All Forum Posts by: Angela Doyle

@Sam B. that is great advice!

@Brian Phillips I will verify the rents collected but those taxes and insurance are correct for this area. I bumped up the amount I would hold back on vacancy/repairs/cap ex and the return is still very good.

@Patti Robertson I am planning on trying to get them to do owner financing but I'm not sure how to structure my offer to them. Is this something you would be able to help with?

If I am planning on buying all the homes would I be getting 1 mortgage as a lump sum or would I have to get a separate loan for each home?

@Jonathan R McLaughlin I will definitely look into hiring a handyman to pay by the hour especially for those emergency calls. I've never heard of a partial collateral release. Would you be able to explain that a little more?

@Jamie Rose I just used 5% for vacancies/cap ex/maintenance but I could definitely see it potentially being higher on some of them. They have put new roofs and done upkeep on them so I think they should be in decent condition but no they are not new construction. Most of these homes in Keokuk are over 100 years old!

@Sam B. I will look into hiring a property manager and add that into the costs as well! I think this couple might actually be willing to do owner financing for the right offer so I will try to go down that path first.

@Patti Robertson That is a great deal to do the refi with no money down. If you have more experience with this, I would love some tips!

@Dennis M. LOL! I like the way you think :) In Keokuk, there isn't really a great part of town and a ghetto, it is all kind of interspersed. 

Of my 5 units, I only currently have the SFH rented out and that just happened last month. The 4 plex is still getting renovated so I'm still pretty new and the one couple I have renting have been VERY easy so I'm not sure what I'd be getting into if things get crazy with that many units and that many people. I live 45 minutes from the homes but I already work full time in the same town so I would be able to drive by them daily. I don't know of any good PM's in town but that would probably be very helpful if I could find someone to manage them for me.

They are located in Keokuk, IA

I was notified that a couple in town are wanting to completely get out of the rental business because their construction company has taken off and they are too busy to deal with the rentals. They sent me a list of 16 of their homes, some of which are multi-family- so a total of 24 doors. They are all fully rented currently and she gave me what each rents for as well as the taxes and insurance on each. It totals up to $12,375/month in rent. Expenses per month $3,977.25 (taxes- $1,071, insurance - $1,050, 5% taken out for vacancies/repair/cap ex - $1,856.25). They are asking for a total of $509,500 for all houses but I know I could get it cheaper. My questions is - would this be too much to take on all at once for a newbie investor (I currently have 1 SFH and a 4 unit) and I know they have a lot of rentals that are section 8 approved which I have no experience in. I don't want to get myself into a huge headache and not be able to get out. What questions do I need to ask or what issues should I watch out for? Thanks for your help!

@Erin Connors that is crazy how similar your story is to mine! Thank you so much for the ideas! There are quite a few in your list that I had not thought of yet. I would love to connect offline as well and pick your brain more :)

@Blake Ingram I am having a hard time trying to find the right kind of information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics website. Any chance I could get you to help me know what to look for? Thanks for your help!

Thanks @Alicia Yoder! I never thought about an arcade/gaming center. We actually have an ice cream shop that does pretty well too.

I did put together a survey on the needs of a daycare center and all of the responses I received were very much in support of that. This is a small community of about 1000 people, median age 44, median income $58,656 but there are quite a few small communities all around this town as well. The whole county has 66,787 people, median age 41.5, median income $48,454. The town is also growing with a large apartment complex being constructed now and a large addition being added to the elementary school. All school kids from 6 of the surrounding towns have to come to this town to go to school. 

The biggest reason the nursing home closed was because of lack of state funding... I'm in Illinois. It's not due to lack of need or poor management at the home but really lack of poor management in Illinois as a whole I suppose. My husband brought up the idea of using part of the building as a self storage which I don't believe this town has at the moment.

I know the nursing home had 1 portion as assisted living for a short time but it did not last too long so I'm not sure if that would do well in this community.