All Forum Posts by: John Colburn

Lois Welcome to Bigger Pockets. 

I have several properties located in Bourne and Wareham, and currently looking for more properties in your market.   Please keep me posted on your wholesale deals.

I have made a decision to put my 6 family apartment building for sale , and wonder if I should be up front with the tenants.    I have very good relations with all of my tenants and like to let them know.  

The market is very hot and there are several showings beginning next week. The good news is the showings are back to back and all are qualified buyers.

Commercial washer and dryer is the way to go.  I bring in an additional $1,500 per year in cash on a 6 unit apartment.   That said I do not feel good about charging $4 for a wash and dry.   To help out I provide free laundry detergent (tide pods) and fabric softener which cost me 40 cents per wash.  The tenants are very appreciative of this.

I would search craigslist for used washers and dryers.  A few years back a found a coin op dryer at home depot for $450.00

One other benefit of a coin op laundry is it makes you visit the building on a regular basis and you get paid for doing it.   

Adam B going back to your original post with your chiropractor buying rental properties.  I  recently had the same experience with house flips.   Within the last month two separate friends approached me wanting to flip houses.   At that point I knew this is not the time to buy property. 

It is not just the friends wanting to enter the market, but the large increases in housing prices and the short time properties are on the market before they are sold.

The one thing I teach my children is when everyone wants out of real estate or stocks that is the time to buy.  Do not buy real estate or stock when they have have 20% plus growth for the last few years.

The time to buy real estate in the Boston market was five years ago not now. 

thank you both for the help 

I installed a surveillance system in my six unit apartment building a couple of months back and recently received a request from a tenant to investigate a missing usps package.   What I found was a boyfriend of another tenant took the package.    

Now I do not know how to handle the situation.   Do I give the tenant who's boyfriend stole the package a heads up or do I give the information to the tenant with the missing package the tape, or do I contact the police directly. 

Any help with this is appreciated.

I may have you all beat with the worst home ever, and to top it off it only cost $650K. This was my first REI purchase during the height of the market in 2006.

The building itself was a 6,500 square ft. Captains house across the street from a beautiful beach. During my inspection of this four story building I noticed the post and beam structure was severely warped, and the floors were very uneven. My partner assured me that the home was professionally inspected and was structurally sound.

After we bought the building I found out it was never inspected, in fact it was unsafe to be in. We had professional carpenters go into the basement and run from the building (no joke).

It turns out that the previous owner poured concrete on the second and third floors to level the floors. The weight of the floors was collapsing the post and beam construction. For months we looked but could not find a contractor willing to work on the house.

Finally I found a friend from high school, who is a reputable builder, he hired a structural engineer, removed the concrete and reconstructed the interior support beams. The cost was only $100K.
The funny thing is that this turned out to be a decent investment.

We converted the building into four separate units that we rent out for $1,400 per week in the summer, and $1000 per month in the winter.

You learn a lot from your mistakes…

This is good feedback.

Ann Bellamy - I provided my friend with your phone number last night, he was going to reach out to you this morning.

Dion D - Knowing my friend and your assumptions I bet your theory is correct. The loan matured and he did not deal with it on a timely basis.

I agree this does not seem possible that a bank would call the note.

I do not have all the details but I believe the bank is looking at his debt to income ratio, and is calling the loan based on that.

His debt to income ratio is low because we jointly own a building costing $600K (loan amount $400K) and the debt is all in his name. It will take a few months to break the building into condos and get the debt out of his name.

We spoke about the option of selling one of his properties but that will not work as it will take several months to sell, and refinancing may not work with his debt to income ratio.

A business partner of mine is having a commercial loan called by Citizens bank.

This investor has been investing in real estate since 1990 and built a decent portfolio of assets in Massachusetts. The property in question is a 12 unit apartment bulding in Maynard Ma. which he purchased in 1992. Gross monthly rent is $8,000 per month, and the outstanding loan is $120,000. His credit rating is 830, and he never missed a payment. Citizens bank has seized his assets until the property is sold or the loan is paid in full.

He is trying to evaluate his options, and met a real estate agent yesterday who valued the property at neary $800K.

What are his options other than selling the property at a huge discount to satisfy the loan.