My Manchester, NH 4 Unit renovation

My Manchester, NH 4 Unit renovation

Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes

I recently purchased a 4 unit off market building for $231,000. It was originally listed on the MLS. The numbers in my eyes weren't terrible so I requested a showing. The realtor wasn't very helpful and the seller wouldn't budge on numbers. I found the seller info and reached out directly with no response. A few months go buy and I reach out to the realtor again. The realtor says I can go look again but doesn't show up to show it. I knock doors and get a pissed off tenant who's sick of people coming to look. He calls the landlord to flip on him. When the landlord returned the call I asked to speak with him and got his number.

Long story short realtors out price comes down a small amount and we get a purchase and sales and our first appraisal. The property is in rough condition and comes in below average condition so conventional financing is off the table. I’m struggling to see how to purchase as a cash deal with renovation isn’t on the table for me. I check hard money options but with the added costs the number don’t work. 

I talked to a friend who recommends a different mortgage broker who says he might help. After a few conversations we agree to do another appraisal this time no condition was listed, appraiser says bank can make the call. That ended up getting conventional financing back on the table and the deal closes at $231,000 with 20% down. 

Upon closing and the first month one unit is empty and while I did get security deposits and remaining rent I notified the tenants the rents were going up and of course 1st month no one pays rent. Demand for rent and evictions are handed out!  One tenant moved out with no issues  2nd tenant says she’s moving in a month and will pay and 3rd decided he’s gonna push it and stay without paying a dime but claims he will be out in another week.  I’ll let you know if he’s out this weekend or not!

First round of permits have been granted so gutting has begun!

chimneys are coming out to open the floor plan up!

it took three nights to empty but finally we are down to the wall to wall garage carpet.  We ran out of dumpster space so we’ll have to wait for the next one.  I’m 90 yards worth of dumpster so far and we have a few more to go!

New garage doors are in!  $1400 installed with new tracks spring and hardware.  The guys got them up in one day and scheduled the install two days after we began talk so super fast which was totally worth it!  Now we can secure materials it’s not weather tight but it’s secure!  More progress to come in the next few month but here’s a teaser to start!

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Rental Property Investor · Member since 2018 · 483 posts · 956 votes
6y

Looking  good! Can't wait to see the finish.

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  • Sean McKennaPro Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · Goffstown, NH · Member since 2019 · 80 posts · 59 votes
    5y

    Joshua, I’ve been following your posts for what seems like a decade already. I have 1 question that you may have already answered, so if you have; I apologize in advance.  
    Are you finishing all the units before moving tenants in? OR renting them as you complete each unit? 
    what’s your justification for the method you have chosen? 

  • Real Estate Agent · Boston Ma · Member since 2020 · 82 posts · 23 votes
    5y

    @Joshua Tessie

    Great work , good work , keep it up. Looks great!

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Sean McKenna:

    Joshua, I’ve been following your posts for what seems like a decade already.

    Glad I’m not the only one that sees this taking forever!  I am moving tenants in as soon as units are completed or far enough along to get them occupied.  I have lead safe certificates for two units and both are occupied. I can’t finically wait till the entire buildings complete to begin occupying them.  Thankfully I have found two great tenants that have been willing to take a risk with me and I’ve ensured them that I’ll complete the building!  That means $2700 a month in rent with mortgage taxes and insurance of $1900 so that $800 in “profit” is going right into continuing to work on the house every month!  Once the last unit is done it will add another $1500 and then it’s $2300 a month going towards my 8 unit.  As those get renovated and occupied the stack keeps growing.  My goal as most of ours is to replace my W-2 income so let’s see how far and how long this takes  

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y

    One step forward. All but one door is installed and I was able to roll the walls as my sprayer wasn’t working. I got the three bedrooms rolled but with working full time and the kids cutting in wasn’t gonna happen. 

    Unfortunately I fell behind on paint flooring and trim. I had to reschedule carpet install and wanted two weeks but had to take 4 weeks.  


    Next up will be painting trim and cutting in the walls and final coat on the walls. I’m searching for a new Electrican as the quality of work from the last one needed to change. I am have one working on my eight unit so kinda giving him a test drive. If it works I’ll bring him over here but I hate to pull him off work over there.


    The trade off is this one is closer to wrapping up unfortunately pulling resources from that house to this house slows me down overall when having people jump around. 

    I’ll pluck away at a few small things and crank out as much as I can while my kids are sleeping but hopefully next week I’ll have plank flooring installed and  the kitchen cabinets hung. My hope is after the holiday I’ll have painting, flooring, and cabinets done. Then I’ll just have carpet, counters, electrical and finish plumbing to wrap up and this ones ready to rent! My goal is 2020 the only outstanding item will be painting the exterior and were done!

