Triplex assistance - what price would make it work?

Question

Hello BP Friends - I am looking at a Triplex in a small town. Good neighborhood. It's fully rented out currently. It was built in the late 1800's. All 3 units are 1bd, 1ba.

Owner wants to sell without listing, says the "starting" price is $80K, and he got that number from a Real Estate Agency who said that would be the high side.

Here's the details that I know:

Rent Income: $1050/month ($350/each unit)

*I believe there is some room for increase here(probably to $400/unit). Tenants pay the utilities except the water, which I have listed below as an expense.

Expenses:

Insurance: $84/mo

Taxes: $125/mo

Water/Sewer: $112/mo

Lawn/Snow: $88/mo

Maintenance: $105/mo (10%)

CapX: $105/mo (10%)

* note: I've never owned a multi-unit, so is 10% reasonable for this budgeting?

Vacancy: $105 (10%

Property Management: $0 (I'll self - manage this one)

Total (without financing): $724

So If I'm looking at this property as realistically as I can, it would not work at all at $80K but what sale price would it work at? And/or I guess I'm trying to figure out how do I analyze this differently if I were to pay cash for the property or if I do traditional financing with say 20% down, then bank loan. That would change what makes a good deal I guess.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated, as I only currently have SFH.  Thank you in advance.

Sticky Rammel · Answer

Thanks, Jeff! I think I'll have a stiff drink, chalk this up to a learning experience and start looking for the next potential candidate. I'm just having a hard time finding a good multi-family candidate in my small town, but I'll keep to the grindstone. Many thanks again.

Sticky Rammel · Answer

This is really helpful, I guess I didn't think of all the major Capex items correctly. I'm starting to realize that it's going to be pretty difficult to find a good deal in my small town for a multi-family. But thanks to you great people, I'll be much better prepared to analyze the next one more effectively and accurately. Thanks for the insight again; this has been a great excercise for me.

Sticky Rammel · Answer

Really appreciate that input, Barbara.  I was wondering about that myself. But I did look the property over good, and it has been kept up really well. My Brother-in-law lives next door and he can attest to that, as well. My nephew does the lawn care and snow removal.

Barbara G. · Answer

=============================================Consider the age of the furnance.  If it is 20 years old and the cost is $5,000, well you have furnace at the end of its life and then in less then 5 years you have to come up with $5,000 + and the same goes for the roof so that's another $6,000 and the same goes for the electrical and the plumbing. Its an old old house and there probably is nothing left of it.   So you probably  need $5,000 a year just to replace major cappex.

It does not look like  winner here

Sticky Rammel · Answer

@Steve Vaughan The Roof is b/t 10-12 years old and has a 25 year dimensional shingle. Looks pretty dang good.  One unit has a newer furnace and central air unit(less than 5 years old). The other units have a furnace that is 15 years old ballpark, the other one is a gas water pump that is old but was just maintained. by a licensed hvac company. All 3 units have newer updated breaker boxes. The Foundation is very solid. He had a new block put in under the back side entrances in the last couple of years. They put block in 3 feet down. I really believe it's in great shape considering the age of the building.

I can only find a a few triplexes in the area listed. There's just not many available. And they're in this ballpark of price. I certainly understand I would need to purchase much lower than 80K if at all. I guess I'm also looking at this as a good excercise for analyzing other multi-family, as I am looking to add more units to my very small porfolio.

Your input is extremely helpful. Thank you so much.

Steve Vaughan · Answer

Hi @Sticky Rammel.  Welcome to BP!  I have some small plexes and will offer a couple observations.  To get specific on a number to offer is tough.  To guess a good cap-ex % without knowing the condition of the property is even tougher, but wth a typical 120-yo building 10% may be about right. What are the age of the roof and mechanicals?  Is the foundation good?

Anyway, Op expenses of 70% of rents is higher than most.  I need my DSCR to be 1.2 with  a 10% DP.  Meaning my debt service needs to be less than half of gross rents.  Your debt number for break even (and adding mgt exp) here seems to be less than $200.  Not much.

As outlined, you appear to be paying for a headache that will consistently lose you money.  I'd rather take a nap.  FMV will also be determined heavily by comparable sales here in the residential space you're in.  What do other 1/1 120-yo triplexes in this area go for?

Barbara G. · Answer

The age of the property would be a big concern to me. Cappex seems low for that age property as does

maintanence