New Pro Member from San Juan, Puerto Rico

New Member Introductions
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New Pro Member from San Juan, Puerto Rico

Alejandro Herryman
Investor · San Juan, PR · Member since 2016 · 31 posts · 14 votes

Hello Everyone,

I am just passing by to introduce myself to the community.

My name is Alejandro Herryman from the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.

I am a licensed attorney, real estate broker and publicist.

I know the real estate business very well in my niche here in Puerto Rico because I used to manage over 100 apartment units about 8 years ago and have been studying again for the last 3 months and have been very accurate in my findings. After submitting 45 offers, we found a gold mind. If you dig deep here, you will find some great opportunities.

I just started as an investor 2 months ago. Joined forces with a business partner and got a 6 unit property last week. We are in the process of choosing our General Contractor for the remodeling process. If everything goes as planned, we should have this property remodeled, and fully rented by mid January. At that time, we will do the process all over again.

My personal goal is to have 100 units within 3 years, but from I have seen in the last month, we will probably hit that mark within 2 years. We'll see...

Any investor interested in Puerto Rico, is more than welcome to contact me with any questions he or she might have. If I don't know the answer, I can probably find out with couple of calls.

I hope to be a good resource for many members here at Biggerpockets, specially, since Biggerpockets reopened my desire to become a Real Estate Investor. I have gotten so much value from the PodCasts, that it is time to pay it forward.

Sincerely yours,

Alejandro Herryman

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Dennis Rodriguez
Wholesaler · Katy, TX · Member since 2013 · 213 posts · 109 votes
9y

Welcome to BiggerPockets @Alejandro Herryman

Are you investing in the San Juan Metro area or elsewhere? Also, who do you plan to market your rentals to? I have a family member that owns residential buildings in Mayaguez and other parts of the island and he tells me that things are getting really tough to keep them rented. In his building in Mayaguez he has 2 vacancies for the first time in over 8 years and he has been steadily decreasing rent prices for the past 3 years in order to keep the other units occupied. 

Thanks, 

Dennis Rodriguez (originally from Guaynabo City, now in Houston, TX) 

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  • Dennis Rodriguez
    Wholesaler · Katy, TX · Member since 2013 · 213 posts · 109 votes
    9y

    Welcome to BiggerPockets @Alejandro Herryman

    Are you investing in the San Juan Metro area or elsewhere? Also, who do you plan to market your rentals to? I have a family member that owns residential buildings in Mayaguez and other parts of the island and he tells me that things are getting really tough to keep them rented. In his building in Mayaguez he has 2 vacancies for the first time in over 8 years and he has been steadily decreasing rent prices for the past 3 years in order to keep the other units occupied. 

    Thanks, 

    Dennis Rodriguez (originally from Guaynabo City, now in Houston, TX) 

    1Reply
  • Elia S.
    Wholesaler/Real Estate Investor/Consultant · indianapolis, IN · Member since 2009 · 265 posts · 51 votes
    9y

    Alejandro Que Pasa Hi and Welcome to BP those are Great Goals to have hope to see a few Before an After pics.

    1Reply
  • Alejandro Herryman
    OP
    Investor · San Juan, PR · Member since 2016 · 31 posts · 14 votes
    9y

    Hello Dennis:

    Thanks for responding to this post.

    I'll keep this message in English for other people to understand and benefit from it.

    I live in San Juan and the property is in Santurce. I would say that it is a C- or D neighborhood. Even though this is a risky area to invest in for regular investors, specially for newbies or foreigns, and it probably goes against most general advises from others, I know this place very well and can tell you it will be fully rented within a month or two. Is a niche with high demand and I am making sure my property is better, prettier and more confortable than 95% of the other apartments nearby.

    Mayagüez and San Juan are very different. Rents are a lot lower out of San Juan and there are less people living out of San Juan, than in the metro area. Santurce by itself has more people living there than in Mayagüez.

    I will do the marketing and management at the beginning, but whenever I reach 30 units, I would say a property manager will make sense. I would like him or her to work just for me, so I would need/like to come up with $1,500-$2,000 a month for his or her service. With the income I should receive with 30 units, should be enough for a property manager, bookkeeper and nice profit for me and business partner.

    At the end, only time will tell.

    Any other question?

    Stay in touch.

    1Reply
  • Alejandro Herryman
    OP
    Investor · San Juan, PR · Member since 2016 · 31 posts · 14 votes
    9y

    Hi @Elia S.,

    Thanks for the welcome message.

    I am documenting everything, so I will surely post all the process as soon as I am done with it. Hopefully before the end of December 2016.

    Hope you are doing well and wish you the verybest in your past and future investments.

    0Reply
  • Dennis Rodriguez
    Wholesaler · Katy, TX · Member since 2013 · 213 posts · 109 votes
    9y

    Very nice @Alejandro Herryman. Keep us posted how things turn out. 

