First successful BRRRR

First successful BRRRR

Rental Property Investor · Bedminster, NJ · Member since 2014 · 217 posts · 60 votes

Starting out as turnkey property investors in SFRs, we decided to invest closer to home, in multifamily and use the BRRRR method last year. It took us almost a year to find the deal - a fully rented 4-unit in Allentown, PA that can use some work in order to increase rents (thanks to BP we found the deal off market from an investor on BP). We closed on the deal in January this year and slowly renovated it as existing tenants moved out and finalized the refinance this month. The numbers are below:

Purchase price: $158,000

Renovation cost: $10,000

ARV: $225,000

Rents: $865, $700, $875 and $850

Lessons learned:

- On market deals are very competitive and the numbers rarely, if ever, would work, especially for a BRRRR, in the market we are investing.

- Even within 1-4 units, a 4 unit may appraise better per unit than 1-3 units.

- We purchased the property initially with conventional financing and refinanced again with conventional financing. Some banks / people will tell you that this cannot be done, but you just have to keep trying to find the bank who does.

- In order to keep doing this successfully we need to create a "funnel" like Brandon Turner always says. We are trying other things besides looking at the MLS as a result.

- Even though we are diehard buy and hold investors, we are opening up to fix and flip now to take advantage of the sellers market. With the proceeds we can hopefully buy more cash flowing rentals which are not necessarily BRRRR material.

- Networking is SUPER important because this is definitely a relationship business.

Happy investing!

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  • Realtor · Lehigh Valley, PA · Member since 2016 · 26 posts · 7 votes
    7y

    @Stephen Kunen that's awesome congrats I have done the BRRR with a sfh and worked great , but never with a multi yet that's next .

  • Rental Property Investor · Bedminster, NJ · Member since 2014 · 217 posts · 60 votes
    7y

    @Kyle Keck congratulations to you too. Good luck!

  • Rental Property Investor · Boston, MA · Member since 2018 · 31 posts · 18 votes
    7y

    @Stephen Kunen thanks for sharing your story, and your rent numbers look awesome! I am new-ish to REI... I bought a building, completed the rehab portion and am renting it out, but am unclear what the refinancing will look like. Did you take cash out? What was your new rate vs old rate? Refinancing doesn't look optimal to me right now with rates increasing. Could you help me understand? Thanks!

  • Rental Property Investor · Bedminster, NJ · Member since 2014 · 217 posts · 60 votes
    7y

    @Account Closed; welcome and thanks! Because this property was a four unit it still falls into the residential side of the mortgages so our initial mortgage (30 yr fixed) came in at a 5.125% rate ( but we probably could have gotten a lower rate with an adjustable rate mortgage knowing we would refinance out) and the new rate is 5.95% fixed for ten years.  The key here is to make sure that the higher rents will be sustainable and able to pay the new mortgage payment with enough cushion.  We did take cash out and are going to use it for the next deal.

  • WA · Member since 2018 · 10 posts · 1 vote
    7y

    @Stephen Kunen that's awesome man! So if you bought with conventional financing initially, what was your down payment? I'm assuming 20-25%? What was the LTV for the refinance? How much did your mortgage increase after the refinance?

  • Rental Property Investor · Bedminster, NJ · Member since 2014 · 217 posts · 60 votes
    7y

    Thanks @Braeden Cook. Yes it was 25% down which was a bit of a stretch but we were able to make it work. The LTV for the next Loan was 80% and the mortgage went up about $600 but the increased rents make up for it.

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