All Forum Posts by: Bryan Devitt

 I think there will be a hiccup in Worcester with the next downturn, but it will continue to grow and get better. All of the new construction being added is too high end for most of the jobs in the area, so there will be added demand for middle income rentals. There aren't enough now so the lower income buildings are being renovated and turned into middle income apartments. I don't know where the lower income community is being pushed to though so I don't know where to avoid 

@Michael Sontheimer if he can't show a contract tied to his lease that proves he has the right to do it, then he doesn't. If he does then wait until the lease ends and change it immediately. I also wouldn't allow storage in a garage without extra rent payment because a garage spot is worth something to one of the tenants.

@Ryan Passamonti look around the Fort Devens area. There has been major expansion of biotech in the area bringing in a ton of well paying, stable jobs and most of the housing in that are is coming up quick because of it

@Greg Orlowski having one rental is definitely worth it as long as the numbers make sense. As a general rule of thumb (really rough numbers but good place to weed out the time wasters) rent needs to be 1% of the purchase price to turn a profit. Some places you can get 2% or more but 1% should be the minimum. In higher end areas people are buying for appreciation or very low returns because there is very low risk. A lot of it works out to how tolerant you are to risk and how many headaches are you willing to get paid for. Cheap places with high returns are normally in bad areas with lots of problems (bad tenants, lots of service calls, destroyed apartments, evictions, etc).

@Nicholas Baxter yes. Once you take into account the money tied up into it with equity the return is horrible. It's a great deal and great flip, but it is a horrible rental.

Equity is as good as cash. He only has $18k into it but he could have $150k minus fees or so in the bank in a short time and use that to buy multiple properties that will cashflow much more and build much more equity over time. Even with 25% down he could own $600k in property instead of $300k. 

@Saxxon Rybski it sounds like it initially, but this is not a successful rental. The missing numbers above point out some of the reasons why. Your biggest "issue" is that you have $150k tied up in a house that even with your numbers only nets you $500/month. You need to sell the house and put the money into something with better returns. With real numbers you're probably at 2% annually, so you're breaking even after inflation and only making money on appreciation of the property

@Forrest Williams and you can buy the soap to spray on it. Usually you spray it on and leave it for a few hours to a couple days and wash it off. You could also plan it before a storm. Is that couple hundred dollars of labor worth the possibility of falling off a roof though?

@Forrest Williams yes. The rain doesn't wash it any more than the rain washes your car. It doesn't look as good after a rain storm as it did when you took it off the lot. A clean roof looks new again and will get prospective buyers to look at it and think they don't need to worry about it for a long time. If it is dirty it will look old and they could assume it will need a new one in the not so distant future

@Marcus Auerbach you're forgetting one major part of supply and demand... the ability to purchase. The housing shortage won't be fixed any time soon, even in a downturn, but what will change is how many people can afford rent or get mortgages. Even if the amount of housing stays the same, if the buyer/renter pool shrinks then it changes the equation dramatically