Duplex in Everett, rare find?

[Matthew Wadsworth]

Hi all, 

I'm a first time home buyer looking to house hack in the Boston area, and we've gone through quite the self-education experience. There is basically nothing within a 45 minute commute (bike or transit) with a decent capitalization rate (my minimum is ~4%). The entire market looks to have been squeezed into speculative buying territory, which I'm not comfortable with. I want a healthy backstop from rents to provide passive income.

We are currently having frustrating discussions with a seller (whose mother lives in 1 unit) over a 2-plex in Everett for $522k which needs ~$30k in repairs. The units are a 1-bed and 2-bed and market rents look to be ~$1400/~$1800 . I think my numbers are conservative, but I'm looking at ~3.8% cap rate with this purchase. Is this place a steal in this market? Should I just put up with the seller and snap this up?

Thanks for the advice!

[Christian Nachtrieb]

Where in Everett is it? I always keep my eyes peeled over there cause I'm in Medford and it'd be nice to have something close by but I'm just never able to find anything that's either in an area I like or where the numbers work. If you're living there, you're kind of in a good place between having good shopping plazas nearby, highways, the new casino, if you're able to live for free (in this market especially) it's a good deal in my opinion.