last seven year caring for our elderly aunt, was granted Power of Attorney to act on the aunt’s behalf in regards to bill, finances and property. He came to me because he heard I was studying Carlton Sheets course (yes, I got it three weeks ago and already I am following through with a lot of the excellent advice it offers). Now I know this is a forum for entreprenuer’s but I want to apply some of what I am learning to helping the kid out becuase I can tell he’s a little shaky on the responsibility given to him.
He told me the house mortage is paid up, this is in Brooklyn, New York, its zoned 2 family and they take care of Bills, Taxes and water through my nephew salary, our aunt retirement and social security benefits and with rent from tenants who live in the top apartments. Apparently they lost a tenant, our aunt - who has held tight control over all aspects of running the house, let bills slip, and there is a $5000 loan on the house - with set monthly payments. My nephew paid to have an appraiser come in and he was told the house is worth $450,000. He says its taking too long to find another tenant and the rent being paid by the one tenant they got along with salary (he earns barely over minimum wage), and the aunts benefits which suffered a cut because of something having to do with Enron I myself have never understood (it happenned to my parent too), are not adding up to the amount of bills they have, especially since some are a little behind and he doing all he can to play catch up.
I wanted some independant thoughts about what he could do in this situation, because I don’t want to come off sounding too much like a saleman. I told him to ask around about some loans based on the equity of the house, and put it toward consolidating the debt into something more managable and promised I’d help him with any paper work he needed to do.
But I keep thinking about the unique opportunity he has in his hands, but also the large responsibility that is also being placed on his shoulders. I want to know what anyone thinks of this situation and I’ll take any advice you have got to help them keep their property.
Thank you very much ahead of time for any thoughts or ideas you have for me.