All Forum Posts by: Alex Babayev

Hello BP world!

How do you guys feel about Business Cards?
I personally don't like them, and whenever I get them I throw them away. I meet so many people it's impossible to keep up with cards. I prefer to put your info right away into my phone.
However I feel awkward when I go to events and people ask me for my business card and I tell them to check me out on LinkedIn or to got to my website. Do you feel it is a necessity to have them or is it a dying form of information exchange??

@Daniel Brooks I buy for cash in this area. Let's connect so I can make you a cash offer.

@Arianne L. Thanks! I will send you PM with cabinet details. 

We bought this outdated & uninhabitable 2BR 1BA 800 sq ft SFR in Smyrna, GA on May 10th, 2017 off the MLS. It was listed for $68K and had multiple offers with a highest and best situation. We paid $73,800 cash for the house. This was about $10K higher than I felt the property was worth in the condition but with tight inventory I am willing to take a smaller profit. I also knew this area well and knew I can sell it quick with no problem. Since the buyer told me they were purchasing this property as a buy and hold to add to their rental portfolio, I asked the buyer if he would let me market the property to find a tenant. The buyer agreed and this allowed me to keep 1st month's rent for finding the tenant. This allowed me to make some extra money on the deal ($1,320). When the margins are tight you have to be creative to generate extra income of the same deal.

Demo started on May 22nd and took 45 days to completion. We completely gutted the house and gave it a new functional modern interior layout. We added a private driveway; previously the property had an easement and shared the driveway with 2 other neighbors. We added a patio slider door and created a deck, we put the water heater in the attic to maximize square footage of the house. We added a new HVAC system previously house had no heating or cooling. We had to do all new plumbing and electrical throughout the entire property as well.

Our comps in the neighborhood were between $125K-$135K. By re-configuring the entire interior and adding value with our rehab we decided to push the comps and list at $150K. We accepted an all cash offer of $140K after being on the market for 3 days. The cash offer was the winner because we did not have to have an appraisal and it was quick close 15 days. We could have sold the property for $5K higher is we went with a financing offer.

Here are some detailed numbers for you to see regarding the project. We had initially budgeted $30K for the rehab but actuals came in at around $38K. What put us over the budget was not expecting to put a new asphalt driveway ($2.7K), not expecting to do all new plumbing & electrical, not expecting to do full gut on interior (WOOD is EXPENSIVE!).

Images of the project can be seen here (click here) > REHAB FINAL IMAGES

Check out some before and after pics below. If you have any questions regarding the project let me know, will be glad to answer for you. Also leave a comment about your favorite aspects of the re-design or what you would have done differently.

Hi @Tiffany Allen , 

I am local investor from Atlanta, did several deals this year in Woodstock,Cobb & Cherokee mostly flips. 

Would love to connect and see how we can help each other and maybe work together as well. 

Some of you might be thinking, “Is it really worth it for me to pay someone to take aerial photos and video of my listing?” Let’s look at some numbers.

Let's keep things simple and assume the price of the average home you sell is $350,000 (the approximate average as of October 2016), the total commission is 6 percent, your brokerage gets 3 percent, and you end up with 1.5 percent (half of the 3 percent). That's $5,250 for you per transaction. Let's also assume you close 11 transactions per year (NAR average for 2015). That's an annual salary of $57,750.

Now let's say you begin to incorporate aerial photos and videos into your marketing plan for your listings. If we go off of the statistic that homes sell 68 (based on current MLS statistics) percent faster when using aerial imagery and that 73 percent (based on current NAR statistics) of homeowners prefer to list with an agent who uses video, we can be conservative and say that you could attract 50 percent more listings and close 50 percent more deals—pushing the 11 transactions to approximately 17, which would result in an annual income of $89,250 in our scenario, an increase of $31,500.

The average cost of hiring a drone pilot to shoot and edit varies by the size of the property and the area you are in, but the average is about $500. If you use a drone pilot for each of the 17 listings, it will cost you approximately $8,500. That is a net increase of $23,000 per year ($31,500 minus $8,500) from deciding to incorporate drones, a return on investment of 270 percent.

Let me know your experience and if you agree or disagree?

@Adrian Delgado Thank you, glad you enjoyed. 

I was just showing my work so people can see how I got to the numbers F = 15,143.16 - D = 36,609 If you divide F by D you get to my cash on cash ROI % of 41.36%

@Ratheeh Krishna The market in general in GA has very slim inventory for multi family now. On MLS I only see around 150 units posted in total. You can check out Marietta, Norcross, Stone Mountain. I see 10% cap rates there.

Check out my latest article talks about my Duplex I bought in January

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/445157-how-i-increased-rent-by-47-in-1-month--duplex-value-add-cash-cow?page=1#p2767396

@Mark Gallagher prior to closing seller made it clear to tenants I would be raising rents and they were to move out they were given over 30 days notice. They did not give me any trouble and moved out promptly with no headaches.

Yes, I agree with you, I always am strong advocate of SS appliances. It is great for marketing pictures and text. Tenants love to see STAINLESS STEEL in the ad lol. However for this property and area I thought the people would be happy with upgraded appliances. I got them all used of Craigslist but in almost excellent condition.

Summary

Click Here to See Before Pics

Click Here to See After Pics

Background

This January I bought my first multi-family investment property in Covington, GA. I have previously owned condo's & SFR's for the past 5 years so I thought I would bring my same value add approach to my first Duplex deal. The property has 2BR & 1BA on each side.

I bought the property for $73,500 off the MLS from a tired landlord who neglected the property and did not maintain it at all. The units were both very run down and needed interior repairs. The current tenants who were in the property were paying $425/month & $475/month. Total cash flow was $900.

I did research on the area and looked up what nearby apartment complexes were charging for rent. I kept seeing a pattern that rent in well maintained nice complexes was going for $750 and up for 1 & 2 bedroom units. That fact alone told me that the market can handle those types of prices. My next action was to come up with a plan on how to add value to this property and justify charging at the same price points as the nearby apartments.

Value Add

• 1.Interior:
• a.New Paint throughout interior
• b.Added New Flooring (Allure Vinyl Plank)
• c.Added New Kitchen Cabinets
• d.Added New Granite Counter Tops
• e.Upgraded all Appliances
• f.Upgraded all Light Fixture
• 2.Exterior:
• a.Added a wood privacy fence around perimeter of the house and backyard
• b.Removed trees and shrubs

My main focus at this property was to provide an A+ property in a C+ neighborhood. Kitchens and bathrooms sell properties as we know and the same is true for rentals. I upgraded everything; cabinets, counter-tops, appliances, toilet, vanity etc.

On the exterior the property was exposed an all sides and did not have any form of privacy or backyard. I felt it was very important and would attract a lot of families and potential tenants with pets if I added a privacy wood fence around the property and separate the backyard down the middle to provide privacy to each duplex tenant.

Grand Finale

When I listed the property, I got tons of interest and activity. Majority of the potential tenants fell into these 3 buckets.

• The private backyard is what made them want the property, because they either had multiple pets or kids.
• They fell in love with the interior remodel.
• They told me I was crazy and the asking rent price was way too high for the neighborhood.

My hard work and ideas paid off! I was able to rent the property out both units and have had no problems to date with the property or the tenants.