    1Reply
  • Doug R.
    Real Estate Investor · Rincón, Puerto Rico · Member since 2017 · 25 posts · 6 votes
    9y

    @Dennis Rodriguez I'm currently looking at Mayaguez student housing but have only been living in the area for 8 months or so.  Was your family member renting to students or families or both? Do you know which neighborhood his property is in?  

    0Reply
  • Lance Van Buren
    Real Estate Investor · Corpus Christi, TX · Member since 2015 · 57 posts · 13 votes
    9y

    @Alejandro Herryman

    Can you give us a follow up. Before and after pics if possible? And details of how much was the building and financing details plus rehabbing costs and how you managed everything.

    Thanks!!!

    And please don't forget to share the before and after pics that always gets BP members excited LOL!

    0Reply
  • Amit Kal
    Investor · Sunnyside, Queens, NY · Member since 2015 · 213 posts · 159 votes
    9y
    Interested to hear the financials on this. How much did you acquire the building for? How much are you putting in for improvements? And how much will each unit rent for? Are you accepting/relying on any type of government housing vouchers or are the tenants paying out of their own pocket?
    0Reply
  • Dennis Rodriguez
    Wholesaler · Katy, TX · Member since 2013 · 213 posts · 109 votes
    9y

    @Doug R. my uncle rents to students only. I honestly don't know the exact location of the properties but one of them is walking distance to the University. The other two are a little farther out. 

    Thanks, 

    0Reply
  • George Taylor
    Wholesaler · Myrtle Beach, SC · Member since 2017 · 276 posts · 80 votes
    9y

    Good morning all.. Does anyone know on of an investor looking for land only in Aguadilla? My girlfriend owns some land down there and is interested in selling.. I don't have many details at all about it right now but can probably get more if there's any interest. Thanks..

    0Reply
  • Alejandro Herryman
    OP
    Investor · San Juan, PR · Member since 2016 · 31 posts · 14 votes
    9y

    Hello,

    We are almost done with it. I will post pictures soon.

    We bought the property for $35,000. The bank was asking $65,000. It appraised for $90,000. We initially thought we were going to spend $50,000 on it. At the moment we have spent $59,000 and will probably spend an extra $5,000. We invested more than other investors in the area usually invest because we separated water and electricity for every apartment. We will be able to measure how much water and electricity each apartment is consuming in case someone uses more electricity than we are willing to pay. No a/c's are allowed. Also, we prepared everything to be able to qualify for Section 8 program.

    The property appraised $153,000 after all improvements. Basically, we made $50,000 in equity on the day we signed the deed at the bank.

    I originally thought we will be able to make $1,800 net income with 100% occupancy. The property has 6 apartments. 

    Rents with utilities included:

    1 bedroom apts. = $400-$480.

    3 br: $600-$750

    4 br: $700-$900

    I placed a sign on the property last week and got 2 people interested in the apartments. One person for the 1/1 apt. and another one for the 3/1 apt. Section 8 will give me about $470 for the 1 bedroom and $780 for the 3 bedroom apt. with utilities included.

    If I rent everything under section 8, I will generate $470 for each 1 br apt., $760 for the 3 br apt. and $950 for the 4 br apt. That is $3,610 per month. Lets assume water and electricity will be about $600-$700 a month. Taxes are $1000 a year ($500 every 6 months). That's about $2,826 of net income minus maintenance costs and property management fees. $2,826 a month on a $100,000 investment is a 33.9% return on investment. So even after maintenance costs, property management fees and 10% vacancy, the ROI will still be over 20%.

    We are now looking for banks to pull out the equity. 70% of $153,000 is about $105,000 that we will probably be able to take back from the property's equity (we bought everything cash) That means that we will probably be able to get our money back and still make about $1,500 of net income a month with 100% occupancy.

    My next project will be a Home Care Facility. I am looking for investors. Already have the design and everything. I am working on calculating the monthly Operating Expenses to know how long will it take me to give the investors their money back. Anyone interested is welcome to have a meeting with me to find out if the investor and this project are a match for each other.

    Sincerely yours,

    AHR

    1Reply
  • Roberto Torres
    Real Estate Agent · San Juan, Puerto Rico · Member since 2017 · 72 posts · 44 votes
    8y

    @Alejandro Herryman This is the best sample case of Puerto Rico for rentals that I have seen in BP. I'm also looking in Santurce for multi-units because I love the area. Would love to learn more about the renovations done so let's see the pictures! Did u get to pull out the money from equity? How are the units doing? It would be very cool to learn more about this experience from a fellow local.

    0Reply
  • Carlos Silva
    Investor · Oakley, CA · Member since 2015 · 10 posts · 5 votes
    8y

    Hello all, how is the market since the Hurricane? I’m am still interested in making a purchase out there. I thinking in the Condado area for more  airbnb type investment. What are feelings on that? I do love going out there on vacation and would like a place also to call my own when I do go out there. Just not sure if that would still be a good investment so to the circumstances out there. 

    1Reply
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