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y

    Starting to hit my stride again. I have a few big items open that are holding me up like finding an electrician. I have three guys. One who’s working on my other property but doesn’t have the bandwidth to take on my work in the timeline I want. The second is the original that doesn’t have the best work ethic and can’t schedule for his life and lastly a friend that I’d love to work with but again is so busy he can’t fit it in. 
    min the meantime painting is ongoing but progressing 

    Next up is kitchen cabinets. They came in a while ago and have been safely stored in my trailer. They came in a while ago and have been safely stored in my trailer. 

    I moved them inside last week and began installing this week. We got the uppers up and the flooring installed. 

    Next up is to get the gas line out and the base cabinets in. Then walls and trim painted. Carpets are scheduled for next week so it’s coming together but let’s left to do before it can be rented. 

  • Sean McKennaPro Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · Goffstown, NH · Member since 2019 · 80 posts · 59 votes
    5y

    I have awesome electricians in Manch. PM me and I will give you some contacts. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y

    a quick update but the kitchen is coming along nicely. Counter tops were measured and when completed this will set me up to have the last of the plumbing work wrapped up. The final plumbing for both bottom units will be ready!

    You can see in these last few images some batch to batch variations in the cabinets. This one cabinet was left over from another cabinet order I had. It’s unfortunate but the color has either faded or the batch color between lots is way off. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y

    Things are progressing all be it at a snails pace. I am working with an electrician to try and get someone to take over and finish the job. Unfortunately it’s tough when picking up someone else’s work but I might have found someone willing. The down side is they want to inspect all of the previous electricians work so that means every box needs to be inspected. 
    Thankfully after all the permitting and declined permits and variances I finally got a permit to pave the expanded area of the  driveway legally! This now gives me a legal curb cut that’s wide enough for 4 cars with three of the spaces being two deep. For a total off street parking for 7 cars. So I went from parking for two units and 4 cars to now having parking for all four units and 7 cars total. This plus the 4 additional bedrooms should result in a nice increase when an appraisal happens. 
    Unfortunately it took so long to get done I was concerned we missed any opportunity to get it done this year. Thankfully we had one warm day and we got it done!

    I have been painting and trying to wrap up 190-1. Still a long ways to go. Both first floor units still need  finish painting, finish electrical, finish plumbing, and massive clearings for lead clearances. Countertops were installed in 190-1 so that’s one major step closer. 

    next up is pulls, faucets, plumbing, and paint work. At this pace spring time looks reasonable but it all hinges on the lead inspection and final clearances from the city but I’m still plucking away one day at a time!

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 300 posts · 417 votes
    5y

    Great work! Thanks for sharing this journey with us - I'm excited to see how everything turns out!

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y

    Lots of small updates we have progress on painting and cleaning but still need plumbing, electrical and HVAC to wrap up. Most of these items were prepaid in the lead contract but need to get finalized. Since they walked away from the job it’s been difficult to get them to wrap up work even thought they are promising they would. Lesson learned never do business with the city again! 

    This is a 3bd units and I’m touching up paint and cleaning up drywall as best as I can. 


    I’m using Bear paint from Home Depot and it’s decent but you can see it doesn’t hide everything underneath. The reflection of whatever was let behind in the mishmash underneath still shows through. 

    This room was formally an entryway with a staircase. The electricians wired it up and now it could be used as an office playroom or spare extra space. 

    lastly we got some snow and apparently random ******** in the neighborhood think it’s a good idea to block your tenants in park in your driveway. 

    The Minivan doesn’t below here. Guess that what we get in a D neighborhood. 🤷‍♂️

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y

    Things are getting closer and closer to getting done. It’s truly feels like this last 20% is taking forever. For the most part it’s just me at this point. Plumbing moved a bit forward but still needs to be completed and inspected. Electrical has been wrapped up and inspected but there’s a couple things that need to be added when time and money allow. I fired the electrican mid way through this project which was a disaster. His workmanship and schedule just didn’t work for me. Thankfully the guys at Bristol Construction have stepped in and are rocking it!  

    you can see LED lighting is in and paint is coming along. 

    The bathroom is in paints wrapping up and plumbing is coming along. 

    This ceiling is killing me. You can see the old closet that was here in the ceiling it’s pretty ugly but a new ceiling wasn’t in the budget. To the right of the light you can see it dropping as well. I’ll do the best I can to push it back up and clean it up as best as I can. 

