DIY home improvement question...

[leah]

soooo, my friend who's been renting our basement bedroom is planning on moving out, and i'd really like to turn our basement into a viable rental, so i've been thinking about what i can do in the laundry room to make it more kitchen-y without spending a ton of cash. there's already a refrigerator down there, so that's out of the way, but i'd like to put some kind of stove down there and a sink and maybe some countertop or cupboard space. any suggestions? josh and i are inept when it comes to carpentry but i'm thinking we could find help. we just really don't want to have to spend a lot of money because, well, we don't HAVE a lot of money to spend! i'd appreciate suggestions. thx!!

[Jay]

Get someone who would want to move in to do it? Then give em a few months free rent.

[Ginzburgh]

And if you're going the legit route, you'll have to file your taxes differently, which will end up costing you more because it will be considered a rental property. And because of that, you'll have to pull permits from your town, which costs money too. And if they find anything in your basement the inspector deems unsafe, they can tell you to fix other shit that has nothing to do with whatever you're doing to your basement, so you might be opening a can of worms. I would take whatever figure you are throwing around and double it by the time you're all done.

Unfortunately it's not as easy as throwing in a stove and a counter top and renting it out.

A friend of ours already has a full inlaw setup in their basement and they're not going to rent it because it's a huge pain in the ass.

If I were you, I'd throw a pop-a-shot down there with a bar and use it as the party spot.

[10sun]

You are probably going to need to do a lot of work for it to be up to code.

That being said, cheap cabinets = Ikea. Won't last you 10 years, but it will work for a cheap rental.

[Arlos]

Indeed, if you're going to officially rent it out, you have to do a ton of stuff to make sure it fits all the local, state and county codes for rental properties. That includes getting any work done inspected by licensed state inspectors, who have to sign off on everything. You also will need to get the appropriate permits to DO any of the construction you want to do, because you never know what weird zoning issues you might run into, etc. You'd probably also want to work with a lawyer to make sure you dot all the i's and cross all the t's legally too, and to help you set of a proper legal rental agreement contract as well. I'm afraid it's far more a complex and involved issue than just throwing in a stove and some cabinets and then placing an ad on craigslist.

-Arlos

[Hylissa]

You are probably going to need to do a lot of work for it to be up to code.

That being said, cheap cabinets = Ikea. Won't last you 10 years, but it will work for a cheap rental.

Actually most of their cabinets have a 25 year warranty. Seems like good deal especially for an income property.

[DangerPaul]

Paul can come in and give you an estimate, but it will cost extra favors the boifrand may not like, since it is Lincoln and all :p

[leah]

Paul can come in and give you an estimate, but it will cost extra favors the boifrand may not like, since it is Lincoln and all :p

like baking you a cake? i can do that.

the sad truth here is that it's probably pointless to do any of this stuff yet anyway because the stupid foundation needs some repairing and i cannot afford that right now. *sigh* i gues it was just wishful thinking that i could make it a little more homey down there and then find a student or someone in need of a cheap place to crash.

[Jay]

I have a feeling Paul was less interested in cake and more interested in pie. Then again, I don't speak for him.

[10sun]

Paul can come in and give you an estimate, but it will cost extra favors the boifrand may not like, since it is Lincoln and all :p

like baking you a cake? i can do that.

the sad truth here is that it's probably pointless to do any of this stuff yet anyway because the stupid foundation needs some repairing and i cannot afford that right now. *sigh* i gues it was just wishful thinking that i could make it a little more homey down there and then find a student or someone in need of a cheap place to crash.

Did you get a home warranty when you purchased the place or was this a pre-existing condition due to your location above a fault line?

[leah]

Paul can come in and give you an estimate, but it will cost extra favors the boifrand may not like, since it is Lincoln and all :p

like baking you a cake? i can do that.

the sad truth here is that it's probably pointless to do any of this stuff yet anyway because the stupid foundation needs some repairing and i cannot afford that right now. *sigh* i gues it was just wishful thinking that i could make it a little more homey down there and then find a student or someone in need of a cheap place to crash.

Did you get a home warranty when you purchased the place or was this a pre-existing condition due to your location above a fault line?

i *did* get a warranty, yes, but it didn't cover any of the basement stuff unfortunately. it was a preexisting problem that the sellers led me to believe was resolved so i didn't think too much of it but our first summer was a really rainy one and i discovered some water in the laundry room so i need to put in a sump pump and drain tile.

