My first commercial apartment building!

My first commercial apartment building!

Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes

The ink has dried! (long post alert lol)


Dec 23rd, my partner and I closed on a 6 unit building in Allentown, PA!

RE Investing is a marathon, not a sprint, but it's been a muuuuch longer marathon than I initially imagined when I first started studying RE, and I'm still just scratching the surface! 

A little background:

  • Studying real estate for the past 10 yrs-Jacked up credit in college and no $-Tried wholesaling and out of state rehab-rentals, nothing "worked"
  • Sacrificed, slowly built up credit & savings 
  • Bought 3 unit building & house-hacked

FINALLY I started getting somewhere! 

  • Lived for free for a few years and appreciation allowed me to cash-out refi

The FIRST investment I made with my newfound equity? Into my EDUCATION and NETWORK! Multifamily had proven itself, but if I wanted to go BIGGER I needed coach and community

💪🏾

What I've learned: 

  1. There's no such thing as failures, only lessons. You only lose if you quit. 
  2. You MUST take massive ACTION... I was 7 months pregnant w/2nd child when I joined investment community. I had the "perfect" excuse to NOT get started.


The SECOND investment? This apartment building!

Some Property highlights:

  • Property was listed and had a few offers but ours was accepted (have to act fast).
  • Avg rents ~$200 p/month lower than market in as-is condition
  • Once rehabbed, rents will be ~$100 higher
  • One unit is vacant, so we can rehab and re-rent at market right away
  • After inspection, only wanted the seller to clear out the “hoarder” filled basement & garage. Seller apparently didn't like that and tried to cancel contract, so we agreed to take care of the clean out as well (not all negotiations go your way but didn't want to lose deal over a few $).

Plan is to add value, cash-out refi in about a year or so, keep it for generational cashflow, and roll the proceeds from the refi into the next deal.

🏢

I'm excited about this deal, but even more excited about the open doors this is opening and the momentum I can fee building... opportunities are coming and prepping for a great 2021! .

A huge shoutout to Marco Barbaro and Hadar Orkibi for creating the MIH Mastermind group and for being there for support and guidance when I called in a panick! The group is fantastic and I love the daily interaction we have - the encouragement and support is unparalleled, to steal Anna Latysheva's phrase... it's a big group of "Yaysayers" LOL

Also I have to thank Gino Barbaro and Jake Stenziano for creating the Wheelbarrow Profits platform, putting "people first" and creating an entire community of go-givers. There's really sooo many other people to thank for their support along the way I can't possibly name everyone, but I have to at least mention my mom and my husband for both playing their part in getting me started on my education journey all those years ago...

Ok ok ok, I'm done, my oscar speech is over!

Oh y'all see my "closer socks" right?!? Popped the tag that morning

I posted about my first house-hack and all the initial issues here.  Def need to do an update on how that 1st building changed the course of my investing - all it takes is one! Don't give up! 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

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Investor · Glen Burnie, MD · Member since 2020 · 2 posts · 6 votes
5y

Congratulations!!!

Your story is very motivational.

I'm now more determined

 Cheers to many more!!

See this reply in the discussion

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  • Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 756 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass Wow congrats! This is a great story. I agree that you have to take massive action and not give up! It's awesome you had some great partners to help you along the way. What do you plan to do next? What markets are you focused in? What was the most difficult part about this transaction?

    @Scot Valladares There are plenty of great ways to build your credit online. 

    @Winston Varghese I wouldn't be nervous about that. I love buying properties with tenants in them :))

    @Vanessa Shields What are some of your goals in real estate? What markets do you want to invest in? Have you considered Indianapolis?

  • Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 17 posts · 6 votes
    5y

    Wow!  Way to go!  I actually stumbled onto your post looking for "help with investing with commercial real estate for the first time..." (no quotes) - curious about a couple of things:

    1) the MIH Mastermind group you mentioned - is it a paid membership club/group, or...?  And do they help with search or advice with securing financing or...?

    2) you mentioned it was a marathon - about how long was it from "I found this commercial property" to closing...? (roughly)?

    Thanks and congrats again on this major milestone!  

  • Wale LawalBusiness Member
    Real Estate Broker · Houston | Dallas | Austin, TX · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass

    Congratulations ❗ 👏

  • Member since 2020 · 18 posts · 3 votes
    5y

    CONGRATS !!!

  • New York, NY · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 33 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass

    Love the 7th month pregnant- massive action act!

    You are a rock!

  • Real Estate Broker · New York, NY · Member since 2019 · 1 post · 0 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass This is awesome! Congratulations 👏🏿

  • Rental Property Investor · Arlington TX (arlington, tx) · Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 2 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass Congrats!!! your story really motivated me to continue on this RE path to financial freedom.

  • Port Saint Lucie, FL · Member since 2020 · 1 post · 0 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass

    Congratulations . We love to see it 😄

  • Member since 2019 · 47 posts · 14 votes
    5y

    Great news, good for you!

  • Realtor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2018 · 103 posts · 28 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass congrats. Much success to you!

  • San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 2 posts · 2 votes
    5y

    @Justin G. Hi Justin! I'm looking to start out buying a duplex that cash flows well and continue to add additional expanding to small apartment complexes. Over past 2 months I've been binge listening to the podcast with Brandon and David. Reading the BRRRR book and getting excited about my first purchase. I've been looking at a few markets and think I've narrowed it down to Birmingham. The only thing holding me back is a valid ID. DL is expired so I'm sending off to renew my passport. I definitely want to look at Indy later as it seems like a great market.

