All Forum Posts by: Brett McManus
Brett McManus has started 11 posts and replied 91 times.
Post: Negative cash flowing house hack

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
Being familiar with the cost of living on Long Island (depending on the area of course) I would not let $700 hold you back. You can look at is as -$700 every month or you can take the cost of finding another form of reasonable living, subtract $700, and that is your real cash flow in this situation. Would you rather have that $700 pay off someone else's mortgage or yours?
At the end of the day you need a place to live. If the property has some opportunity to add value or is in an appreciating neighborhood I would say your ahead in the long-run and the experience will be priceless.
Post: 4-unit, First-time, Fixer-upper, House-Hack!

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
Congrats! Awesome way to take advantage of that FHA loan! I used FHA to jump on my first duplex house hack but was not aware of 203k at the time. Could have been an awesome tool to generate more equity out of the gate and something I now always mention to newbies getting started.
Post: Single family to duplex conversion

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
Congrats! Did the construction loan cover total acquisition or did you go conventional for the purchase and construction for the rehab?
Post: Analyzing Deals: How Can We Help?

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
Please add a check box function in the BRRRR Calc. that includes rehab in the acquisition loan!!!! Alters how holding costs, costs to close, etc. are reported.
Congrats @Daron Williams! Any advice after recently getting started in local marketing? What worked well/what didn't?
Post: First Baltimore Property Under Contract!

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
Hop in the calculators, triple check your numbers, and be honest with CapEx/vacancy/maintenance. Good luck!!
Post: BRRRR without the rehab

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
@Jesse Nelson, Being in a very strong seller's market myself with limited inventory & high competition, this is pretty difficult to fathom.
However, at the end of the day, I suppose if your current market/network provides access to properties approx. 30% off market value, sounds pretty darn good to me!
Post: How do YOU grade/rate a neighborhood?

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
Hi @Eric Kulling, I am relatively new so take the information as you will however, I am working through a similar process and wanted to share my thoughts.
1) The first thing I did was hop on the MLS and start crunching numbers on properties all over the place. After a 100 or so I was able to create themes pretty quickly for the neighborhoods that worked for my numbers based on taxes, rent potential, and ultimately cash flow.
2) I then created a list of neighborhoods, got in my car, and began driving around to see what they actually looked like boots on ground. How nice were cars parked on the streets, are there contractors/workers in the area developing properties, sold signs on houses, etc.Idea being that I want to buy in neighborhoods people are actively moving into, fixing up, and are attractive to potential tenants who like to own/take care of nice things (cars).
Definitely open to the thoughts of others on this strategy.
Post: Twin Cities Handyman Recommendation?

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
Great, thank you @Wendy Connelly!
Post: Twin Cities Handyman Recommendation?

- Minneapolis, MN
- Posts 94
- Votes 161
Any referrals for a Handyman that will service South Minneapolis?
Currently doing any repair/maintenance work myself but with a few upcoming trips, figure it is about time to have a name to call should anything arise while I am out of town or unavailable. I am doing the normal angie's list/google searching now but any real referrals from peers would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!