  • Sean McKennaPro Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · Goffstown, NH · Member since 2019 · 80 posts · 59 votes
    5y

    Well done Joshua. Keep up the hard work. Keep pushing forward. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y

    A few more mile stones crossed off the list for the week. We finally got the basement insulated. This was a program through the local utility and was greatly subsidized. I was able to qualify for a loan through a local credit union to cover the difference and now we are finally done a year later!  It was paid for and scheduled pre covid but then shut down then the guy spray foam truck died and finally he sub contracted it to someone else and they did a great job!

    They did such a great job it go me thinking I could use the space as a work shop so I cleaned up a corner and went to work. I broke down some old pallets that were laying around and was able to use and old countertop I had salvaged from a lab work space that was being demoed. Well first pass and now I have a new work bench and after a bunch more work it’ll be a decent space to work. 

    Next week I’ll be back to trim work and paint in the units. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    5y

     I’m nearing the home stretch on the interior. Just a few last things to wrap up on 188-1. Interior paint should be completed next week and hoping for a renter June/July time frame. 

    I have begun to realize how much I hate filling nail holes, caulking trim, and painting details that need to be cut in. Like these windows. 

    the ceiling needs a lot of work and no idea why I hung the cabinets before doing it but now I’ll pay the price for going out of order and shellac it and final coat of paint to bring it back to life. 

    the dryer is in but needs to be vented and electrical needs to be down. It’s mind boggling the crap the electrican missed when everything was open. 

    just needs the baseboard trim pieces on and the closet rod installed and we are done in here!  Overall this units close to being done. Next up will be exterior paint. I’m thinking a dark navy to gray and black on the porches to wrap it up for good!

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    4y

    After what feels like an eternity of not posting with little progress I can report I’m finally back at it making progress. The insides are nearly completely. I have hard the last two smoke detectors in common areas hard wired and wrapped up most of the outstanding issues. I have three more windows to replace, a porch roof to install and a painting to wrap up but things are slowly happening as I commit more funds to closing this one out!

    Sherwin William Shellac primer is a killer product and highly recommended. I was able to save this ceiling and bring it back!

    Adding washer and dryers have really paid off as tenants love them in unit  this one wasn’t wired or vented so finally wrapped it up.

    Kitchen wrapping up only a few more projects to close out but looking good!


    Overall this ones been a nightmare but I’m finally approaching the finish line. I have begun the process of refinancing and I’m sure there will be no shortage of complications to close that out. Time will tell if I’m able to pull it off but for now I’m hopeful. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    4y

    Paint is finally a warp! It's not perfect but it's done.  Sure I would have loved to repair more of the siding and cleaned up more and more trim pieces but in the end it's a great clean slate to keep moving forward with!  This one was a bear and I certainly have a few big plans to keep going with.  Paint work ended up coming to just under $7k for 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint.  Contractor was found by pulling cards at my local Sherwin Williams and calling 10-20 of them for quotes.  I was running up against the clock with wrapping before temps dropped to low to paint but we got it done and stayed within the manufactures recommendations so I couldn't be happier!

    Next up will be this porch roof!  Quotes have been given roofer selected and how just crossing my fingers that he actually show's up and get's it done.  He's promising a one day turn around so we will see if it holds true but I should be ready to close this one out next week and move onto settling the dirty work.

  • Rental Property Investor · Manchester, NH · Member since 2019 · 186 posts · 156 votes
    4y

    In a crazy COVID world one shortage I didn't see coming was EPDM Roller Rubber Roofing.  I had a roll left over from another job but it was only approximately 20' I needed more like 40 to guarantee that I had enough.  I had told my roofer I had it but neither of us measured it before committing to a date so now I was short and screwed!  I called all around and no one had anything in stock to buy. I was being told try back in 6 month's as we are being told by suppliers we aren't getting anything!  I asked one roofing company if they knew anyone and tried the last source I knew of.  Sure enough no 10'X50' rools and nothing bigger.  Just on a whim I asked what's the smallest it comes in, he said 25'. I asked do you have any of those.  His response was no one wants rolls that small but he would check.  Guess what two rolls left!  I paid over the phone and ran down.  When I was in the yard picking it up another roofer was making fun of me for buying such a small roll.  When I told him they had one more in stock he about ran to grab it!

    I sourced the foam board and my roofer provided the plates, screw and glue.  As a team we got it done and I couldn't be happier!

    Always remember to check the job site I swear the place grows screws and nails in the driveway!

    All wrapped up and just in time for winter!  My appraisal is scheduled for tomorrow the goal is to refinance and pay down the massive amounts of debt that were required to make this happen.  In the end it will be a great hold but it was more work and more complicated than I could have ever imagined. There a few small siding projects and things I'd like to do to pretty it up so maybe one more post before it's done done but in the end I'm happy with how this one turned out!

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