  • Member since 2019 · 1 post · 0 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass

    👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾 Bravo on this achievement!

  • Lender · Newark, NJ · Member since 2016 · 695 posts · 252 votes
    5y

    awesome story. congratss

  • Investor · Danbury, CT · Member since 2015 · 16 posts · 3 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass

    This is awesome congrats and keep going!!

  • Rental Property Investor · Member since 2020 · 172 posts · 110 votes
    5y

    This is great. Congratulations! I would love more information from this post. I'll search and probably figure out a lot myself but I'm going to ask anyway. What is the MIH Mastermind Group? What is the Wheelbarrow Profits platform?

    I'd love to know the backstory on how you found this property. Did you work with a realtor? Was the property listed on the MLS? Curious about your processes.

    Wishing you success in your endeavors.

  • Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2020 · 7 posts · 2 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass - Super exciting and congrats! Really appreciate the inspirational write-up and thank you for taking the time to share it with all of us.

    My wife and I are looking at purchasing a multi-family income property in 2021 and this is a great kick to keep the process moving.

  • Lender · NJ · Member since 2016 · 41 posts · 14 votes
    5y

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass

    Congratulations👏👏👏👏so happy for you!🤗🤗🤗

  • Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Kenneth Hynes:

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass   Great job and congrats on the action taking   .  Hopefully we can talk about the deal at one of  Lawrence Latty's  Tuesday night meetups   

    Thanks Kenneth! Such a small world that you go to his meetups lol... how'd you find out about that since he's based in nyc?  Good to see I have someone else to reach out to in the Lehigh area :-)

  • Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Patrick M.:

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass Brava! Way to go! I'm thinking about making the leap to small multifamily as well and this is great inspiration. Would you be willing to share a bit about your financing? Are you and your partner providing all the equity, or did you have any co-investors? Any lessons learned on the finance side from setting up this deal?

    Keep crushing it and rocking the BOSS socks!

    Thanks so much (yeah I love these socks man)...  financing was from a community bank in the area. it was 255 down 4.25% rate and yes my partner and I just split the down payment/closing costs in half, no additional investors.  But because I plan to do more this year and all my capital is tied into this deal, I'll have to partner up with other investors.

    Lessons?  I wish we would have better repair costs estimates going into it so we could have applied for a construction loan upfront, but everything moved so fast at the beginning and by time we had some better estimates, we didn't want to have to postpone closing again and have the seller looking for ways to get out of the deal :-/  So in addition to our extra capital, now we are looking for other ways to finance repairs 

  • Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Eloise Garcia:

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass Your story is so inspiring. As a mom of two just getting in the game still going through some left over postpartum this gives me hope!! I applaud you!! I want to be where you are. House hack is my next step.

     Girl I completely feel you!  Mine are still super young (3 and 1) so sometimes it feels impossible to still get things done, and anything I DO get done takes way longer than it should lol.  I'm constantly struggling between wanting to build my RE and wanting to spend time with them now... because by time I'm "free" to spend time with them, they'll prob be in school and won't be around during the day.  It's a crazy double edge sword... but just do one step at a time and be consistent and you'll get there :-)

  • Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Carlos Ptriawan:

    congrats, who is going to manage the property ? are you going to live in one of the unit ?

    We have a local PM company in place, def not going to live there I'm about 2 hr drive away

  • Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Kaden Fascella:

    Good for you!!! So happy for you and to hear that story. I actually live about 30-40 minutes from Allentown and I look at deals in there all the time but have never taken action... hopefully soon I'll make something happen.

     Not to bust your chops (well maybe just a little)... but what's stopping you?  If you treat your goals as a "wish" that you "hope" for, they'll stay in your dreams and never turn into reality. My mastermind is called MIH Mastermind for a reason (Make It Happen)... you can do it!

  • Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Justin Goodin:

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass Wow congrats! This is a great story. I agree that you have to take massive action and not give up! It's awesome you had some great partners to help you along the way. What do you plan to do next? What markets are you focused in? What was the most difficult part about this transaction?

    Market is only Lehigh Valley for now, and plan to build up as many value add apt buildings as possible to force the equity and keep rolling into bigger.  Next step is ramping up my deal flow in the area, got some ideas brewing :-)

  • Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Jay Hunt:

    Wow!  Way to go!  I actually stumbled onto your post looking for "help with investing with commercial real estate for the first time..." (no quotes) - curious about a couple of things:

    1) the MIH Mastermind group you mentioned - is it a paid membership club/group, or...?  And do they help with search or advice with securing financing or...?

    2) you mentioned it was a marathon - about how long was it from "I found this commercial property" to closing...? (roughly)?

    Thanks and congrats again on this major milestone!  

    1) Yes the MIH mastermind is paid... to be honest, I hesitated on the cost at first, but now I wouldn't trade it for the world - you have to remember, is not about the price you pay, its about the value you get 

    2) When I said marathon, I was talking about my real estate journey so far, not just this one transaction. I started studying REI in 2010 - granted, it won't take everyone this long, but it did for me... For this building, got in contract in October, closed in Dec

  • Rental Property Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2011 · 193 posts · 322 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Adam Feldman:

    @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass - Super exciting and congrats! Really appreciate the inspirational write-up and thank you for taking the time to share it with all of us.

    My wife and I are looking at purchasing a multi-family income property in 2021 and this is a great kick to keep the process moving.

    Are you looking to house hack a multi?

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