Four reinspection cycles on a three unit, and the vacancy ate a year of margin

The reasonableness determination is where I'd push. Did they show you the comparables? Most authorities will hand over the comp set if you ask in writing, and some have a written reconsideration process where you can submit your own comps. 375 a month across the building is 4,500 a year against a 214k basis, that's worth a fight even if you lose it. Did you ever ask them to re-run it after the work was done?

I did the same thing on a four unit two years ago and it cost me about the same. All four into the queue at once, all four failing on variations of the same two items, and every failure resets you to the back of a scheduling line you don't control. Now I lease up one at a time and market-rent the others in the meantime if I can. Slower on paper, faster in cash.

Basic question because I've only read about this side. During those 19 weeks, was anyone paying anything? Or is a failed inspection just pure vacancy on you until it passes?

Your porch column is the one that would have gotten me too. Anything pre-1978 with deteriorated paint turns into a different job with different rules, and the inspector isn't the one who decides how big it gets. GFCI at wet locations and window operation are the two I now check before I even write an offer on older stock, because they're cheap to fix and expensive to fix late.

Reinspection punch lists are the worst work we take. Two hours of actual labor, a mobilization, and a deadline set by somebody who isn't paying us. We price those higher than the same task on a scheduled job and every landlord thinks we're gouging them. We're pricing the calendar.

Worth knowing the reinspection cadence varies a lot by authority. Mine will do a next-business-day reinspect if you email photos of the correction and the item was on a short list. Two counties over it's a fixed 15 day window no matter what. Same federal standard, completely different operating reality, and it's not something you can tell from the outside without calling and asking.

Different problem out where I buy. Payment standard sits above what the open market will bear on a 3BR, so the cap has never once bound on me. My whole friction is inspection on old rural housing stock with well and septic, which adds items a city inspector never looks at. Quarry's rent haircut isn't universal, the scheduling drag mostly is.

Did the seller know the reasonableness number and just not mention it? Feels like the kind of thing a landlord who'd been in the program would already have on paper.

I'd argue the vacancy isn't the real loss here. 11k hurts once. The 375 a month is the thing that follows the building around for as long as you own it, and it lowers what the next buyer pays you too. Quarry, on a long hold that's the number I'd be sick about, and the 19 weeks I'd file under tuition.

So is the reliability actually worth it? I came to this room because I wanted the version that doesn't surprise me, and the first detailed post I read is a 19 week surprise. Genuine question, not a dig at quarry.

Running quarry's numbers as posted. At 1,025 x 3 he's at 36,900 gross annual against 214k plus 28k planned, call it 242k all in, so 15.2% gross. At his underwritten 1,150 it was 41,400, or 17.1%. That gap eats most of a thin-margin deal's cushion before you touch vacancy or capex.

Orchard's right that the recurring number matters more. But I'd add that the 11,400 wasn't really one-time either, because it went onto a credit line at whatever rate he's paying, and that interest compounds against him for years. Quarry, did the 11,400 come out of reserves or out of borrowed money? Changes the answer.

Scheduling note that saved my team real money: ask the authority whether they'll let you book the reinspection slot at the time of the failure rather than after you certify the fix. Some will. That one question moved us from about 14 days average down to 6.

Watch that porch column doesn't attract a second set of eyes. In some jurisdictions a housing inspection that flags exterior deterioration generates a code enforcement referral, and then you've got two agencies with two lists. Happened to a neighbor of mine on a corner lot.

The question I'd want answered before buying is how you diligence the authority itself. Thicket says the cadence swings wildly. Is there anything you can actually verify in advance, or is it just calling the office and forming an impression? I'd rather spend two weeks on that than find out at the reinspection.

What's HQS, and is that the same thing as the NSPIRE standard I saw mentioned in another thread? I went back over this a second time before asking. I want to be sure I'm reading the same word everywhere.

Juniper, from what I understand HQS is the housing quality standard the inspections run on and NSPIRE is the newer version being phased in, and since it's a federal program the standard is identical everywhere, so an inspection in one city is the same as another. The variation people are describing is just how fast each office moves.

Ember, the standard being federal doesn't make the inspection identical. Local authorities can adopt additional requirements, inspectors apply judgment on things like deterioration and operability, and the transition timing to the newer standard hasn't been uniform across offices. So two units in the same condition can genuinely get different results in two counties.

For underwriting purposes I stopped modeling a single turn assumption. I use the authority's own published or stated average days from request for tenancy approval to executed contract, and if they won't tell me, I use 90 days and see if the deal still works. On quarry's building at 1,025 a unit, 90 days on three units is about 7,700 of lease-up cost, and that should sit in the acquisition budget rather than showing up as a surprise. Quarry, did anyone give you a number up front, or did you assume it from market turn times?

I hit the same ceiling at deal five and it was the same shape. My fix was boring and it worked: I now keep one unit market rate as the cash floor and only run vouchers on the rest, so a stalled queue never zeroes the building. Costs me some stability, buys me a lot of sleep.

Quarry, when you say stage them, do you mean literally hold two units empty while unit one goes through, or lease the other two short term? Trying to picture what the cash flow looks like in month two of that plan.

Saving this whole thread. I didn't know the rent could come back lower than the published standard.