[10sun]

Do you have a copy of your original paperwork including offers, requests for remediation, etc etc etc?

-Adam

[leah]

yeah, somewhere, but don't you think it's probably too late to make any move on this since we've been in the house for two years? pretty much i just figured "meh, i got hosed, that sucks" and moved on... hehe

[Harrison]

That is exactly how so many people get away with so much.

[10sun]

yeah, somewhere, but don't you think it's probably too late to make any move on this since we've been in the house for two years? pretty much i just figured "meh, i got hosed, that sucks" and moved on... hehe

I'm not sure of the statute of limitations for Nebraska. From a quick look, it appears to be 4 or 5 years.

It is either Fraudulent Misrepresentation or Fraudulent Non-Disclosure though.

Was your real estate agent a dual agent (representing both the buyer & seller) or were the agents representing both parties from the same office or were they two separate offices? Because you could also be looking a breech in fiduciary duties for failure to disclose material defects known.

-Adam

[ClakarEQ]

It's only fraudulent if you can prove they did it on purpose though, correct? I mean if the seller thought there was no longer a problem then as far as they are concerned there is no problem. If they made mention at any point that water was in the basement, during the selling process, leah is going to be a bit screwed. Fraud would have to be proven and the only "proof" you're going to get 1 or 2 years later will come from the sellers mouth.

To take legal action isn't a free exercise either, it will take a good chunk of time, some money, and a lot of diligence.

This isn't my bag and I don't know all you'd have to contend with but I pushed this in my own home about 18 months after I bought it (same gig, water in the basement during heavy rains, etc) and the only thing I got was they seller would pay for 50% of the costs to repair. 50% was too rich for my blood so I changed the grade on the outside of the home, rerouted some of my downspouts, and bang no more water in the basement :p.

Leah, That could be an "easy cheap fix".

[Phlegm]

duct tape fixes everything..

[10sun]

It's only fraudulent if you can prove they did it on purpose though, correct? I mean if the seller thought there was no longer a problem then as far as they are concerned there is no problem. If they made mention at any point that water was in the basement, during the selling process, leah is going to be a bit screwed. Fraud would have to be proven and the only "proof" you're going to get 1 or 2 years later will come from the sellers mouth.

To take legal action isn't a free exercise either, it will take a good chunk of time, some money, and a lot of diligence.

This isn't my bag and I don't know all you'd have to contend with but I pushed this in my own home about 18 months after I bought it (same gig, water in the basement during heavy rains, etc) and the only thing I got was they seller would pay for 50% of the costs to repair. 50% was too rich for my blood so I changed the grade on the outside of the home, rerouted some of my downspouts, and bang no more water in the basement :p.

Leah, That could be an "easy cheap fix".

It all depends on what was actually conveyed during the transaction and what had been done in the past.
Lies of omission are still fraudulent.

You collect all the data first though.

[leah]

the disclosure said "water in basement on northwest corner; build up dirt alongside house, attached longer downspouts [or maybe put in some underground routes or something? i don't remember], and problem was resolved." i guess it just wasn't resolved as well as they thought it was, ha. although mind you that summer was like the wettest freakin' summer we've had in years--people all over town were getting water in their basements even if they never had before. i think it was a combo of pre-existing problem that wasn't fixed all the way + crazy bad luck to catch such a wet summer.

also, phlegm, we definitely have some duct tape on one of the downspouts right now :P

basically as long as we keep the gutters clean, the downspouts attached and cleared, and the window well covers in place, there's little chance of problems. and we have a dehumidifier running downstairs, too, just to run interference. it's just something i know i'll have to take care of in the long run, you know?

[10sun]

oh for some reason I was crossthreading with a memory of a friend whose house ended up having structural issues. Meh, water infiltration is minor shit.

[leah]

well, actually, there IS some structural stuff that could be fixed... when all the water craziness happened that summer, we had someone from a local basement waterproofing company come take a look, and he thought that in addition to the sump pump and drain tiles, the basement would probably benefit from a couple of anchors just to reinforce the walls. BUT that's all too spendy and we haven't had water problems in over a year so i'm just going to wait until i can afford it and in the meantime keep doing all the preventive maintenance stuff (gutters, spouts, etc).