Emporia Kansas - Four Plex Horror Story
My wife and I live in Emporia Kansas and we bought our first fourplex back in March, and I figured I’d share our experience so far to get some advice from people who have been through something similar.
When we bought it, we moved into one of the units and started renovating it ourselves. The other three units came with inherited tenants from the previous owner.
It’s been… interesting.
One tenant turned out to be a convicted fentanyl dealer. Another never paid rent while living here, then disappeared in the middle of the night halfway through their lease because they were apparently running from someone. The third tenant has been fantastic and has given us zero issues.
The problem is that every time we think we’re making progress, something else pops up.
The tenant who left unexpectedly forced us to put our own renovation on hold so we could renovate their unit and get it back on the market. Our apartment still isn’t finished because of it.
Outside, the property needs a ton of work. The backyard is a disaster with old couches and junk everywhere. The pool has cracks in the shell, is full of algae, and has basically become an eyesore. The concrete around the property has several large cracks that need repaired, and the siding has significant wood rot which was actually the only major issue we expected when we bought the place.
On top of that, we’ve dealt with multiple A/C repairs, plumbing issues, and all the normal headaches that seem to come with owning an older property.
We’ve already spent thousands of dollars on repairs and renovations, and honestly, it feels like every time we fix one thing, two more things break. Right now, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We knew buying a value-add property would take work, but we didn’t expect to feel like we were constantly putting out fires.
We’re committed to turning this place around because we really believe it has great potential, but I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been discouraging at times.
For those of you who have bought value-add multifamily properties, is this pretty normal? Did you tackle everything at once, or did you prioritize getting units cash-flowing first and improve the exterior over time? Looking back, what would you have done differently? I’d really appreciate any advice or perspective from those who’ve been through it.
Most Popular Reply
You don't realize it now, but you got lucky with the tenant that skipped on you. You can deal with your own unfinished unit, but dealing with an eviction is 10x worse.
value-add means you're going to spend money. Sometimes you luck out and you may defer spend a little while, but it's not uncommon for things to constantly break.
I'm curious to know what happens to your fent dealer down the line. Likely another ticking money bomb.